10-K 1 d278788d10k.htm FORM 10-K Form 10-K

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 10-K

 

 

 

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

 

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                      to                     

 

 

two

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Cayman Islands   001-40292   98-1577238
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
  (Commission File Number)   (I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)

16 Funston Ave, Ste A

The Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

  94129
(Address of principal executive offices)   (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (415) 480-1752

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

 

 

Title of Each Class:

 

Trading

Symbol:

 

Name of Each Exchange

on Which Registered:

Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share   TWOA   New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☐    No   ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

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

 

Large accelerated filer      Accelerated filer  
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 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

At June 30, 2021, the aggregate market value of the Registrant’s Class A ordinary shares outstanding, other than shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the Registrant, was approximately $211,159,375 based on the last reported sales price of $9.85 on the New York Stock Exchange.

As of March 31, 2022, there were 22,066,250 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,359,375 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, issued and outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.

 

 

 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     3  

PART I

     4  

Item 1.

   Business      4  

Item 1A.

   Risk Factors      17  

Item 1B.

   Unresolved Staff Comments      41  

Item 2.

   Properties      41  

Item 3.

   Legal Proceedings      41  

Item 4.

   Mine Safety Disclosures      41  

PART II

     41  

Item 5.

   Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities      41  

Item 6.

   [Reserved]      42  

Item 7.

   Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations      42  

Item 7A.

   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market   

Item 8.

   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data      47  

Item 9.

   Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure      47  

Item 9A.

   Controls and Procedures      47  

Item 9B.

   Other Information      47  

Item 9C.

   Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections   

PART III

     48  

Item 10.

   Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance      48  

Item 11.

   Executive Compensation   

Item 12.

   Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters      54  

Item 13.

   Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence      55  

Item 14.

   Principal Accountant Fees and Services      56  

PART IV

     57  

Item 15.

   Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules      57  

Item 16.

   Form 10-K Summary      58  

 

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CERTAIN TERMS

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

 

   

“Companies Act” are to the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time;

 

   

“company,” “we,” “us,” “our,” or “our company” are to two, a Cayman Islands exempted company;

 

   

“founders” are to Kevin E. Hartz (Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director), Gautam Gupta (Co-Chief Executive Officer), Troy B. Steckenrider III (Chief Financial Officer), and Eugene “Spike” Lipkin;

 

   

“founder shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially issued to our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering and the Class A ordinary shares that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination (for the avoidance of doubt, such Class A ordinary shares will not be “public shares”);

 

   

“initial shareholders” are to our sponsor and each other holder of founder shares upon the consummation of this offering;

 

   

“ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares;

 

   

“our founding team” are to our executive officers and directors;

 

   

“private placement shares” are to the Class A ordinary shares to be issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering and upon conversion of working capital loans, if any (for the avoidance of doubt, such private placement shares will not be “public shares”);

 

   

“public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor and founding team to the extent our sponsor and/or members of our founding team purchase public shares, provided that our sponsor’s and each member of our founding team’s status as a “public shareholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares;

 

   

“public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares; and

 

   

“sponsor” are to two sponsor, a Cayman Islands limited liability company.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

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

 

   

our ability to select an appropriate partner business or businesses;

 

   

our ability to complete our initial business combination;

 

   

our expectations around the performance of a prospective partner business or businesses;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

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

 

   

our pool of prospective partner businesses;

 

   

our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic;

 

   

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

 

   

our public securities’ liquidity and trading;

 

   

the lack of a market for our securities;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

our financial performance.

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

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this Report. In addition, even if our results or operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Report, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.

PART I

 

ITEM 1.

BUSINESS

Objective

We intend to partner with founders, operators, and entrepreneurs to build great companies that advance the technology industry, which we refer to herein as the Innovation Economy, by offering an alternate path to the public markets.

Overview

We intend to partner with founders, employees, and shareholders to provide capital and unlock liquidity in the long path to building an enduring business. We believe that our approach, which allows private companies to access the public markets without requiring an initial public offering (an “IPO”), will help facilitate the discovery and development of distinct opportunities. Importantly, participation in public markets will provide capital to support expansion, recruit talent and conduct M&A. Increasingly, the Innovation Economy drives the broader global economy. From 1999 to 2018, the domestic Innovation Economy GDP grew at a rate that was four times that of the total domestic GDP growth rate over the same period. Ten years ago, Innovation Economy businesses represented two of the top ten companies in the world by market capitalization. Today, the five largest companies in the world are members of the Innovation Economy. The continued formation and growth of private technology business, cultivated through entrepreneurship, and funded by venture capital and other forms of private market capital has been driving the expansion of public technology companies.

While some private companies ultimately go public, the time to an IPO for many technology companies has increased, with the median company age at IPO rising from 4 years in 1999 to 11.5 years in 2019. Consequently, today there are over 200 private technology companies with reported valuations in excess of $1 billion, versus 16 in 2010. In many instances, we believe that companies are experiencing significant value creation prior to IPOs, impacting value appreciation to investors once these companies enter the public markets. We believe many private technology companies today would benefit from access to the public markets, but have challenges associated with a traditional IPO, including the timeline to complete the transaction, a business model that may be out-of-favor with traditional IPO investors, market volatility, or the preferences of existing private investors.

 

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We believe we are entering a new era that will provide new ways to capitalize the businesses that are growing our economy. We believe they will benefit from the democratized and open source nature of the public markets, which will surface novel perspectives and drive the innovation cycle. We aspire to advance the Innovation Economy by offering an alternate path to becoming a public company.

Our Founders

We are builders. We have witnessed the emergence and expansion of the Internet as investors, operators, executives and board members. Our founders have invested in great companies at their inception and early stages including PayPal, Trulia, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Opendoor. We are also entrepreneurs: Kevin E. Hartz, our Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, co-founded Xoom, which went public in 2013 before being acquired by PayPal in 2015, and Eventbrite, which went public in 2018. Gautam Gupta, our Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Opendoor from 2017 to 2020 and held several positions, including Head of Finance, at Uber from 2013 to 2017. Troy B. Steckenrider III, our Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer, was the first finance hire at Opendoor, a real estate platform. Spike Lipkin, our Co-Founder, co-founded Newfront Insurance, a technology-enabled insurance brokerage.

We are students of technology, driven by the great challenges of our time, and inspired by the great founders of this era. Mr. Hartz and Mr. Steckenrider are Co-Founders and, respectively, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of one (“AONE”), and with AONE Co-Founder Mr. Lipkin and with Mr. Gupta, are Directors of AONE, a special purpose acquisition company that completed its initial public offering in August 2020, in which it sold 21,500,000 units, each unit consisting of one AONE Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating aggregate proceeds of $215,000,000. On July 14, 2021, AONE consummated its business combination with MarkForged, Inc., a Delaware corporation (NYSE:MKFG).

Kevin E. Hartz is our Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer and serves on our board of directors. He is an experienced entrepreneur, company executive, and investor with deep expertise in the technology sector. Mr. Hartz is the Co-Founder, Chairman, and former Chief Executive Officer of Eventbrite (NYSE: EB), a global self-service ticketing platform with over 300 million tickets distributed to more than four million experiences in 2019. Eventbrite is where people all over the world discover new things to do or new ways to do more of what they love. Prior to founding Eventbrite, Mr. Hartz was the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xoom, a leader and pioneer in the online consumer-to-consumer international money transfer industry serving over 160 countries worldwide. Xoom was a publicly traded company prior to being acquired by PayPal in 2015 for $1.1 billion. Over the course of his career, Mr. Hartz invested in PayPal, Trulia, Airbnb, Pinterest, Uber, and Opendoor among others. Mr. Hartz received a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in History and Applied Earth Sciences from Stanford University and a Master’s degree from University College, Oxford University.

Gautam Gupta is our Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Mr. Gupta served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Opendoor.com (NASDAQ: OPEN) from October 2019 to September 2020, and was Opendoor’s Chief Operating Officer from July 2017 to October 2019. From April 2013 to July 2017, Mr. Gupta held various positions at Uber, most recently as Head of Finance. From July 2007 to April 2013, Mr. Gupta worked at Goldman Sachs, initially as an Associate and later as a Vice President. Mr. Gupta holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A.Sc in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University.

Troy B. Steckenrider III is our Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer. Previously, Mr. Steckenrider was Chief Operating Officer of ZeroDown, a fractional home ownership service. Prior to that, Mr. Steckenrider was Director of Capital Markets at Opendoor, a real estate platform, where he was responsible for building out corporate infrastructure and supporting the company’s growth. Earlier in his career, Mr. Steckenrider was on the private equity investment team at Bain Capital and served a wide variety of clients while at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Steckenrider received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a CFA charterholder.

Our Independent Directors

Pierre Lamond serves as Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Lamond is an experienced investor, serving as a General Partner at Sequoia Capital from January 1982 to December 2008, where he played a pivotal role in the expansion of the semiconductor, systems and software portfolios. While at Sequoia Capital, he served as chairman of the board of directors of Cypress Semiconductor, Microchip Semiconductor, Vitesse Semiconductor, Open Silicon Inc., Redback Networks, Verisity and Plumtree and served as a member of the board of directors of Mellanox Technologies and Xoom. From March 2009 to December 2014, Mr. Lamond was a General Partner at Khosla Ventures. From October 2015 to present, Mr. Lamond has been a partner at Eclipse Ventures. Mr. Lamond is also a pioneer of the semiconductor industry. From February 1966 to August 1981, Mr. Lamond co-founded and held various positions at the National Semiconductor Corporation, including Vice President and General Manager, Integrated Circuits and Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, General Manager of Advanced Products. Prior to that, Mr. Lamond oversaw the development of the advanced high-frequency transistor and the first generation of digital integrated circuits at Fairchild Semiconductor from June 1961 to February 1966. Mr. Lamond holds an MSEE and an MS in Physics from the University of Toulouse, France.

 

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Michelle Gill is currently the EVP and Group Business Unit Leader for Lending and Capital Markets at Social Finance Inc. (SoFi), which she joined in April 2018 initially as SoFi’s Chief Financial Officer. From July 2017 to April 2018, Ms. Gill was a Managing Director in the US Assets Business at Sixth Street Partners. From February 2003 to April 2017, Ms. Gill served in various roles at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a partner, co-heading the Structured Finance business. During her time at Goldman Sachs, Ms. Gill held numerous roles including running the Mortgage Finance business, starting and running a Re-Structuring team during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and running Whole Loan trading before ultimately co-heading the Structured Finance business. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Ms. Gill held positions at Lehman Brothers and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Ms. Gill holds a JD from Cornell Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Ryan Petersen Mr. Petersen has served as the founder and CEO of Flexport, a technology platform for global trade, since April 2013. Prior to starting Flexport, Mr. Petersen was the founder and CEO of ImportGenius, a provider of transaction data for the global trade industry. He has experience investing in numerous technology companies. He earned a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Business Strategy

We believe that talent is evenly distributed across the globe, but opportunity is not. We are dedicated to finding bold founders, operators, and inventors who are committed to building an enduring business and would benefit from the democratized and open source nature of public markets as well as working with our team of founders and advisors.

We have a proven record of success in the technology industry as founders, investors, operators, executives, and board members and are confident that we can partner with other founders and leaders and provide support to build and scale a category-defining business. We believe we possess the following tools to drive value creation at a company:

Experience in recognizing key technology trends: Our founding team has demonstrated consistent prowess in identifying and investing in major technological trends, such as the proliferation of online payments in the financial industry, the sharing economy and its impacts on mobility and lodging, and the power of the Internet in enabling online real estate transactions. In some instances, our team’s identification and investment in a company, based on the belief that the company was poised to benefit from an identified technological trend, pre-dated revenue and represented some of the earliest outside capital to support business growth. We believe our experiences and track record of identifying and participating in key technology trends provides us with a distinct advantage in the successful selection of our initial business combination and subsequent guidance of a company.

Experience identifying strong management teams: The members of our founding team have invested in many successful founder-led businesses and have successfully backed teams entering new industries based on our assessments of their capability and business acumen. We believe we have a deep understanding of the characteristics of talented business leaders and are effective in identifying and engaging with these management teams.

History of operating experience: The members of our founding team are seasoned operators having all held executive level roles in various companies. We have experience in developing and executing strategy, building and retaining teams, and executing business combinations among other activities.

Deep network and connections to company founders: Our founding team has numerous existing connections to company founders and business leaders across sectors within the technology industry. We have invested in many companies, served on many boards and have worked alongside many of the influential professionals within the technology industry. We believe our network and our connections will assist in the selection of our initial business combination partner and subsequent guidance of the company.

Experience as a public company: Our founding team has co-founded three public companies and served on multiple public company boards. We have experience operating businesses at scale and within the frameworks and regulation of public markets.

Following the completion of this offering, we will communicate with our founding team’s network, which includes private equity firms, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and business leaders, to articulate the parameters for our search for a partner company and a potential business combination partner and to begin the process of pursuing and reviewing potential opportunities.

 

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Business Combination Criteria

Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective partner businesses. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a partner business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines.

 

   

Focus: We intend to seek companies in the technology industry. We have an accomplished track record of founding, operating, and investing in this industry and expect to focus on businesses that engage with technology to serve customers in a novel and transformational manner. We believe our founding team’s expertise and understanding of innovative businesses will be paramount in identifying and assessing initial business combination candidates.

 

   

Stage: We intend to seek companies that have potential to, are poised to, or are currently undergoing rapid adoption, implementation, or distribution of their offering. We believe that our founding team’s collective experiences engaging with innovative businesses positions us well to identify, nurture, and expand high potential businesses.

 

   

Management Team: We intend to seek companies with experienced, dynamic management teams, many of whom will be founders of the businesses themselves. We intend to devote significant resources to analyzing and reaching alignment with a partner company’s management and its stakeholders and expect to work closely and collaboratively with the management team to arrive at a mutually satisfactory outcome.

 

   

Opportunity to add value: We intend to seek businesses in which we believe we can add operational value through mentorship of management, knowledge of operating challenges, experience with industry dynamics, expertise in navigating public markets, and strategic relationships with investors, among others.

 

   

Growth: We intend to invest in businesses that are on, or have the potential to be on, what we believe to be a promising growth path. We believe that these businesses, in particular, will benefit from access to incremental capital and over the long term, will benefit from consistent access to public markets. We will seek businesses that have a sustainable competitive advantage that will support and sustain our expectations of their the growth.

 

   

Benefit from being public: We intend to work with management and stakeholders who aspire to have their company become a public entity and generate substantial growth. The benefits to partner companies of transitioning from a private to a public entity may include broader access to debt and equity providers, liquidity for employees and potential acquisitions and expanded branding in the marketplace.

 

   

Reputation and market acceptance: We intend to seek companies with a sizable market share in their segment and the opportunity to achieve market leadership. They should also have defensible proprietary technology and intellectual property rights.

 

   

Appropriate valuations: We are rigorous, disciplined, and valuation-centric investors, with a keen understanding of market value, upside and potential downside risks.

These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any valuation relating to the merits of a particular business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a partner business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the partner business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we would file with the SEC. In evaluating a prospective partner business, we expect to conduct a due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspections of facilities, as well as reviewing financial and other information which will be made available to us.

Initial Business Combination

The NYSE rules and our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require that our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount). We refer to this as the 80% net assets test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the partner business or businesses or we are considering an initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA, or an independent valuation or accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our shareholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion.

While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a partner business or businesses, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with the partner company’s business, there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the partner business meets the 80% of net assets test, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a partner business or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to shareholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed transaction will include such opinion.

 

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We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the partner business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-business combination company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the partner business in order to meet certain objectives of the partner management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the partner or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the partner 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-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the partner, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the partner and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a partner. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the partner. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to the completion of our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a partner business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one partner business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the partner businesses and we will treat the partner businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking shareholder approval, as applicable.

Other Considerations

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

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

The members of our founding team presently have, and may in the future have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including to other special purpose acquisition companies, investment funds, investment accounts, co-investment vehicles, and to entities in which they have invested. A-Star Investments, LLC, our sponsor and members of our founding team may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours, and may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunity. None of our founders, directors or officers have any obligation to present us with any business opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware, and may choose to present such opportunities to other entities, or be required to do so, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law and other applicable law, or his or her contractual obligations to any such entity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association 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 the opportunity is one that we would be able to complete on a reasonable basis. Accordingly, there may arise conflicts of interest in whether to present a potential business combination opportunity to our company.

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

We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of the members of our founding team will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.

Corporate Information

Our executive offices are located at 16 Funston Avenue, Suite A, The Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94129. We will maintain a corporate website at www.a-star.co. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not part of this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

 

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We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Law (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.

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 shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

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

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of 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 Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.

Our logo and our other registered or common law trademarks, servicemarks, or trade names appearing in this prospectus are the property of two. Other trademark and trade names referred to in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.

Financial Position

With funds available for a business combination immediately after our initial public offering in the amount of $214,375,000, exclusive of funds held outside the trust account to meet our expected working capital requirements and after payment of the expenses of our initial public offering and before the payment of approximately $7.5 million of deferred underwriting fees, we offer a partner 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 partner 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, other than the identification and consummation of our initial business combination. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, 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.

 

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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 the redemptions 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 the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

We 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, 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 law or we decide to do so for business or other reasons, we would seek shareholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately 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.

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 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.

Limited ability to evaluate the partner’s management team

Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. 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.

 

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Shareholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination

We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.

Under the rules of the NYSE, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:

 

   

we issue (other than in a public offering for cash) ordinary shares that will either (a) be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of Class A ordinary shares then issued and 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 ordinary shares to be issued, or if the number of ordinary shares into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable, exceeds either (a) 1% of the number of ordinary shares or 1% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any of our directors and officers or (b) 5% of the number of ordinary shares 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 ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control.

Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.

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

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

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

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

 

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Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. We expect any such purchases would be reported by such person pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.

Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their 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 the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. At the completion of our initial business combination, we will be required to purchase any ordinary 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 initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.

Limitations on redemptions

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5.0 million (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the partner or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the partner for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

Manner of conducting redemptions

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (1) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (2) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless shareholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.

If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

 

   

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

 

   

file 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 our ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.

 

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If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

 

   

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

 

   

file proxy materials with the SEC.

We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders 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 shareholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our NYSE listing or Exchange Act registration.

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

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our initial shareholders have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares, private placement shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need 7,724,688, or 36.0% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and including the exercise over-allotment option), or 3,153,750, or 14.7% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and including the exercise over-allotment option), of the 21,347,500 public shares that were sold in the initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved. Additionally, our directors and officers also have agreed to vote in favor of our initial business combination.

Each public shareholder 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 initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions. 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: (1) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners; (2) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (3) 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 public shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all ordinary shares 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 shareholder approval

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined 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 shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our 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 shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or its affiliates at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in the initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.

 

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Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights

We may require our public shareholders 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. 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 shareholders 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 shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the 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 shareholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders 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 shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.

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

Redemption of public shares and liquidation if no initial business combination

Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed that we will have only 24 months from the closing of our initial public 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: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay winding up and dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our Board of Directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

Our initial shareholders 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial shareholders acquire 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 24-month time period.

Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions.

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 proceeds held outside the trust. Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed that we will have only 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering to complete our initial business combination.

 

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If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be 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 shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.

Although we seek to have all vendors, service providers (excluding our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective partner businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our founding team will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if our founding team believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by our founding team to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where our founding team is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. The underwriters will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective partner business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective partner business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective partner businesses.

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

We seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (excluding our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective partner businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares 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).

If we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency 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 shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.”

 

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As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote.

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 are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, 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 shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we are obligated to pay cash for our Class A ordinary shares, 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 have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

Facilities

We currently maintain our executive offices at 16 Funston Ave., Suite A, The Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94129. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee that we will pay our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We currently have three 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 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.

Legal proceedings

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

 

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Item 1A.

Risk Factors

Risk Factor Summary

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

 

   

The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering (that is no later than April 1, 2023), may give potential partner businesses leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination.

 

   

Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors, will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they acquired during or after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination partner is appropriate for our initial business combination.

 

   

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

 

   

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and each member of our founding team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing may give potential partner 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 partners, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

 

   

Our executive officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

 

   

Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.

 

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Risks Relating to Our Structure and Operations

The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering (that is no later than April 1, 2023) may give potential partner 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 partners, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.

Any potential partner business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.

Consequently, such partner business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period with that particular partner business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any partner business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.

We may not be able to find a suitable partner business and consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. These and other factors could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if a resolution of the company’s shareholders is passed pursuant to the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands to commence the voluntary liquidation of the company, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law. In either such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.00 per public share, or less than $10.00 per public share, on the redemption of their shares.

If we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.

If we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Law. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if a resolution of the company’s shareholders is passed pursuant to the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands to commence the voluntary liquidation of the company, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

 

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Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they acquired after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination partner is appropriate for our initial business combination.

On January 21, 2021, our sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, for certain offering costs in consideration for 5,750,000 founder shares, of which 750,000 were subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriter did not fully exercise its over-allotment option. On March 8, 2021, our sponsor transferred 25,000 founder shares to each of Michelle Gill, Ryan Petersen and Laura de Petra, and 30,000 founder shares to Pierre Lamond. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per-share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor purchased 600,000 Class A Ordinary Shares, at a price of $10.00 per share in a private placement which occurred concurrently with the closing of our initial public offering, for an aggregate purchase price of $6,000,000, and an additional 28,750 private placement shares in connection with the partial exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option, for an aggregate purchase price of $287,500. Following the partial exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option, our Sponsor forfeited 390,625 of its founder shares. If we do not consummate an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the private placement shares will have minimal, if any, value. In addition, because of the $0.004 per share purchase price paid by our sponsor for each founder share and the $10.00 price paid for each private placement share, an initial business combination resulting in a Class A Ordinary Share price that is even significantly less than the $10.00 per Class A Ordinary Share redemption price would still be a very favorable transaction for our sponsor. The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may conflict with and influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a partner business combination and completing an initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month deadline nears.

We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation of those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

In addition, in preparation of our financial statements as of and for the period ended September 30, 2021, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A to our accounting classification of the public shares and the calculation of earnings per share. As a result of this material weakness, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021.

To respond to this material weakness, we have devoted, and plan to continue to devote, significant effort and resources to the remediation and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. While we have processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, we plan to enhance these processes to better evaluate our research and understanding of the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements. Our plans at this time include providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. For a discussion of management’s consideration of the material weakness identified related to our accounting for our Class A common stock subject to possible redemption and the restatement of our earnings per share calculation, see Part II, Item 9A: Controls and Procedures included in this Annual Report.

Any failure to maintain such internal control could adversely impact our ability to report our financial position and results from operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In either case, there could result a material adverse effect on our business. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.

We can give no assurance that any material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements.

 

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We have no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

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 partner businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective partner business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

Past performance by our founding team or their affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our founding team or their affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience of and performance by our founding team or their affiliates, is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our founding team or any of their affiliates’ as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward.

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

We may not hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require shareholder approval under applicable Cayman Islands law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, NYSE rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a general meeting but would still require us to obtain shareholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding shares to a partner 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 issued and outstanding ordinary shares, we would seek shareholder approval of such business combination. However, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we consummate.

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

Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and each member of our founding team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

Our sponsor owns, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Our sponsor and each member of our founding team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive approval pursuant to an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a simple majority of the shares voted at a general meeting of the company. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need 7,724,688, or 36.0% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and including the exercise over-allotment option), or 3,153,750, or 14.7% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and including the exercise over-allotment option), of the 21,347,500 public shares that were sold in the initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor and our founding team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.

 

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

We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective partner that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective partners will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.

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

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If a large number of shares are submitted for redemption, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.

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

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

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

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

The COVID-19 pandemic has and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential partner business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if concerns relating to COVID-19 or other widespread health crises continue to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the partner business’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 potential variants and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its or their 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 partner 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 potential variants and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.

 

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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares in such transactions.

In the event that our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination or (3) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a partner that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.

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

We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.

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

Our public shareholders are entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business activity, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares, 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.

 

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Although we expect we will continue to meet the minimum continued listing standards set forth in NYSE’s listing standards, our securities may not be, or may not continue to be, listed on NYSE in the future or prior to the completion of our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on NYSE prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum level of global market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). In connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on NYSE. For instance, generally, the required share price of our securities would be at least $4.00 per share with a global market capitalization of at least $150,000,000 and a market value of our publicly held shares of at least $40,000,000. We may not be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

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

 

   

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; reduced liquidity for our securities;

 

   

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

 

   

a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

 

   

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

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

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

Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a partner business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet, demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.

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

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

 

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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 do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous partner businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain partner 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 partner businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Partner companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a partner business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or founding team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.

Of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, approximately $1.4 million is available to us outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor, members of our founding team or any of their affiliates will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering; however, our estimate may not be accurate, and our sponsor, members of our founding team or any of their affiliates are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a partner business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep partner businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such partner businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a partner 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 partner business.

If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, members of our founding team or any of their affiliates or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our founding team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into shares of the post-business combination entity at a price of $10.00 per share at the option of the lender. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, members of our founding team or any of their affiliates 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 do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares.

 

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

Even if we conduct due diligence on a partner business with which we combine, this diligence may not surface all material issues with a particular partner business. In addition, factors outside of the partner business and outside of our control may 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 partner business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share.

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

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by our founding team to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where our founding team is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we are required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement between us, our officers and directors and our sponsor, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (excluding our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective partner business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective partner business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims.

However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective partner businesses.

 

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Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, the NYSE may consider us to be a ‘controlled company’ within the meaning of the NYSE’s rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.

Prior to our initial business combination only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. As a result, the NYSE may consider us to be a ‘controlled company’ within the meaning of NYSE corporate governance standards. Under these 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 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 have not utilized, and do not intend to utilize, these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the NYSE’s corporate governance requirements.

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

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per public share.

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

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

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

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

 

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

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency 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 shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

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

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

 

   

restrictions on the nature of our investments; and

 

   

restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

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

 

   

registration as an investment company with the SEC;

 

   

adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

 

   

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. Claims may be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offense and may be liable for a fine of $18,293 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.

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

In accordance with the NYSE’s corporate governance requirements and our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. As an exempted company, there is no requirement under the Companies Law for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to discuss company affairs with our founding team (and until our initial business combination, public shareholders will have no ability to vote on the election of directors). Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term.

Holders of Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any appointment of directors we hold prior to the completion of our initial business combination.

Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.

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

We may pursue business combination opportunities in any sector, except that we are not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular partner business, we may not 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 partner business. An investment in our securities may not ultimately prove to be more favorable than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination partner. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

 

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We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our founders’ area of expertise.

We will consider a business combination outside of our founders’ area of expertise if a business combination partner is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our founding team endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination partner, we may not adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will not ultimately prove to be less favorable than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination partner. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our founders’ expertise, our founders’ expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this report regarding the areas of our founders’ expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our founding team may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

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

Although we have identified general criteria for evaluating prospective partner businesses, it is possible that a partner 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 partner that does not meet some or all of these criteria, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a partner that does not meet our general criteria, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a partner business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the partner business does not meet our general criteria. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

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

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

We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 400,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 10,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. As of March 30, 2022, there were 377,933,750 and 4,640,625 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount excludes shares reserved for issuance upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, if any. The Class B ordinary shares are automatically convertible into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. There are no preference shares issued and outstanding.

We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares:

 

   

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

 

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may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Class A ordinary shares.

Our initial shareholders may receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.

The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of our initial public offering, plus (ii) the sum of the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, deemed issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement shares issued to our sponsor, members of our founding team or any of their affiliates upon conversion of working capital loans. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one to one.

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 do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

We anticipate that the investigation of each specific partner 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 partner 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 do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

We may be a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder (as defined in the section of this report captioned “Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—U.S. Holders”) of our Class A ordinary shares, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception. Depending on the particular circumstances, the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Moreover, our actual PFIC status for any taxable year will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may require, including a PFIC annual information statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information. We urge U.S. investors to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.

 

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We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.

We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Law, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the partner company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders to pay such taxes. Shareholders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.

After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.

It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.

In particular, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or any other applicable jurisdictions would recognize and enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States or entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands or any other applicable jurisdiction’s courts against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

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

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

Our 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 partner business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the partner business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the partner 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 partner business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.

Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a partner business. In addition, pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as the sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement, which is described under the section of this report entitled “Description of Securities—Registration and Shareholder Rights.”

 

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We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective partner business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a partner 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 partner business, our ability to assess the partner business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the partner business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the partner business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination partner’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.

Our executive officers and directors allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and do not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential partner business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us.

In addition, our founders and our directors and officers expect in the future to become affiliated with other public blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential partner business may be presented to such other blank check companies, prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any business combination opportunity which may be a corporate opportunity for both us and another relevant entity, or such entities have invested, about which any of our officers or directors acquires knowledge and we will waive any claim or cause of action we may have in respect thereof. In addition our amended and restated articles of association will contain provisions to exculpate and indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by law, such persons in respect of any liability, obligation or duty to the Company that may arise as a consequence of such persons becoming aware of any business opportunity or failing to present such business opportunity.

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

We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a partner business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

 

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The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a partner business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable partner business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our best interests. If this were the case, and the directors fail to act in accordance with their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law, we may have a claim against such individuals. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.

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

In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we are not specifically focusing on, or pursuing, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we will pursue such a transaction if we determine that such affiliated entity meets our criteria for a business combination and such transaction is approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent valuation or accounting firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

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

Although we have no commitments as of the date of this report to issue any notes or other debt, or to otherwise incur debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per share amount available for redemption from the trust account.

Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares;

 

   

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

 

   

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 net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.

Of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares, inclusive of the over-allotment option, $214,375,000 was available to complete our initial business combination (exclusive of funds held outside the trust account to meet our expected working capital requirements and after the payment of the expenses of our initial public offering and before the payment of $7,503,125 of deferred underwriting fees).

We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single partner business or multiple partner 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 partner 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 partner businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

 

   

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

 

   

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our founding team may not be able to maintain control of a partner business after our initial business combination. Upon the loss of control of a partner business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.

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

 

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We may seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.

We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our founding team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular partner business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a partner business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.

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

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5.0 million (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments. We may seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.

In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate a business combination. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, meaning the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered in our initial public offering, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.

 

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The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. We may be able to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares; provided that the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by holders representing at least two-thirds of our issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares. Our initial shareholders, and their permitted transferees, if any, who collectively beneficially owned 20% of our Class B ordinary shares upon the closing of our initial public offering, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.

Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination activity; unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, this agreement and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of this agreement. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.

Our letter agreement with our sponsor, officers and directors may be amended without shareholder approval.

Our letter agreement with our sponsor, officers and directors contain provisions relating to transfer restrictions of our founder shares and private placement shares, indemnification of the trust account, waiver of redemption rights and participation in liquidating distributions from the trust account. The letter agreement may be amended without shareholder approval (although releasing the parties from the restriction not to transfer the founder shares for 180 days following the date of our initial public offering will require the prior written consent of the underwriters). While we do not expect our board to approve any amendment to the letter agreement prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to the letter agreement. Any such amendments to the letter agreement would not require approval from our shareholders 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 partner business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares are sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective partner business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement shares 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 partner business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. Such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative partner business candidate. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account. 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 partner business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the partner business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.

 

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Our initial shareholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.

Our initial shareholders own, on an as-converted basis, 21.8% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. If our initial shareholders purchase additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is divided into three classes, each of which serves for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual general meeting to appoint new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual general meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our sponsor, because of its ownership position, will control the outcome, as only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors and to remove directors prior to our initial business combination. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor.

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

The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on our proposed business combination include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, 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 partner businesses we may acquire because some partners may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.

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

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

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

 

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Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates is equal to or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates is equal to or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

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

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we 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 partner business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or executive officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.

Our corporate affairs and the rights of shareholders are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We are also subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like the Company have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records or to obtain copies of the register of members of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

We have been advised by our Cayman Islands legal counsel that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

 

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As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by our founding team, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.

Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench our founding team.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions will include a staggered board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our Class B ordinary shares, which have been issued to our sponsor, are entitled to vote on the appointment of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of our founding team and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.

We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.

Risks associated with acquiring and operating a business in foreign countries

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

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

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

 

   

costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations;

 

   

rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;

 

   

complex corporate withholding taxes;

 

   

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

 

   

exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;

 

   

tariffs and trade barriers;

 

   

regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

 

   

local or regional economic policies and market conditions;

 

   

unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

 

   

longer payment cycles;

 

   

tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to United States tax laws;

 

   

currency fluctuations and exchange controls;

 

   

rates of inflation;

 

   

challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

 

   

cultural and language differences;

 

39


   

employment regulations;

 

   

underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;

 

   

corruption;

 

   

protection of intellectual property;

 

   

social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances;

 

   

regime changes and political upheaval;

 

   

terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; and

 

   

deterioration of political relations with the United States.

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

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

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

After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue may be derived from our operations in such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and social conditions and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.

The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive partner business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that partner business to become profitable.

Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a partner business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.

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

We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.

In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.

 

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We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.

We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from seeking a business combination partner. Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.

 

Item 1B.

Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

 

Item 2.

Properties

We maintain our principal executive offices at 16 Funston Ave., Suite A, The Presidio of San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94129. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

 

Item 3.

Legal Proceedings

To the knowledge of our management, there is no litigation currently pending or contemplated against us, any of our officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of our property.

 

Item 4.

Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

 

Item 5.

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

 

  (a)

Market Information

Our Class A ordinary shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbol “TWOA,” and commenced public trading on April 1, 2021.

 

  (b)

Holders

On March 21, 2022, there were two holders of record of our Class A ordinary shares and five holders of record of our Class B ordinary shares.

 

  (c)

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time, and we will only pay such dividend out of our profits or share premium (subject to solvency requirements) as permitted under Cayman Islands law. If we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

 

  (d)

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

None.

 

  (e)

Performance Graph

Not applicable.

 

  (f)

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings.

In January 2021, our sponsor, paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, for 5,750,000 shares of our Class B ordinary shares. 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, pursuant to a written agreement, purchased 628,750 private placement shares, at a price of $10.00 per share in private placements occurring concurrently with the closing of our initial public offering and the underwriter’s partial exercise of their over-allotment option, for an aggregate purchase price of $6,287,500.

 

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These issuances were made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sales.

Use of Proceeds

On April 1, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 20,000,000 shares, and on April 13, 2021, issued 1,437,500 shares pursuant to the underwriter’s over-allotment option, in each case at an offering price of $10.00, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $214,375,000. Citigroup acted as sole book running manager in the initial public offering.    The securities sold in the initial public offering were registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-253802), which the SEC declared effected on March 29, 2021.

Substantially concurrently with the closing of the initial public offering and with the underwriter’s exercise of its over-allotment option, we consummated private placements to our sponsor of an aggregate of 628,750 private placement shares, at a price of $10.00 per share, generating gross proceeds of $6,287,500. In connection with the initial public offering, we incurred offering costs of approximately $11.1 million (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which $7.0 million was for deferred underwriting commissions, and in connection with the exercise of the over-allotment option, additional offering costs of approximately $755,000 (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which approximately $503,000 was for deferred underwriting fees. Other incurred offering costs consisted principally of preparation fees related to the initial public offering. After deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions (excluding the deferred portion, which amount will be payable upon consummation of the initial business combination, if consummated) and the initial public offering expenses, $214,375,000 of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and certain of the proceeds from the private placement of the private placement shares to our sponsor (or $10.00 per unit sold in the initial public offering) was placed in the trust account and is invested as described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from the initial public offering and private placement as is described in our final prospectus related to the initial public offering. For a description of the planned use of the proceeds generated from the initial public offering and private placement, see “Item 1. Business.”

 

  (g)

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

None.

 

Item 6.

[Reserved]

 

Item 7.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

References to the “Company,” “our,” “us” or “we” refer to two. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other SEC filings.

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on January 15, 2021. We were formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). We are an emerging growth company and, as such, we are subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.

 

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Our sponsor is two sponsor, a Cayman Islands exempted limited company (the “Sponsor”). The registration statement for our Initial Public Offering was declared effective March 29, 2021. On April 1, 2021, we consummated our Initial Public Offering of 20,000,000 Class A ordinary shares (the “Public Shares”), at an offering price of $10.00 per Public Share, generating gross proceeds of $200.0 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $11.1 million (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which $7.0 million was for deferred underwriting commissions (see Note 5). The underwriter was granted a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments, if any, at $10.00 per share. The Underwriter partially exercised the over-allotment option and on April 13, 2021 purchased an additional 1,437,500 Class A ordinary shares (the “Additional Shares”), generating gross proceeds of approximately $14.4 million (the “Over-Allotment”), and we incurred additional offering costs of approximately $755,000 (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which approximately $503,000 was for deferred underwriting fees.

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the private placement (“Private Placement”) of 600,000 Class A ordinary shares (the “Private Placement Shares”), at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement Share to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of approximately $6.0 million (see Note 4). Simultaneously with the closing of the Over-Allotment on April 13, 2021, we consummated the second closing of the Private Placement, resulting in the purchase of an aggregate of an additional 28,750 Private Placement Shares by the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $287,500.

Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Over-Allotment, and the Private Placements, $214.4 million ($10.00 per share) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Public Shares in the Initial Public Offering and of the Private Placement Shares in the Private Placement were placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”), located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and will invest only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.

Our management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of Private Placement Shares, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that we will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. We must complete one or more initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. However, we will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.

If we are unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination 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 earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the remaining shareholders and the board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $983,000 in cash and working capital of approximately $1.2 million.

Our liquidity needs to date have been satisfied through $25,000 paid by the Sponsor to cover certain expenses in exchange for the issuance of the Founder Shares, a loan of approximately $81,000 from the Sponsor pursuant to the Note (as defined in Note 4), and the proceeds from the consummation of the Private Placement not held in the Trust Account of $2.5 million (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter). We repaid the Note in full on April 5, 2021, and no additional borrowing is available under the Note. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, provide us Working Capital Loans. As of December 31, 2021, there were no amounts outstanding under any Working Capital Loan.

Based on the foregoing, management believes that it will have sufficient working capital and borrowing capacity to meet its needs through the earlier of the consummation of a business combination or one year from this filing. Over this time period, we will be using these funds for paying existing accounts payable, identifying and evaluating prospective initial business combination candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to merge with or acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the business combination.

 

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Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Results of Operations

Our entire activity from inception to December 31, 2021, was for our formation and the Initial Public Offering, and subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, the search for a target for its initial Business Combination. We will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial Business Combination.

For the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, we had a net loss of approximately $743,000, which consisted of approximately $688,000 in general and administrative expenses, $90,000 in administrative expenses-related party, partially offset by approximately $36,000 in income from investments held in Trust Account.

Related Party Transactions

Founder Shares

On January 21, 2021, the Sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover expenses in consideration for 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 (the “Founder Shares”). Up to 750,000 Founder Shares were subject to forfeiture to the extent that the over-allotment option was not exercised in full by the underwriter, so that the Founder Shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering. On March 8, 2021, the Sponsor transferred 25,000 Founder Shares to each of Michelle Gill, Ryan Petersen and Laura de Petra, and 30,000 Founder Shares to Pierre Lamond. Such shares were not subject to forfeiture in the event the underwriter’s over-allotment was not exercised.

The initial shareholders agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination and (B) subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (x) if the closing price of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Public Shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.

The underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option on April 13, 2021 and on April 19, 2021, 390,625 Class B ordinary shares were forfeited for no consideration resulting in 5,359,375 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding with no shares subject to forfeiture.

Private Placement Shares

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the Private Placement of 600,000 Private Placement Shares, at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement Share to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of approximately $6.0 million. A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Shares was added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. Simultaneously with the closing of the Over-Allotment on April 13, 2021, we consummated the second closing of the Private Placement, resulting in the purchase of an aggregate of an additional 28,750 Private Placement Shares by the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $287,500.

The Sponsor and our officers and directors agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Private Placement Shares until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.

Sponsor Loan

On January 21, 2021, the Sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). This loan was non-interest bearing and payable upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. We borrowed approximately $81,000 under the Note and repaid the Note in full on April 5, 2021. No additional borrowing is available under the Note.

Working Capital Loans

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If we complete a Business Combination, we would repay the Working Capital Loans. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into private placement shares at a price of $10.00 per share. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. As of December 31, 2021, we had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.

 

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Administrative Support Agreement

On March 29, 2021, we entered into an agreement with the Sponsor pursuant to which, commencing on the date our securities were first listed on the New York Stock Exchange, we agreed to pay the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. During the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, we incurred $90,000 in expenses for these services, which is included in administrative expenses—related party on the accompanying statement of operations. No amount was due as of December 31, 2021.

Contractual Obligations

Registration Rights

The holders of Founder Shares, Private Placement Shares, and Class A ordinary shares that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans were entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed upon consummation of the Initial Public Offering. These holders were entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, these holders will have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Underwriting Agreement

The underwriter was entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per share, or $4.0 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per share, or approximately $7.0 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

The underwriter partially exercised the over-allotment option and was entitled to an additional fee of approximately $755,000 (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which approximately $503,000 was for deferred underwriting commissions fees.

Critical Accounting Policies

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following as our critical accounting policies:

Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

We account for our Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption (our Public Shares) in accordance with the guidance in ASC 480. Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. Our Public Shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2021, 21,437,500 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ deficit section of the Company’s balance sheet.

Under ASC 480-10S99, we have elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying value of the security to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Effective upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount value. The change in the carrying value of redeemable Class A ordinary shares resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital and accumulated deficit.

 

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Investments Held in the Trust Account

Our portfolio of investments is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities and generally have a readily determinable fair value, or a combination thereof. When our investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of U.S. government securities, the investments are classified as trading securities. When our investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of money market funds, the investments are recognized at fair value. Trading securities and investments in money market funds are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in income from investments held in the Trust Account in the accompanying statement of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information.

Offering Costs Associated with the Initial Public Offering

Offering costs consisted of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering and that were charged against the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in April 2021.

Net Loss Per Ordinary Share

We comply with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” We have two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares, which assumes a business combination as the most likely outcome. Net loss per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.

At December 31, 2021, we did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could potentially be exercised or converted into ordinary shares and then share in our earnings. As a result, diluted net loss per ordinary share is the same as basic net loss per share ordinary for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06, Debt-Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity, which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception and it also simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. We early adopted the ASU on January 15, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Our management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statement.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.

JOBS Act

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”) contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act are allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, the financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

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

 

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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

As of December 31, 2021, we were not subject to any significant market or interest rate risk. The net proceeds of the initial public offering and over-allotment, respectively, included in the Trust Account, were invested in cash and may be invested in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds that meet certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, that 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.

We have not engaged in any hedging activities since our inception and we do not expect to engage in any hedging activities with respect to the market risk to which we are exposed.

 

Item 8.

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Reference is made to Pages F-1 through F-14 comprising a portion of this Report.

 

Item 9.

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.

 

Item 9A.

Controls and Procedures

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2021, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d 15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2021, because of a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, the Company’s management has concluded that our control around the interpretation and accounting for certain complex financial instruments was not effectively designed or maintained. This material weakness resulted in the restatement of the Company’s audited balance sheet as of April 1, 2021, and its interim financial statements for the quarters ended June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2021. Additionally, this material weakness could result in a misstatement of the carrying value of equity, equity-linked instruments and related accounts and disclosures that would result in a material misstatement of the financial statements that would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As a result, our management performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Form 10-K present fairly, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows of the periods presented. Management understands that the accounting standards applicable to our financial statements are complex and has since our inception benefited from the support of experienced third-party professionals with whom management has regularly consulted with respect to accounting issues. Management intends to continue to further consult with such professionals in connection with accounting matters.

Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management’s Report on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting

This report does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by the rules of the SEC for newly public companies.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer performed additional accounting and financial analyses and other post-closing procedures including consulting with subject matter experts related to the accounting for certain complex financial instruments. The Company’s management has expended, and will continue to expend, additional effort and resources for the remediation and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. While we have processes to properly identify and evaluate the appropriate accounting technical pronouncements and other literature for all significant or unusual transactions, we have expanded and will continue to improve these processes to ensure that the nuances of such transactions are effectively evaluated in the context of the increasingly complex accounting standards.

 

Item 9B.

Other Information

None.

 

Item 9C.

Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections

Not Applicable.

 

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PART III

 

Item 10.

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Directors and Executive Officers

Our officers, directors and director nominees are as follows:

 

Name

   Age   

Position

Kevin E. Hartz    52    Co-Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director
Gautam Gupta    41    Co-Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer
Troy B. Steckenrider III    35    Co-Founder, Chief Financial Officer
Pierre Lamond    91    Director (Chairman of the Board)
Michelle Gill    49    Director
Ryan Petersen    41    Director

Our Founding Team

Kevin E. Hartz is our Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer and serves on our board of directors. He is an experienced entrepreneur, company executive, and investor with deep expertise in the technology sector. He was also a Co-Founder, Director, and the Chief Executive Officer of one, a special purpose acquisition company that completed its initial public offering in August 2020, and consummated its initial business combination with Markforged, Inc. (NYSE: MKFG) in July 2021. Mr. Hartz is the Co-Founder, Chairman, and former Chief Executive Officer of Eventbrite (NYSE: EB), a global self-service ticketing platform with over 300 million tickets distributed to more than 4 million experiences in 2019. Eventbrite is where people all over the world discover new things to do or new ways to do more of what they love. Prior to founding Eventbrite, Mr. Hartz was the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xoom, a leader and pioneer in the online consumer-to-consumer international money transfer industry serving over 160 countries worldwide. Xoom was a publicly traded company acquired by PayPal in 2015 for $1.1 billion. Over the course of his career, Mr. Hartz invested in PayPal, Trulia, Airbnb, Pinterest, Uber, and Opendoor among others. Mr. Hartz received a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in History and Applied Earth Sciences from Stanford University and a Master’s degree from University College, Oxford University.

We believe that Mr. Hartz’s broad operational and transactional experience makes him well qualified to serve as Co-Chief Executive Officer and to serve on our board of directors.

Gautam Gupta is our Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer. He was also a Director of one. Previously, Mr. Gupta served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Opendoor.com (NASDAQ: OPEN) from October 2019 to September 2020, and was Opendoor’s Chief Operating Officer from July 2017 to October 2019. From April 2013 to July 2017, Mr. Gupta held various positions at Uber, most recently as Head of Finance. From July 2007 to April 2013, Mr. Gupta worked at Goldman Sachs, initially as an Associate and later as a Vice President. Mr. Gupta holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A.Sc in Computer Engineering from Nanyang Technological University.

We believe that Mr. Gupta’s experience in technology and finance industries make him well qualified to serve as Co-Chief Executive Officer.

Troy B. Steckenrider III is our Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Steckenrider was also a Co-Founder, the Chief Financial Officer and a Director of one. Previously, Mr. Steckenrider was Chief Operating Officer of ZeroDown, a fractional home ownership service. Prior to that, Mr. Steckenrider was Director of Capital Markets at Opendoor, a real estate platform, where he was responsible for building out corporate infrastructure and supporting the company’s growth. Earlier in his career, Mr. Steckenrider was on the private equity investment team at Bain Capital and served a wide variety of clients while at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Steckenrider received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a CFA charterholder.

We believe that Mr. Steckenrider’s broad operational and transactional experience makes him well qualified to serve as Chief Financial Officer.

Our Independent Directors

Pierre Lamond serves as Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Lamond was also Chairman of the board of directors of one. Mr. Lamond is an experienced investor, serving as a General Partner at Sequoia Capital from January 1982 to December 2008, where he played a pivotal role in the expansion of the semiconductor, systems and software portfolios. While at Sequoia Capital, he served as chairman of the board of directors of Cypress Semiconductor, Microchip Semiconductor, Vitesse Semiconductor, Open Silicon Inc., Redback Networks, Verisity and Plumtree and served as a member of the board of directors of Mellanox Technologies and Xoom. From March 2009 to December 2014, Mr. Lamond was a General Partner at Khosla Ventures. From October 2015 to present, Mr. Lamond has been a partner at Eclipse Ventures.

 

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Mr. Lamond is also a pioneer of the semiconductor industry. From February 1966 to August 1981, Mr. Lamond co-founded and held various positions at the National Semiconductor Corporation, including Vice President and General Manager, Integrated Circuits and Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, General Manager of Advanced Products. Prior to that, Mr. Lamond oversaw the development of the advanced high-frequency transistor and the first generation of digital integrated circuits at Fairchild Semiconductor from June 1961 to February 1966. Mr. Lamond holds an MSEE and an MS in Physics from the University of Toulouse, France.

We believe that Mr. Lamond’s broad operational and transactional experience make him well qualified to serve as Chairman of our board of directors.

Michelle Gill is currently the EVP and Group Business Unit Leader for Lending and Capital Markets at Social Finance Inc. (SoFi), which she joined in April 2018 initially as SoFi’s Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Gill was also a Director of one. From July 2017 to April 2018, Ms. Gill was a Managing Director in the US Assets Business at Sixth Street Partners. From February 2003 to April 2017, Ms. Gill served in various roles at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a partner, co-heading the Structured Finance business. During her time at Goldman Sachs, Ms. Gill held numerous roles including running the Mortgage Finance business, starting and running a Re-Structuring team during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and running Whole Loan trading before ultimately co-heading the Structured Finance business. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Ms. Gill held positions at Lehman Brothers and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Ms. Gill holds a JD from Cornell Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles.

We believe that Ms. Gill’s experience in technology and finance industries make her well qualified to serve on our board of directors.

Ryan Petersen has, since April 2013, served as the founder and CEO of Flexport, a technology platform for global trade. Prior to starting Flexport, Mr. Petersen was the founder and CEO of ImportGenius, a provider of transaction data for the global trade industry. He has experience investing in numerous technology companies. He earned a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

We believe that Mr. Petersen’s leadership, operational and investment experience in the technology industry make him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.

Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

Holders of the founder shares will have the right to appoint and remove all of our directors prior to consummation of the Business Combination and holders of the public shares will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. Each of our directors will hold office for a three-year term. Incumbent directors will also have the ability to appoint additional directors or to appoint replacement directors in the event of a casual vacancy.

Our officers are appointed by our board of directors and serve at the discretion of our board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our officers may consist of a Chairman, a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Operating Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by our board of directors.

Director Independence

The rules of the NYSE require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of the Initial Public Offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person that, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Lamond, Ms. Gill and Mr. Petersen are an “independent director” under applicable SEC and NYSE rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee; a compensation committee; and a nominating and corporate governance committee.

Subject to phase-in rules, the rules of 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 NYSE require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee will operate under a charter that has been approved by our board of directors and has the composition and responsibilities described below.

 

49


Audit Committee

We established an audit committee of the board of directors. Mr. Lamond, Ms. Gill and Mr. Petersen serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of our audit committee members are independent. Ms. Gill serves as the chair of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee meets the financial literacy requirements of the NYSE and our board of directors has determined that Ms. Gill qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.

The audit committee is responsible for:

 

   

assisting board oversight of (1) the integrity of our financial statements, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) our independent auditor’s qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent auditors;

 

   

the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent auditors 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 auditors or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;

 

   

reviewing and discussing with the independent auditors 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 auditors;

 

   

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 auditors describing (1) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) 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;

 

   

meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent auditor, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”;

 

   

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 auditors, 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

We established a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board of directors. The members of our nominating committee are Mr. Lamond and Mr. Petersen, with Mr. Lamond serving as chairman. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Lamond and Mr. Petersen is an independent director.

The nominating committee is responsible for:

 

   

identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by our Board of Directors, and recommending to our Board of Directors candidates for nomination for appointment;

 

   

developing and recommending to our Board of Directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines;

 

   

coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of our 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.

 

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Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees

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

Compensation Committee

We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors. However, as we are not paying compensation to any employees, and have already determined director compensation, we do not expect that the compensation committee will meet for substantive compensation purposes prior to our initial business combination. The members of our compensation committee are Ms. Gill and Mr. Petersen. Mr. Petersen serves as chairman of the compensation committee. Our board of directors has determined that all of the directors on the compensation committee are independent. We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:

 

   

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

 

   

reviewing and 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;

 

   

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; and

 

   

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

The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent 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 executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.

Code of Ethics

We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

Conflicts of Interest

Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:

 

   

duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole;

 

   

duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;

 

   

directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;

 

51


   

duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and

 

   

duty to exercise independent judgment.

In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.

As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.

Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

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

 

INDIVIDUAL

  

ENTITY

  

ENTITY’S BUSINESS

  

AFFILIATION

Kevin E. Hartz    Eventbrite, Inc.    Digital ticketing    Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors
   Newfront Insurance    Technology-enabled insurance brokerage    Director
   Lookout    Mobile security platform    Director
   Markforged, Inc.    Additive Manufacturing    Director
Gautam Gupta    Faire    Technology enabled wholesale marketplace    Advisor
   Modularity    Financial software solutions    Advisor
   Homebound    Technology enabled home builder    Advisor
Troy B. Steckenrider III    EvenUpLaw    Legal data services    Advisor
Michelle Gill    Social Finance, Inc.    Financial services    Executive Vice President
Pierre Lamond         
Ryan Petersen    Flexport    Technology & Logistics    Founder and Chief Executive Officer

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

 

   

Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs.

 

52


   

Our sponsor subscribed for founder shares prior to the date of this report and purchased private placement shares in transactions that closed simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and the exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option. Our sponsor and our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination activity. Additionally, our sponsor has agreed to waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the required time period. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, the private placement shares and the underlying securities will expire worthless. Except as described herein, our sponsor and our management team have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earliest of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. With certain limited exceptions, private placement shares, will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because each of our executive officers and directors will own ordinary shares directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular partner business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination.

 

   

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 partner business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination or subsequent transaction with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, founders, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our founders, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent valuation or accounting firm that such initial business combination or transaction is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination.

We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive approval pursuant to an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a simple majority of the shares voted at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, willful neglect, civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We entered into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.

Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.

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

 

53


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

Executive Officer and Director Compensation

None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential partner businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.

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

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

 

Item 11.

Executive Compensation

None.

 

Item 12.

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our Class A ordinary shares as of March 21, 2022 by:

 

   

each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares; and

 

   

each of our executive officers and directors; and

 

   

all our executive officers and directors as a group.

In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 22,066,250 Class A ordinary shares (which includes 21,437,500 Class A ordinary shares sold in our initial public offering and pursuant to the over-allotment option, and 628,500 private placement shares) and 5,359,375 Class B ordinary shares outstanding as of December 31, 2021. Voting power represents the combined voting power of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares owned beneficially by such person. On all matters to be voted upon, the holders of the Class A ordinary shares and the Class B ordinary shares vote together as a single class.

 

     Class B ordinary shares(2)     Class A ordinary shares(2)        

Name of Beneficial Owners(1)

   Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
     Approximate
Percentage
of Class
    Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
     Approximate
Percentage
of Class
    Approximate
Percentage
of Voting
Control
 

two sponsor (our sponsor) (3)

     5,254,375        98.0     628,750      2.8 %     21.5

Kevin E. Hartz

     —          —         —          —         —    

 

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     Class B ordinary shares(2)     Class A ordinary shares(2)         

Name of Beneficial Owners(1)

   Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
     Approximate
Percentage
of Class
    Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
     Approximate
Percentage
of Class
     Approximate
Percentage
of Voting
Control
 

Gautam Gupta

     —          —         —          —          —    

Troy B. Steckenrider III

     —          —         —          —          —    

Michelle Gill

     25,000      0.5 %     —          —          *  

Pierre Lamond

     30,000      0.5 %     —          —          *  

Ryan Petersen

     25,000      0.5 %     —          —          *  

All officers and directors as a

             

group (five individuals)

     5,334,375        99.5     —          —          0.3

 

*Less 

than 0.1% percent.

 

(1)

Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is the principal business address of the company.

(2)

The Class B ordinary shares automatically convert into Class A shares upon consummation of an initial business combination, at a ratio of no less than one-to-one. The Class A ordinary shares reported herein include 628,750 private placement shares

(3)

two sponsor is the record holder of the Class B ordinary shares and the private placement shares reported herein. Mr. Hartz, Mr. Gupta and Mr. Steckenrider are members of A-Star Investments, LLC, which is the sole member of two sponsor, and are not deemed to beneficially own the shares held by two sponsor. None of these individuals exercise sole investment or dispositive power with respect to the securities reported herein.

Our initial shareholders beneficially owned approximately 21.5% of the issued and outstanding shares of our ordinary shares following our initial public offering and the exercise of the over-allotment. Because of this ownership block, our initial shareholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination.

Our sponsor and our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination activity. Further, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination.

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

Changes in Control

None.

 

Item 13.

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

In January 2021, our sponsor purchased 5,750,000 founder shares for a capital contribution of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, of which 750,000 were subject to forfeiture based on the extent to which the underwriter’s over-allotment option was exercised. In March 2021, our sponsor transferred 105,000 Class B ordinary shares to certain individuals, including our independent directors. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the issued and outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. In April 2021, our Sponsor forfeited 390,625 Class B ordinary shares in connection with the partial exercise of the over-allotment option. The founder shares (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.

Our sponsor purchased, pursuant to a written agreement, 628,500 private placement shares, at a price of $10.00 per share, in private placements which occurred concurrently with the closing of our initial public offering and the exercise of the over-allotment option, for an aggregate purchase price of $6,285,000. The private placement shares may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.

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 honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.

 

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No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential partner 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 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.

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private placement shares at a price of $10.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, 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, members of our management team or any of their affiliates 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 shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our shareholders. 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 general 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 and director compensation.

We have entered into a registration and shareholder rights agreement pursuant to which our initial shareholders, and their permitted transferees, if any, are entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the private placement warrants, the securities issuable upon conversion of working capital loans (if any) and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares. Further, pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for appointment to our board of directors, as long as the sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement, which is described under the section of this report entitled “Description of Securities—Registration and Shareholder Rights.”

Our sponsor has indicated a potential interest to purchase our shares in a private placement that would occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination. It is expected that the capital from any such private placement, if made, would be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in our initial business combination, and any excess capital from any such private placement would be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. Sponsor is under no obligation to buy any such shares and we are not under any obligation to sell any such shares. Such investment would be made on terms and conditions determined at the time of the business combination.

Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions

The audit committee of our board of directors operates pursuant to a charter, that provides for the review, approval and/or ratification of “related party transactions,” which are those transactions required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K as promulgated by the SEC, by the audit committee. At its meetings, the audit committee is provided with the details of each new, existing, or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, any contractual restrictions that the company has already committed to, the business purpose of the transaction, and the benefits of the transaction to the company and to the relevant related party. Any member of the committee who has an interest in the related party transaction under review by the committee shall abstain from voting on the approval of the related party transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the committee, participate in some or all of the committee’s discussions of the related party transaction. Upon completion of its review of the related party transaction, the committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the related party transaction.

 

Item 14.

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The following is a summary of fees paid to WithumSmith+Brown, PC, for services rendered.

Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 financial statements, reviews of our quarterly financial statements and services that are normally provided by our independent registered public accounting firm in connection with statutory and regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by WithumSmith+Brown, PC for audit fees, inclusive of required filings with the SEC for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, including the services rendered in connection with our initial public offering, totaled $119,260, respectively.

 

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Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 financial statements are not reported under “Audit Fees.” For the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, WithumSmith+Brown, PC did not render such services.

Tax Fees. Tax fees consist of fees billed for professional services relating to tax compliance, tax planning and tax advice. For the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, WithumSmith+Brown, PC did not render such services.

All Other Fees. All other fees consist of fees billed for all other services. For the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, WithumSmith+Brown, PC did not render any of these other services.

PART IV

 

Item 15.

Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

 

  (a)

The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report:

 

  (1)

Financial Statements

 

  (2)

Exhibits

We hereby file as part of this Annual Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index.

 

Exhibit No.   

Description

    1.1    Underwriting Agreement, dated March 29, 2021, between the Company and Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.(1)
    3.1    Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association.(1)
    4.1    Form of Specimen Ordinary Share Certificate.(2)
    4.4    Description of Securities.*
  10.1    Promissory Note, dated as of January 21, 2021, issued to two sponsor.(2)
  10.2    Letter Agreement by and between the Company and its initial shareholders, dated as of March 29, 2021. (1)
  10.3    Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated as of March 29, 2021, between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer  & Trust Company, as trustee agent.(1)
  10.4    Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of March 29, 2020, between the Company and the Sponsor.(2)
  10.5    Securities Subscription Agreement, dated as of January 21, 2021, by and between the Company and two sponsor.(1)
  10.6    Administrative Support Agreement, dated March 29, 2021, by and between the Company and two sponsor.(1)
  10.7    Form of Indemnity Agreement by and between the Company and each of the officers and directors of the Company.(2)
  14.1    Form of Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. (2)
  31.1    Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.*
  31.2    Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.*
  32.1    Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.*
  32.2    Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.*
101.INS    Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document)
101.SCH    Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.
101.CAL    Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document.
101.DEF    Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document.
101.LAB    Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document.
101.PRE    Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document.
104    Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101).

  

 

*

Filed herewith.

(1)

Incorporated by reference to the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A, filed with the SEC on March 23, 2021.

(2)

Incorporated by reference to the registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on April 2, 2021.

 

57


Item 16.

Form 10-K Summary

None.

 

58


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

March 31, 2022

 

two

By:

 

/s/ Kevin E. Hartz

 

Name: Kevin E. Hartz

 

Title: Co-Chief Executive Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Annual Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Name

  

Position

  

Date

/s/ Kevin E. Hartz    Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director    March 31, 2022
Kevin E. Hartz    (Principal Executive Officer)   
/s/ Troy B. Steckenrider III    Chief Financial Officer and Director    March 31, 2022
Troy B. Steckenrider III    (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)   
/s/ Gautam Gupta    Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director    March 31, 2022
Gautam Gupta      
/s/ Pierre Lamond    Director    March 31, 2022
Pierre Lamond      
/s/ Michelle Gill    Director    March 31, 2022
Michelle Gill      
/s/ Ryan Petersen    Director    March 31, 2022
Ryan Petersen      

 

 

59



REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of two

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of two (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021, the related statements of operations, changes in shareholders’ deficit and cash flows for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 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 December 31, 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statement

As described in Note 2 to the financial statements, the Company’s previously issued April 1, 2021 financial statement has been restated herein to correct certain misstatements.

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) (the “PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our 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/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2021.

New York, New York

March 31, 2022

PCAOB ID Number 100

 

F-2


TWO

BALANCE SHEET

DECEMBER 31, 2021

 

Assets

  

Current assets:

  

Cash

   $ 983,362  

Prepaid expenses

     412,025  
  

 

 

 

Total current assets

     1,395,387  

Investments held in Trust Account

     214,410,557  
  

 

 

 

Total Assets

   $  215,805,944  
  

 

 

 

Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption  and Shareholders’ Deficit

  

Current liabilities:

  

Accounts payable

   $ 163,300  

Accrued expenses

     61,599  
  

 

 

 

Total current liabilities

     224,899  

Deferred underwriting commissions

     7,503,125  
  

 

 

 

Total Liabilities

     7,728,024  

Commitments and Contingencies

  

Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

  

Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, $0.0001 par value; 21,437,500 shares issued and outstanding at $10.00 per share at redemption value

     214,375,000  

Shareholders’ Deficit:

  

Preference shares, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued or outstanding

     —    

Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 400,000,000 shares authorized; 628,750 shares issued and outstanding (excluding 21,437,500 shares subject to possible redemption)

     63  

Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; 5,359,375 shares issued and outstanding

     536  

Additional paid-in capital

     —    

Accumulated deficit

     (6,297,679
  

 

 

 

Total Shareholders’ Deficit

     (6,297,080
  

 

 

 

Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Deficit

   $ 215,805,944  
  

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

F-3


TWO

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

For The Period From January 15, 2021 (Inception) through December 31, 2021

 

General and administrative expenses

   $ 688,440  

Administrative expenses-related party

     90,000  
  

 

 

 

Loss from operations

     (778,440

Income from investments held in Trust Account

     35,557  
  

 

 

 

Net loss

   $ (742,883
  

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A ordinary shares, basic and diluted

     17,238,244  
  

 

 

 

Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share, Class A ordinary shares

   $ (0.03
  

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B ordinary shares, basic and diluted

     5,198,616  
  

 

 

 

Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share, Class B ordinary shares

   $ (0.03
  

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

F-4


TWO

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIT

For the Period from January 15, 2021 (inception) Through December 31, 2021

 

     Ordinary Shares     Additional Paid-in
Capital
          Total
Shareholders’
Deficit
 
     Class A      Class B     Accumulated
Deficit
 
     Shares      Amount      Shares     Amount  

Balance—January 15, 2021 (inception)

     —         $ —          —        $ —       $ —        $ —        $ —     

Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to Sponsor

     —           —           5,750,000       575       24,425       —          25,000  

Sale of Class A private placement shares to

Sponsor in private placement

     628,750      63        —          —          6,287,437       —          6,287,500  

Forfeiture of Class B ordinary shares

     —           —           (390,625     (39     39       —          —     

Accretion of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption

     —           —           —          —          (6,311,901     (5,554,796     (11,866,697

Net loss

     —           —           —          —          —          (742,883     (742,883
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Balance—December 31, 2021

     628,750      $ 63        5,359,375     $  536     $ —        $ (6,297,679   $ (6,297,080
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

F-5


TWO

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the Period from January 15, 2021 (inception) Through December 31, 2021

 

Cash Flows from Operating Activities:

  

Net loss

   $ (742,883

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:

  

General and administrative expenses paid by related party in  exchange for issuance of Class B ordinary shares

     25,000  

Income from investments held in Trust Account

     (35,557

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

  

Prepaid expenses

     (412,025

Accounts payable

     78,300  

Accrued expenses

     61,599  
  

 

 

 

Net cash used in operating activities

     (1,025,566
  

 

 

 

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

  

Cash deposited in Trust Account

     (214,375,000
  

 

 

 

Net cash used in investing activities

     (214,375,000
  

 

 

 

Cash Flows from Financing Activities:

  

Repayment of note payable to related party

     (80,693

Proceeds received from initial public offering, gross

     214,375,000  

Proceeds received from private placement

     6,287,500  

Offering costs paid, net of reimbursement from underwriter

     (4,197,879
  

 

 

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

     216,383,928  
  

 

 

 

Net change in cash

     983,362  

Cash-beginning of the period

     —    
  

 

 

 

Cash-end of the period

   $ 983,362  
  

 

 

 

Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing and financing activities:

  

Offering costs included in accounts payable

   $ 85,000  
  

 

 

 

Payment of offering costs through note payable

   $ 80,693  
  

 

 

 

Deferred underwriting commissions in connection with the initial public offering

   $ 7,503,125  
  

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

F-6


TWO

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 1—Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation

two (the “Company”) was incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on January 15, 2021 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”). The Company is an emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) described below, and since the Initial Public Offering, the search for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income from investments in the Trust Account derived from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering.

The Company’s sponsor is two sponsor, a Cayman Islands exempted limited company (the “Sponsor”). The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective March 29, 2021. On April 1, 2021, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 20,000,000 Class A ordinary shares (the “Public Shares”), at an offering price of $10.00 per Public Share, generating gross proceeds of $200.0 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $11.1 million (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which $7.0 million was for deferred underwriting commissions (see Note 5). The underwriter was granted a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments, if any, at $10.00 per share. The Underwriter partially exercised the over-allotment option and on April 13, 2021 purchased an additional 1,437,500 Class A ordinary shares (the “Additional Shares”), generating gross proceeds of approximately $14.4 million (the “Over-Allotment”), and the Company incurred additional offering costs of approximately $755,000 (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which approximately $503,000 was for deferred underwriting fees.

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the private placement (“Private Placement”) of 600,000 Class A ordinary shares (the “Private Placement Shares”), at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement Share to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of approximately $6.0 million (see Note 4). Simultaneously with the closing of the Over-Allotment on April 13, 2021, the Company consummated the second closing of the Private Placement, resulting in the purchase of an aggregate of an additional 28,750 Private Placement Shares by the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $287,500.

Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering the Over-Allotment, and the Private Placements, $214.4 million ($10.00 per share) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Public Shares in the Initial Public Offering and of the Private Placement Shares in the Private Placement were placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”), located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and will invest only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.

The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of Private Placement Shares, 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 one or more initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. 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 sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.

The Company will provide its holders of its Public Shares (the “Public Shareholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Shareholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account ($10.00 per Public Share). The per-share amount to be distributed to Public Shareholders who redeem their Public Shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriter (as discussed in Note 5). These Public Shares have been classified as temporary equity in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 and the approval of an ordinary resolution. If a shareholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to an Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (the “Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association”), 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, shareholder approval of the transactions is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain shareholder approval for business or legal 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 Shareholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. If the Company seeks shareholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the initial shareholders (as defined below) agreed to vote their Founder Shares (as defined below in Note 4), Private Placement Shares and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of a Business Combination. Subsequent to the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, the Company will adopt an insider trading policy which will require insiders to: (i) refrain from purchasing shares during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (ii) to clear all trades with the Company’s legal counsel prior to execution. In addition, the initial shareholders agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares, Private Placement Shares and Public Shares in connection with the completion of a Business Combination.

 

F-7


Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association provide that a Public Shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Class A ordinary shares sold in the Initial Public Offering, without the prior consent of the Company.

The Company’s Sponsor, officers and directors (the “initial shareholders”) agreed not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the Company’s initial business combination or to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or April 1, 2023 (the “Combination Period”) or (B) with respect to any shareholders’ rights prior to the initial Business Combination, unless the Company provides the Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares in conjunction with any such amendment.

If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay the Company’s income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the remaining shareholders and the board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

The Sponsor, officers and directors agreed to waive their liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares and any Private Placement Shares they hold if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the initial shareholders or members of the Company’s management team acquire Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriter agreed to waive their rights to its 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 $10.00 per share initially held in the Trust Account. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a vendor 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, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account or to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriter of the Initial 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, 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 (except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or 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.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $983,000 in its operating bank account and working capital of approximately $1.2 million.

 

F-8


The Company’s liquidity needs to date have been satisfied through $25,000 paid by the Sponsor to cover certain expenses in exchange for the issuance of the Founder Shares, a loan of approximately $81,000 from the Sponsor pursuant to the Note (as defined in Note 4), and the proceeds from the consummation of the Private Placement not held in the Trust Account of $2.5 million (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter). The Company repaid the Note in full on April 5, 2021. No additional borrowing is available under the Note in addition, in order to 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, provide the Company Working Capital Loans (as defined in Note 5). As of December 31, 2021, there were no Working Capital Loans outstanding.

Based on the foregoing, management believes that the Company will have sufficient working capital and borrowing capacity from the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors to meet its needs through the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or one year from this filing. Over this time period, the Company will be using these funds for paying existing accounts payable, identifying and evaluating prospective initial Business Combination candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to merge with or acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.

Note 2—Restatement of Previously Filed Balance Sheet

In preparation of the Company’s audited financial statements as of and for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31 2021, the Company concluded it should restate its previously issued balance sheet as of April 1, 2021 as reported in its Form 8-K filed with the SEC on April 8, 2021 (the “Post-IPO Balance Sheet”) to classify all Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption in temporary equity. In accordance with ASC 480-10-S99, redemption provisions not solely within the control of the Company require shares subject to redemption to be classified outside of permanent equity. The Company had previously classified a portion of its Class A ordinary shares in permanent equity. Although the Company did not specify a maximum redemption threshold, its charter currently provides that the Company will not redeem its Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. Previously, the Company did not consider redeemable shares classified as temporary equity as part of net tangible assets. The Company revised this interpretation to include temporary equity in net tangible assets.

In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99, “Materiality,” and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, “Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements,” the Company evaluated the correction and has determined that the related impact was material to the Post-IPO Balance Sheet. Therefore, the Company, in consultation with its Audit Committee, concluded that the Post-IPO Balance Sheet should be restated to present all outstanding Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption as temporary equity and to recognize accretion from the initial book value to redemption value at the time of its Initial Public Offering. As such, the Company is reporting the restatement to the Post-IPO Balance Sheet in this filing. The previously presented Post-IPO Balance Sheet should no longer be relied upon.

The following table summarizes the effect of the restatement on each financial statement line item as of the date indicated:

 

As of April 1, 2021    As Reported     Adjustment     As Restated  

Total assets

   $ 203,174,600     $ —       $ 203,174,600  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total liabilities

   $ 8,345,179     $ —       $ 8,345,179  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption at $10.00 per share

   $ 189,829,420     $ 10,170,580     $ 200,000,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Preference shares

     —         —         —    
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares

     162       (102     60  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Class B ordinary shares

     575       —         575  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Additional paid-in capital

     5,090,233       (5,090,233     —    
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Accumulated deficit

     (90,969     (5,080,245     (5,171,214
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total shareholders’ equity (deficit)

   $ 5,000,001     $ (10,170,580 )    $ (5,170,579 ) 
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit)

   $ 203,174,600     $ —       $ 203,174,600  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Shares of Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption

     18,982,942       1,017,058       20,000,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Shares of Class A ordinary shares

     1,617,058       (1,017,058     600,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

See Note 7 for a reconciliation of gross proceeds from the Initial Public Offering to Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption presented on the balance sheet.

Note 3—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

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.

Emerging growth company

As an emerging growth company, the Company may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard.

This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statement with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.

Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company had no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021.

 

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Investments Held in Trust Account

The Company’s portfolio of investments is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities and generally have a readily determinable fair value, or a combination thereof. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of U.S. government securities, the investments are classified as trading securities. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of money market funds, the investments are recognized at fair value. Trading securities and investments in money market funds are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in income from investments held in the Trust Account in the accompanying statement of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information.

Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation Coverage limit of $250,000. As of December 31, 2021, the Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under the FASB ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” equal or approximate the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.

Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid for transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. U.S. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers include:

 

   

Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets;

 

   

Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and

 

   

Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable.

In some circumstances, the inputs used to measure fair value might be categorized within different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is categorized in its entirety in the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

Offering Costs Associated with the Initial Public Offering

Offering costs consist of legal, accounting, and other costs incurred that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering and were charged against the carrying value of the Class A shares subject to possible redemption upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering.

Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

The Company accounts for its Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC 480. Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2021, 21,437,500 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ deficit section of the Company’s balance sheet.

 

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Under ASC 480-10S99, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying value of the security to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Effective with the closing of the Initial Public Offering (including the exercise of the over-allotment option), the Company recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) and accumulated deficit.

Income Taxes

The Company follows accounting for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, “Income Taxes,” which prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2021. The Company’s management determined that the Cayman Islands is the Company’s only major tax jurisdiction. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. No amounts were accrued for the payment of interest and penalties as of December 31, 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.

There is currently no taxation imposed on income by the Government of the Cayman Islands. In accordance with Cayman federal income tax regulations, income taxes are not levied on the Company. Consequently, income taxes are not reflected in the Company’s financial statement. The Company’s management does not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will materially change over the next twelve months.

Net Loss Per Ordinary Share

The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” The Company has two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares, which assumes a business combination as the most likely outcome. Net loss per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.

At December 31, 2021, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could potentially be exercised or converted into ordinary shares and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted net loss per ordinary share is the same as basic net loss per share ordinary for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.

The table below presents a reconciliation of the numerator and denominator used to compute basic and diluted net loss per share for each class of ordinary shares:

 

     For The Period From January 15,
2021 (inception) through
December 31, 2021
 
     Class A      Class B  

Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share:

     

Numerator:

     

Allocation of net loss

     (570,757      (172,126

Denominator:

     

Basic and diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding

     17,238,244        5,198,616  
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share

   $ (0.03)      $ (0.03)  
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06, Debt-Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity, which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current U.S. GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception and it also simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company early adopted the ASU on January 15, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

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The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statement.

Note 4—Initial Public Offering

On April 1, 2021, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 20,000,000 Public Shares, at an offering price of $10.00 per Public Share, generating gross proceeds of $200.0 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $11.1 million (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which $7.0 million was for deferred underwriting commissions.

The Company granted the underwriter a 45-day option from the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional Public Shares to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Initial Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The Underwriter partially exercised the over-allotment option and on April 13, 2021 purchased an additional 1,437,500 Class A ordinary shares (the “Additional Shares”), generating gross proceeds of approximately $14.4 million, and the Company incurred additional offering costs of approximately $755,000 (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which approximately $503,000 was for deferred underwriting fees.

Note 5—Related Party Transactions

Founder Shares

On January 21, 2021, the Sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover expenses in consideration for 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 (the “Founder Shares”). Up to 750,000 Founder Shares were subject to forfeiture to the extent that the over-allotment option was not exercised in full by the underwriter, so that the Founder Shares would represent 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering. On March 8, 2021, the Sponsor transferred 25,000 Founder Shares to each of Michelle Gill, Ryan Petersen and Laura de Petra, and 30,000 Founder Shares to Pierre Lamond. Such shares will not be subject to forfeiture in the event the underwriter’s over-allotment is not exercised. The underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option on April 13, 2021 and on April 19, 2021, the Sponsor surrendered 390,625 Class B ordinary shares for no consideration resulting in 5,359,375 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding with no shares subject to forfeiture.

The initial shareholders agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination and (B) subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (x) if the closing price of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Public Shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.

Private Placement Shares

Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the Private Placement of 600,000 Private Placement Shares, at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement Share to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of approximately $6.0 million. If the over-allotment option was exercised, the Sponsor could have purchased an additional amount of up to 60,000 Private Placement Shares at a price of $10.00 per share. A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Shares was added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. Simultaneously with the closing of the Over-Allotment on April 13, 2021, the Company consummated the second closing of the Private Placement, resulting in the purchase of an aggregate of an additional 28,750 Private Placement Shares by the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $287,500.

The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Private Placement Shares until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.

Sponsor Loan

On January 21, 2021, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company up to $300,000 pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). This loan was non-interest bearing and payable upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. The Company borrowed approximately $81,000 under the Note and repaid the Note in full on April 5, 2021. No additional borrowing is available under the Note.

 

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Working Capital Loans

In addition, in order to 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”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into private placement shares at a price of $10.00 per share. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had no Working Capital Loans outstanding.

Administrative Support Agreement

On March 29, 2021, the Company entered into an agreement with the Sponsor pursuant to which, commencing on the date the Company’s securities were first listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company agreed to pay the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. During the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, the Company incurred $90,000 in expenses for these services, respectively, which is included in administrative expenses-related party on the accompanying statement of operations. No amount was due as of December 31, 2021.

Note 6—Commitments and Contingencies

Registration Rights

The holders of Founder Shares, Private Placement Shares, and Class A ordinary shares that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans were entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed upon consummation of the Initial Public Offering. These holders were entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company registers such securities. In addition, these holders will have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Underwriting Agreement

The underwriter was entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per share, or $4.0 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per share, or approximately $7.0 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

The underwriter partially exercised the over-allotment option and was entitled to an additional fee of approximately $755,000 (net of a required reimbursement from the underwriter), of which approximately $503,000 was for deferred underwriting commissions fees.

Risks and Uncertainties

Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of this financial statement. The financial statement does not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Note 7—Class A Ordinary Shares Subject To Possible Redemption

The Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of future events. The Company is authorized to issue 400,000,000 ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share. As of December 31, 2021, there were 22,066,250 Class A ordinary shares outstanding, of which 21,437,500 shares were subject to possible redemption.

Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption reflected on the balance sheet is reconciled on the following table:

 

Gross proceeds

   $ 214,375,000  

Less:

  

Offering costs allocated to Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption

     (11,866,697

Plus:

  

Accretion on Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption amount

     11,866,697  
  

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption

   $ 214,375,000  
  

 

 

 

 

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Note 8—Shareholders’ Deficit

Preference Shares- The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 preference shares with a 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 December 31, 2021, there were no preference shares issued or outstanding.

Class A Ordinary Shares- The Company is authorized to issue 400,000,000 Class A ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2021, there were 22,066,250 Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding, of which 21,437,500 shares were subject to possible redemption and have been classified as temporary equity (See Note 6).

Class B Ordinary Shares- The Company is authorized to issue 10,000,000 Class B ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders are entitled to one vote for each share of Class B ordinary shares. On January 21, 2021, 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares were issued to the Company’s Sponsor. Of the 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares, an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares were subject to forfeiture to the Company for no consideration to the extent that the underwriter’s over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part, so that the initial shareholders will collectively own 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares (excluding the Private Placement Shares) after the Initial Public Offering. The underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option on April 13, 2021, 390,625 Class B ordinary shares were forfeited for no consideration resulting in 5,359,375 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding with no shares subject to forfeiture.

Holders of the Class A ordinary shares and holders of the Class B ordinary shares will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of the Company’s shareholders, except as required by law or stock exchange rule; provided that only holders of the Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote on the election of the Company’s directors prior to the initial Business Combination.

The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the consummation of the initial Business Combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Founder Shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of the Initial Public Offering (excluding the Private Placement Shares), plus (ii) the sum of the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, deemed issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial Business Combination and any Private Placement Shares that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one to one.

Note 9—Fair Value Measurements

The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2021 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques that the Company utilized to determine such fair value.

 

Description    Quoted
Prices
in Active
Markets
(Level 1)
     Significant
Other
Observable
Inputs
(Level 2)
     Significant
Other
Unobservable
Inputs
(Level 3)
 

Investments held in Trust Account:

        

US Treasury Securities(1)

   $ 214,409,929      $ —      $ —  

 

(1)

Exclude $628 of cash balance held within the Trust Account

Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2, and 3 are recognized at the beginning of the reporting period. There were no transfers between levels of the hierarchy for the period from January 15, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021.

Level 1 assets include investments in Treasury Bills. The Company uses inputs such as actual trade data, quoted market prices from dealers or brokers, and other similar sources to determine the fair value of its investments.

Note 10—Subsequent Events

Management has evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred up to the date the financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify and subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.

 

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