EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1802457
Filing Year: 2021
Filename: 1802457_10-K_2021_0001193125-21-069950.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business
Introduction
We are a special purpose acquisition company incorporated on January 24, 2020 as a Cayman Islands exempted company and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (“Business Combination”). We have reviewed a number of opportunities to enter into a Business Combination and, on the terms and subject to the conditions of the Merger Agreement (as defined below), intend to effect the Proposed Business Combination as described below under “Recent Developments.” We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, we are a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) because we have no operations and our assets consist almost entirely of cash and cash equivalents.
On February 4, 2020 our Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 11,500,000 Class B ordinary shares (the “Founder Shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share. On June 24, 2020 and July 13, 2020, we effected share capitalization resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 18,112,500 Founder Shares.
On the Close Date, we consummated an initial public offering of 72,450,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit generating gross proceeds of $724,500,000 before underwriting discounts and expenses (the “Public Offering”). Each “Unit” consists of one Class A ordinary share (“Public Share”) of the Company at $0.0001 par value and one-third of one warrant (a “Unit”). Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Public Share at a price of $11.50 per share (a “Warrant”). Only whole Warrants may be exercised and no fractional Warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole Warrants may be traded. Prior to the Close Date, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 11,326,667 private placement warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”), each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share for $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, to our Sponsor, at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant. The Warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of the Business Combination or 12 months from the Close Date, and will expire five years after the completion of the Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. Alternatively, if we do not complete a Business Combination within 24 months after the Close Date, the Warrants will expire at the end of such period.
We received gross proceeds from the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants of $724,500,000 and $16,990,000, respectively, for an aggregate of $741,490,000. $724,500,000 of the gross proceeds were deposited in a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer and Trust Company (the “Trust Account”). At the Close Date, the remaining $16,990,000 was held outside of the Trust Account, of which $14,490,000 was used to pay underwriting discounts and $215,215 was used to repay notes payable to our Sponsor, with the balance reserved to pay accrued offering and formation costs, business, legal and accounting due diligence on prospective acquisitions and continuing general and administrative expenses. In the future, a portion of interest income on the funds held in the Trust Account may be released to us to pay tax obligations.
On September 3, 2020 we announced that the holders of our Units may elect to separately trade the Class A ordinary shares and Warrants included in the Units commencing on September 4, 2020 on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) under the symbols “AACQ” and “AACQW,” respectively. Those Units not separated will continue to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “AACQU”.
Recent Developments
On February 16, 2021, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) by and between the Company, Zero Carbon Merger Inc., a Delaware corporation and our direct, wholly owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), and Micromidas, Inc., a Delaware corporation doing business as Origin Materials (“Micromidas”).
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, (i) the Company will domesticate from a Cayman Islands exempted company to a Delaware corporation (the “Domestication”) and (ii) Merger Sub will merge with and into Micromidas with Micromidas continuing as the surviving entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger” and together with the Domestication and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Proposed Business Combination”). In connection with the Domestication, the Company will change its name to “Origin Materials, Inc.” We refer to the Company following the Business Combination as “Origin.”
As a result of the Proposed Business Combination, each issued and outstanding Class A ordinary share and Class B ordinary share of the Company will convert into a share of Class A common stock of Origin (“Class A Common Stock”), and each issued and outstanding warrant to purchase Class A ordinary shares of the Company will be exercisable by its terms to purchase an equal number of shares of Class A Common Stock.
The aggregate stock consideration to be distributed to Micromidas’s holders at the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”) is 78,213,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, which is subject to certain downward adjustments pursuant to the Merger Agreement. At the Effective Time, by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of the Company, Merger Sub, Micromidas or the holders of any of Micromidas’s securities:
(a) each share of Micromidas common stock (“Micromidas Common Stock”), series A preferred stock (“Micromidas Series A Preferred Stock”), series B preferred stock (“Micromidas Series B Preferred Stock”) and series C preferred stock (“Micromidas Series C Preferred Stock”), in each case outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time will be canceled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Class A Common Stock equal to the Common Exchange Ratio, Series A Exchange Ratio, Series B Exchange Ratio and Series C Exchange Ratio, respectively, each as defined in the Merger Agreement (subject to certain adjustments as described in the Merger Agreement);
(b) any shares of Micromidas capital stock held in the treasury of Micromidas or owned by the Company, Merger Sub or Micromidas immediately prior to the Effective Time will be canceled without any conversion thereof and no payment or distribution shall be made with respect thereto;
(c) each issued and outstanding share of common stock of Merger Sub will be converted into and become one validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable share of common stock of the surviving corporation in the Merger; and
(d) each warrant to purchase Micromidas stock will terminate, be cancelled and cease to exist and will be deemed to have been exercised immediately prior to the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”) and settled in the applicable number of shares of Micromidas Series A Preferred Stock or Micromidas Series B Preferred Stock, as applicable, rounded down to the nearest whole share, and then treated in the manner described in (a), above;
(e) each option to purchase Micromidas Common Stock that is outstanding under Micromidas’s 2010 Stock Incentive Plan and the 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Incentive Plans”) (each, a “Company Option”) held by a former employee or service provider of Micromidas, Inc. (each, a “Former Employee Option”) that is vested and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be deemed to have been exercised, on a net exercise basis with respect to the applicable exercise price and any required withholding or employment taxes thereon, immediately prior to the Closing and settled in the applicable number of shares of Micromidas Common Stock, rounded down to the nearest whole share, and treated in accordance with clause (a) above. Each Former Employee Option that is unvested and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be automatically cancelled at the Closing without the payment of consideration. From and after the Closing, except with respect to the holder’s right to receive Class A Common Stock, if any, the Former Employee Option shall be cancelled and cease to be outstanding and the holder shall cease to have any rights with respect thereto;
(f) each Company Option (other than a Former Employee Option), whether vested or unvested, will be assumed by Artius and converted into an option to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock (each, a “Converted Option”) equal to the product (rounded down to the nearest whole number) of (a) the
number of shares of Micromidas Common Stock subject to such Company Option immediately prior to the Effective Time and (b) the Common Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share (rounded up to the nearest whole cent) equal to (i) the exercise price per share of such Company Option immediately prior to the Effective Time divided by (ii) the Common Exchange Ratio; provided, however, that the exercise price and the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable pursuant to such Converted Options shall be determined in a manner consistent with the requirements of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”); provided, further, however, that in the case of such Company Option to which Section 422 of the Code applies, the exercise price and the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable pursuant to such option shall be determined in accordance with the foregoing, subject to such adjustments in a manner consistent with Treasury Regulation Section 1.424-1, such that the Converted Option will not constitute a modification of such Company Option for purposes of Section 409A or Section 424 of the Code. Except as specifically provided above, following the Effective Time, each Converted Option shall continue to be governed by the same terms and conditions (including vesting and exercisability terms) as were applicable to the corresponding former Company Option immediately prior to the Effective Time. At or prior to the Effective Time, the Company shall take any actions that are necessary to effectuate the treatment of the Company Options pursuant to this paragraph.
As additional consideration for the Merger, after the Effective Time, Origin will issue to certain holders of Micromidas’s securities up to 25 million additional shares of Class A Common Stock (the “Earnout Shares”) as follows: (i) one third of the Earnout Shares will be issued when the volume weighted average price of Class A Common Stock (“VWAP”) equals or exceeds $15.00 for 10 consecutive trading days during the three year period following the closing of the Proposed Business Combination, (ii) one third of the Earnout Shares will be issued when VWAP equals or exceeds $20.00 for 10 consecutive trading days during the four year period following the closing of the Proposed Business Combination, and (iii) one third of the Earnout Shares will be issued when VWAP equals or exceeds $25.00 for 10 consecutive trading days during the five year period following the closing of the Proposed Business Combination.
Under the Merger Agreement, the obligations of the parties to consummate the transactions contemplated thereby are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions, including the Company obtaining the requisite approval of its shareholders, which the company expects to seek at a special meeting of the Company. The Merger Agreement may be terminated at any time prior to the Closing by mutual written consent of the Company and Micromidas and, among other things, if the Proposed Business Combination has not occurred by August 31, 2021. As such, the Closing cannot be assured.
Concurrently with the execution of the Merger Agreement, the Company entered into the following agreements:
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Subscription Agreements with certain qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors (collectively, the “Investors”), pursuant to which, among other things, the Investors agreed to subscribe for and purchase, and the Company agreed to issue and sell to the Investors, an aggregate of 20,000,000 newly issued shares of Class A Common Stock in connection with the closing of the Proposed Business Combination for aggregate gross proceeds of $200,000,000 (the “PIPE Placement”);
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A Sponsor Letter Agreement , pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to, among other things (i) vote in favor of the Artius Stockholder Voting Matters (as defined in the Merger Agreement), (ii) pay any excess of Artius Transaction Expenses (as defined in the Merger Agreement) over the Artius Transaction Expense Cap (as defined in the Sponsor Letter Agreement), and (iii) subject 4,500,000 of its Class B ordinary shares to certain vesting and forfeiture provisions pursuant to the Sponsor Letter Agreement, as further described below under “Sponsor Letter Agreement”.
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A Transaction Support Stockholder Support Agreement with Micromidas and certain stockholders of Micromidas pursuant to which the parties agreed, as promptly as practicable following the effectiveness of the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the approval by Artius shareholders of the
written consent with respect to certain securities of Micromidas adopting the Merger Agreement and approving the Merger, delivered promptly, and in any event within one business day after (i) the registration statement related to the Merger is declared effective and (ii) the Company has requested such delivery. The securities of Micromidas owned by its stockholders who are party to the Company Transaction Stockholder Support Agreements and subject to such the agreements are sufficient to approve the adoption of the Merger Agreement.
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A Lock-up Agreement, pursuant to which the Sponsor, certain executive officers and directors of Micromidas and certain existing stockholders of Micromidas agreed to restrict, among other things, the transfer of Company securities held by such holders immediately following the Closing until the earliest to occur of (i) 365 days after the date of the Closing, (ii) the first day after the date on which the closing price of the Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the date of the Closing, or (iii) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction after the Closing date that results in all of the public stockholders of the Company having the right to exchange their shares of Class A Common Stock for cash, securities or other property.
The Merger Agreement and related agreements are further described in the Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021.
Business Strategy
Our current focus is to consummate the Proposed Business Combination on the terms and subject to the conditions contained in the Merger Agreement, and, assuming the successful Closing, execute the strategy and business plan of the combined company.
The following discussion does not assume the closing of the Proposed Business Combination.
If the Proposed Business Combination is not consummated, our business strategy will continue to be to identify and complete our Business Combination with a technology company that complements the experience of our Co-Founders and can benefit from their operational expertise and deal sourcing network.
We believe that our Co-Founders have developed a unique set of capabilities that provides us with a proprietary list of potential acquisition opportunities; including,
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Deep managerial expertise, with an extensive track record of public market value creation;
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Track record of acquisitions, including both bolt-on and transformational acquisitions;
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Proprietary sourcing channels, comprising operating executives, financial sponsors, advisors and others;
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Ongoing value creation toolkit based on both revenue enhancement and margin expansion; and
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Extensive history of accessing the capital markets across various business cycles, including financing businesses and assisting companies with transition to public ownership.
Our Co-Founders will communicate with their global network of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a potential business combination and begin the process of pursuing and reviewing potential opportunities. We expect potential transaction sources to include sponsor-owned assets, corporate carve-outs and founder / management owned entities.
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We have used these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our Business Combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to seek to acquire companies that we believe:
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have a large addressable market with a strong existing or potential customer base;
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have a differentiated or unique product and technology offering with multiple avenues for growth and margin expansion;
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have strong, experienced management teams, or provide a platform to assemble an effective management team with a track record of driving sustainable growth and profitability;
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provide a platform for add-on acquisitions, which we believe will be an opportunity for our sponsor and its members and management team to deliver incremental shareholder value post-acquisition;
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have a defensible market position, with demonstrated advantages when compared to their competitors and which create barriers to entry against new competitors;
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are at an inflection point, such as requiring additional management expertise, or are able to innovate through new operational techniques, or where we believe we can drive improved financial performance;
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have a recurring revenue model and generate high free cash flow;
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are fundamentally sound companies that are underperforming their potential;
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exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy, that we believe have been mis-valued by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review;
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will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders, potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure that will be weighed against any identified downside risks; and
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can benefit from being publicly traded, are prepared to be a publicly traded company, and can utilize access to broader capital markets.
These criteria and guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular Business Combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our Business Combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria and guidelines in our
shareholder communications related to our Business Combination, which, as discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and as contemplated by the Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, market surveys, consultant studies and inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us. We also utilize our management team’s operational and capital allocation experience.
We are not prohibited from pursuing a Business Combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our Business Combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our Business Combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Members of our management team, including our independent directors, directly or indirectly own Founder Shares and/or private placement warrants and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our Business Combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our Business Combination.
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, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which they have then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, they will honor their fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our business combination. 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 their capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our Business Combination or we have failed to complete our Business Combination within the required timeframe.
Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that our Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our Business Combination. If our board of directors is not independently able to determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our shareholders will not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our Business Combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
We anticipate structuring our Business Combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our Business Combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our Business Combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our 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 issued and outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our Business Combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our Business Combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test. If our Business Combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net assets test.
We filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our Business Combination.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at 3 Columbus Circle, Suite 2215, New York, NY 10019, and our telephone number is 212-309-7668. Our corporate website address is www.artiuscapital.com/acquisition. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website are not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and are not considered part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and 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 Close Date, (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 ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of the second fiscal quarter of that year; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of the second fiscal quarter of that year, 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 end of the second fiscal quarter of that year.
Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies wishing to conduct business outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Law. As an exempted company, we have applied for and have received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands Government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Law (2018 Revision) 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 shall 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 shall be payable (1) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (2) 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.
Mail addressed to us and received at our registered office will be forwarded unopened to the forwarding address supplied by us. None of us, our directors, officers, advisors or service providers (including the organization which provides registered office services in the Cayman Islands) will bear any responsibility for any delay howsoever caused in mail reaching the forwarding address.
Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets
We believe our management team’s significant operating and transaction experience and relationships with companies provides us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships around the world. This network has grown through the activities of our management team sourcing, acquiring, financing and selling businesses, our management team’s relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and the experience of our management team in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions.
This network provided our management team with a robust and consistent flow of acquisition opportunities which were proprietary or where a limited group of investors were invited to participate in the sale process. We believe that the network of contacts and relationships of our management team provides us with important sources of acquisition opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core assets or divisions.
We are not prohibited from pursuing a Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete a Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an
opinion that our Business Combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view from either an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm.
As more fully discussed in Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - “Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. All of our officers currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock, shares or other equity interests in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares or for a combination of our shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring, or could have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a special purpose acquisition company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed Business Combination, negatively.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination from the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants initially in the amount of $724,500,000, assuming that no redemptions and after payment of $25,357,500 of deferred underwriting fees, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt leverage ratio. Because we are able to complete our Business Combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting our Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time. We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of the offering and the sale of the
private placement warrants, our share capital, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our Business Combination. We may seek to complete our Business Combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our Business Combination is paid for using equity or debt instruments, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary 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 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 Business Combination, and we may effectuate our Business Combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. In the case of our Business Combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing our Business Combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements 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 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.
Sources of Target Businesses
We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read this Annual Report on Form 10-K and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our directors and officers, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our directors and officers. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our current directors or officers, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid 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 Business Combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on Nasdaq through the earlier of consummation of our Business Combination and our liquidation, we reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for accounting, bookkeeping, office space, IT support, professional, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in an amount fixed at $25,000 per month. We have also agreed to reimburse our sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing our Business Combination. Some of our directors and officers may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-transaction
company following our Business Combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing a Business Combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our Business Combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our Business Combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
As more fully discussed in the section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Management-Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which they have pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, they may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Business Combination
So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, our Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our Business Combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation or value of comparable businesses. If our board is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our Business Combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our Business Combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete a Business Combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire an interest in the target business sufficient for the post-transaction company not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. There is no basis for investors to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our business combination.
To the extent we effect our business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews and inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our Business Combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of
certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our 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. In addition, we intend to focus our search for our Business Combination in a single industry. By completing our business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
•
subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our Business Combination, and
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cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.
For additional risks related to us completing our business combination with only a single entity, see “Risk Factors-We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.”
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’ 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 business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our 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 Business Combination.
Following our 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.
Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve our Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic
explanation of the types of Business Combinations we may consider and whether shareholder approval is currently required under the Companies Act for each such transaction.
Type of Transaction
Whether Shareholder
Approval is Required
Purchase of assets
No
Purchase of stock, shares or other equity interests of target not involving a merger with the company
No
Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company
No
Merger of the company with a target
Yes
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our Business Combination if, for example:
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we issue ordinary shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of Class A ordinary shares then issued and outstanding (other than in a public offering);
•
any of our directors, officers or substantial security holders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired and the number of shares to be issued, or if the number of 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 issued and 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 issued and 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 of Our Securities
In the event we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our Business Combination. There is no limit on the number of securities such persons may purchase. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our Business Combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our Business Combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they are under no obligation to do so and they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or warrants 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. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of 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 Business Combination, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our 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 such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of our Business Combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of our Business Combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our Business Combination or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our Business Combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our 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 or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, the members of our management team and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our sponsor, the members of our management team 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 following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our Business Combination. To the extent that our sponsor, members of our management team, 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 Business Combination. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our Business Combination. Our sponsor, members of our management team, advisors or their affiliates 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.
Any purchases by our sponsor, members of our management team and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will be restricted unless such purchases are made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, members of our management team and/or their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of ordinary shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements
Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of our Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our Business Combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our Business Combination including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our Business Combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor and members of our management team 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 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 $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all 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 our 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 Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our Business Combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve our Business Combination or (ii) 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. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive 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. If we structure a business combination transaction with a target company in a manner that requires shareholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a shareholder vote to approve the proposed business combination. 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 requirements or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain, and maintain, a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.
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 pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and
•
file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our Business Combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our 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 business combination, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our 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 are not purchased by our sponsor, 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 upon consummation of
our Business Combination (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our Business Combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete our Business Combination.
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.
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of our Business Combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our Business Combination only if we obtain an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting in favor of our Business Combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of issued and outstanding shares of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all issued and outstanding shares of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial shareholders will count towards this quorum and have agreed to vote any Founder Shares and public shares held by them in favor of our Business Combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our Business Combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ Founder Shares, we would need only 27,168,751, or approximately 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted), or 4,528,126, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 72,450,000 public shares sold in the offering to be voted in favor of a transaction in order to have our Business Combination approved. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our Business Combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial shareholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our Business Combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
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 upon consummation of our Business Combination (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our Business Combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners; (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all 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 our Business Combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternative business combination.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Business Combination if we Seek Shareholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our 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 more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against a business combination if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our public shareholders’ ability to redeem to no more than 15% of the shares sold in the offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our 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 public shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our business combination.
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 (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve our Business Combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our 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 our Business Combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. 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 fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on the business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise their redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such
shareholder to arrange for them to deliver their certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which they could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, they could sell their shares in the open market before actually delivering their shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or two business days prior to the scheduled date of the shareholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable (unless we elect to allow additional withdrawal rights). Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our Business Combination.
If our Business Combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the Close Date.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we will have only 24 months from the Close Date to consummate a Business Combination. If we have not completed a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, 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 issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our Business Combination, 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.
Our sponsor and members of our management team 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 any Founder Shares held by them if we fail to complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date. However, if our sponsor, directors or officers acquire public shares in or after the offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our Business Combination within the allotted time period.
Our sponsor and members of our management team 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 (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-Business Combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of then 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 upon consummation of our Business Combination (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our Business Combination. If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares, such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time.
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 proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any accrued interest in the trust account not required to pay our taxes as described herein, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of the offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by 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 will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest and 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 management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver.
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. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or by a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the 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, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our Business Combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our Business Combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law may choose not to do so in any particular instance if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.
If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy, insolvency or winding-up 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 share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy, insolvency or winding-up laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our 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, 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 upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our 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 allow redemption in connection with our Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-Business Combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our business combination within 24 months from the Close Date, subject to applicable law. 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 Business Combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with our 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 as 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.
Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions designed to provide certain rights and protections relating to the offering that apply to us until the completion of our Business Combination. These provisions cannot be amended without a special resolution under Cayman Islands law. As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a resolution is deemed to be a special resolution where it has been approved by either (i) the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds (or any higher threshold specified in a company’s articles of association) of a company’s shareholders entitled to vote and so voting at a general meeting for which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special resolution has been given; or (ii) if so authorized by a company’s articles of association, by a unanimous written resolution of all of the company’s shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that special resolutions must be approved either by at least two-thirds of our shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company (i.e., the lowest threshold permissible under Cayman Islands law), or by a unanimous written resolution of all of our shareholders.
Our sponsor and its permitted transferees, if any, who are collectively beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the Close Date (assuming they did not purchase any units in the offering), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Specifically, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide, among other things, that:
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if we are unable to consummate a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, 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 issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law;
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prior to our Business Combination, we may not issue additional securities that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any Business Combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 24 months from the Close Date or (y) amend the foregoing provisions;
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although we do not intend to enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or our executive officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, 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 accounting firm that such a business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view;
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if a shareholder vote on our Business Combination is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our Business Combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our Business Combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act;
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so long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, our Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our Business Combination;
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if our shareholder approve an 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 Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-Business Combination activity, we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their ordinary shares upon such approval at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein; and
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we will not effectuate our Business Combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that under no circumstances will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001.
The Companies Law permits a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands to amend its memorandum and articles of association with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of such company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting or by way of unanimous written resolution. A company’s articles of association may specify that the approval of a higher majority is required but, provided the approval of the required majority is obtained, any Cayman Islands exempted company may amend its memorandum and articles of association regardless of whether its memorandum and articles of association provide otherwise. Accordingly, although we could amend any of the provisions relating to our proposed offering, structure and business plan which are contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we view all of these provisions as binding obligations to our shareholders and neither we, nor our officers or directors, will take any action to amend or waive any of these provisions unless we provide dissenting public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our business combination, we 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 the offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our Business Combination and our issued and outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating our Business Combination.
Conflicts of Interest
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, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which they have then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, they will honor their fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides 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 their capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. We are not prohibited from pursuing a Business Combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our Business Combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our Business Combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. For more information, see the section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Management-Conflicts of Interest.”
Indemnity
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or by a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the 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, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor
has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Employees
We currently have two officers. 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 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 Business Combination and the current stage of our Business Combination process.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our Units, Public Shares and Warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and as a result we have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. The public may read and copy any material we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at: http://www.sec.gov. The contents of these websites are not incorporated into this filing. Further, the Company’s references to the uniform resource locators (“URLs”) for these websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.
We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our Business Combination. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, this Annual Report on Form 10-K contains financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will file audited financial statements of Micromidas as part of the proxy statement/prospectus, which we will send to our shareholders to assist them in assessing the Proposed Business Combination. In the event that the Proposed Business Combination is not consummated, we will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of any other prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to shareholders to assist them in assessing the target business. 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 (“U.S. GAAP”) or International Financing Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our Business Combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures as of December 31, 2021 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“Sarbanes-Oxley Act”). In the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer as of December 31, 2021, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we will be required to have our internal control procedures audited as of December 31, 2022. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The
development of the internal controls of any such target business to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete a business acquisition with such a target business.
Although we intend to effect the Domestication in connection with the Proposed Business Combination, we are currently 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 Law. 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 (2018 Revision) 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 currently an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and 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 Close Date, (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 ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Below is a summary of the principal risk factors that make an investment in our securities speculative or risky. This summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this summary of risk factors, and other risks that we face, can be found below in “Risk Factors” and should be carefully considered, together with other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.Our principal risks and uncertainties, which do not assume the Proposed Business Combination is consummated, include, but are not limited to, the following risks, uncertainties and other factors:
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our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;
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our ability to complete our Business Combination, particularly in light of disruption that may result from limitations imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak;
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our expectations around the performance of the prospective target business or businesses;
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our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our Business Combination;
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our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our Business Combination, as a result of which they would then receive expense reimbursements;
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actual and potential conflicts of interest;
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the proceeds of the forward purchase securities and additional forward purchase securities being available to us;
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our potential ability to obtain additional financing if required to complete our Business Combination;
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our pool of prospective target businesses;
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the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential acquisition opportunities;
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our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;
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the lack of a market for our securities;
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the use of proceeds not held in the Trust Account or available to us from interest income on the Trust Account balance;
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the Trust Account not being subject to claims of third parties;
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our financial performance; or
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the other risks and uncertainties discussed below in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Risk Factors
You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, 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 following risk factors are relevant to you in the event that we do not consummate the Proposed Business Combination. Risk factors related to Micromidas and the Proposed Business Combination will be described in the proxy statement/prospectus that the Company will file with the SEC relating to the Proposed Business Combination.
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a recently incorporated exempted company under the laws of the Cayman Islands, and we will not commence operations until our Business Combination. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our Business Combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our Business Combination. If we do not complete our Business Combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed Business Combination, which means we may complete our Business Combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination.
We will seek the approval of our shareholders to consummate the Proposed Business Combination. However, in the event that the Proposed Business Combination is not consummated, in connection with any alternative
Business Combination, we may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our Business Combination if the Business Combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except as required by law or stock exchange, 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 complete our Business Combination even if holders of a majority of our ordinary shares do not approve of the Business Combination we complete.
Please see Item 1. Business - “Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Business Combination” for additional information.
If we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination, our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such Business Combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Our Initial Shareholders own 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares. Our Initial Shareholders and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our Business Combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination, such Business Combination will be approved if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting, including the Founder Shares. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination, the agreement by our Initial Shareholders and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our Business Combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such Business Combination.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a Business Combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the Business Combination, unless we seek such shareholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding 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 Business Combination.
The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the Business Combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our Public Shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our Business Combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net
tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets 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 Business Combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our Business Combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the Trust Account or arrange for 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 a 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 Business Combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our 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 Business Combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our Business Combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the Trust Account until we liquidate the Trust Account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the Trust Account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our Business Combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets 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.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our Business Combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our Business Combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our Business Combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete our Business Combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our Public Shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our redeemable warrants and private placement warrants will expire worthless.
Our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our Business Combination within such time period. Our ability to complete our Business Combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the outbreak of the recent coronavirus (“COVID-19”) continues to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our Business Combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not completed our Business Combination within such 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, our redeemable warrants and any private placement warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced, which has and is continuing to spread throughout the world, including the United States and Europe. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected economies and financial markets worldwide, business operations and the conduct of commerce generally, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be, or may already have been, materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if concerns relating to COVID-19 continue to restrict travel or limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors, or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility and decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
If we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or redeemable warrants or a combination thereof in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our 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.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our Sponsor, directors, 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 such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the Business Combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the Business Combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our Business Combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of the redeemable warrants could be to reduce the number of such redeemable warrants outstanding or to vote such redeemable warrants on any matters submitted to the redeemable warrant holders for approval in connection with our Business Combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our Business Combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or redeemable warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
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 will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our Business Combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our Public Shares in connection with our Business Combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem Public Shares. For example, 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 mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve our Business Combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these or any
other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See the sections of Item 1. Business entitled “Business Strategy”, “Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Business Combination” and “Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the Trust Account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or redeemable warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the Trust Account only upon the earliest to occur of: (a) the completion of our Business Combination and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares issued in the Public Offering that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (b) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date or (ii) with respect to any other provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-Business Combination activity; and (c) the redemption of all of our Public Shares if we are unable to complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Holders of redeemable warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the Trust Account with respect to such redeemable warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or redeemable warrants, potentially at a loss.
Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our Units, Class A ordinary shares and redeemable warrants are listed on Nasdaq. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, Nasdaq’s rules will require us to file a new initial listing application and meet its initial listing requirements as opposed to its more lenient continued listing requirements. For instance, in order for our Class A ordinary shares to be listed upon the consummation of our initial business combination, among other things, we would be required to have at least 300 round lot holders at such time. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time. Nasdaq will also have discretionary authority to not approve our listing if it determines that the listing of the company to be acquired is against public policy at that time.
If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
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a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
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reduced liquidity for our securities;
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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;
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a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
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a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units,
Class A ordinary shares and warrants will qualify as covered securities under such statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by special purposes acquisition companies, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under such statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities, including in connection with our initial business combination.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants are intended to be used to complete a Business Combination with a target business that has not been identified, we are deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units were immediately tradable at the Close Date, and we will have a longer period of time to complete our Business Combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if the 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 a Business Combination.
If we seek shareholder approval of our 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 Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our 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 the Public Offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our Business Combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our 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 Business Combination. As a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our Business Combination. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our Class A ordinary shares, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many
of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, if we are obligated to pay cash for the Class A ordinary shares which our public shareholders redeem in connection with our Business Combination, target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our Business Combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of our Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, we may be unable to complete our Business Combination, in which case our public shareholders may receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless.
The funds available to us outside of the Trust Account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for the next 24 months following the Public Offering, assuming that our Business Combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through the Public Offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K titled ‘‘Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.’’ However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.
We believe that the funds available to us outside of the Trust Account, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following our Public Offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of our Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our Business Combination and we will depend on loans from our Sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our Business Combination.
Of the net proceeds of our Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, only approximately $1,385,431 was available to us initially outside the Trust Account. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our Sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. None of our Sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the Trust Account or from funds released to us upon completion of our Business Combination.
We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our Trust Account. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the Trust Account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our Public Shares, and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Subsequent to our completion of our Business Combination, we may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues that may be present inside a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all third parties, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to 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 management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason. Upon redemption of our Public Shares, if we are unable to complete our Business Combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our Business Combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the Trust Account, due to claims of such creditors.
Our Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the 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. We have not independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Our Sponsor may not have sufficient funds available to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such obligations, and therefore, no funds are currently set aside to cover any such obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the Trust Account, the funds available for our Business Combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our Business Combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your Public Shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by third parties and prospective target businesses.
The securities in which we invest the proceeds held in the Trust Account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the interest income available for payment of taxes or reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The net proceeds of the Public Offering and certain proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, in the amount of $724,500,000, will be held in an interest-bearing Trust Account. The proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested in direct U.S. Treasury obligations having a maturity of 180 days or less, or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. Treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which
we are permitted to use to pay our taxes and up to $100,000 of dissolution expenses) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the Trust Account, plus any interest income. If the balance of the Trust Account is reduced below $724,500,000 as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
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 or (ii) such lesser amount per share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations.
While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, 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 to 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 be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the Trust Account or (ii) we complete a Business Combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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 or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover 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.
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 or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy or insolvency estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy or insolvency 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 Business Combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
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restrictions on the nature of our investments, and
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restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our Business Combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
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registration as an investment company;
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adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
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reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.
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-transaction 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. The proceeds held in the Trust Account may be invested by the trustee only in United States government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in United States Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Prior to such time, such proceeds will not be invested and will be held in an interest bearing Trust Account. Because the investment of the proceeds will be restricted to these instruments, we believe we will meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to consummate a business combination. 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 are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public
shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our Business Combination and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our Business Combination and results of operations.
If we are unable to consummate our Business Combination within 24 months of the Close Date, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our Trust Account.
If we are unable to consummate our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account (less up to $100,000 of the net interest earned thereon to pay dissolution expenses), pro rata to our public shareholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the Trust Account shall 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 windup, 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 the initial 24 months 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 we consummate our Business Combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we are unable to complete our Business Combination.
Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover 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, and thereby exposing themselves and our Company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought 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 offence and may be liable to a fine of $18,292.68 and to imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold a general meeting until after the consummation of our Business Combination. Our public shareholders will not have the right to appoint directors prior to the consummation of our Business Combination.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold a general meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. There is no requirement
under the Companies Law for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings or to appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to appoint directors and to discuss company affairs with management. In addition, as holders of our Class A ordinary shares, our public shareholders will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors prior to consummation of our Business Combination. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our Company prior to the completion of a Business Combination.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the redeemable warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise redeemable warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its redeemable warrants except on a cashless basis. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of redeemable warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless.
We have not registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the redeemable warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed, to use our best efforts to file a registration statement under the Securities Act and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the redeemable warrants, until the expiration of the redeemable warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the redeemable warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their redeemable warrants on a cashless basis. However, no redeemable warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their redeemable warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a redeemable warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of redeemable warrants who exercise their redeemable warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any redeemable warrant, nor will we be required to issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the redeemable warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares including the redeemable warrants under applicable state securities laws. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the redeemable warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such redeemable warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such redeemable warrant and such redeemable warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their redeemable warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units. If and when the redeemable warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying Class A ordinary shares for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
If you exercise your warrants on a “cashless basis,” you will receive fewer Class A ordinary shares from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
There are circumstances in which the exercise of the public warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. For example, if a registration statement covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise
warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Additionally, if our Class A ordinary shares are at any time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value and (B) 0.361. The “fair market value” for these purposes shall mean the average last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. As a result, you would receive fewer Class A ordinary shares from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
The redeemable warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our Business Combination, the redeemable warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your redeemable warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use best efforts to file a registration statement with the SEC to register the issuance of the security underlying the redeemable warrants within fifteen business days of the closing of a Business Combination.
The grant of registration rights to our Initial Shareholders and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our Business Combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the Public Offering, our Initial Shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register their Founder Shares, after those shares convert to our Class A ordinary shares at the time of our Business Combination. In addition, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our Business Combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares that is expected when the securities owned by our Initial Shareholders, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our Business Combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
Although we expect to complete a business combination with a technology company, we may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry, sector or location. However, we will not, under
our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to effectuate our Business Combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. To the extent we complete our Business Combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value of their shares.
Past performance by our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.
Information regarding past performance by our management team and their affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team and their affiliates is not a guarantee either (1) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our Business Combination or (2) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team and their affiliates as indicative of our future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our Company. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our Business Combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our Business Combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, including the Proposed Business Combination, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our Business Combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our Business Combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of
cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our Business Combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account, and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our Business Combination with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
We 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 Business Combination with an affiliated entity or our board cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting firm or independent investment banking firm that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our Business Combination.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary or preferred shares to complete our Business Combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our Business Combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our Business Combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated 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, 50,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share and 1,000,000 preferred shares, par value $0.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2020, there were 327,550,000 and 31,887,500 authorized but unissued Class A and Class B ordinary shares available, respectively, for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of redeemable warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares. The Class B ordinary shares are automatically convertible into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the completion of our Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein. There are no preferred shares issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional ordinary shares, and may issue preferred shares, in order to complete our Business Combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our Business Combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares to redeem the redeemable warrants or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our Business Combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that prior to our Business Combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the Trust Account or (ii) vote on any Business Combination. The issuance of additional ordinary shares or preferred shares:
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may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in the Public Offering;
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may subordinate the rights of holders of ordinary shares if preferred shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our ordinary shares;
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could cause a change in control if a substantial number of ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors ; and
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may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Units, ordinary shares and/or redeemable warrants.
We are likely to be a passive foreign investment company (a “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 beneficial owner of our Units, Public Shares or Warrants that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes (i) an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States, (ii) a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia or (iii) an estate or trust the income of which is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes regardless of its source (a “U.S. holder”), such U.S. holder may be subject to certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences, including, without limitation, the recognition of gain (but not loss) that is treated as ordinary income for U.S. federal income tax purposes from the Domestication, unless such U.S. holder makes and maintains a qualified electing fund (“QEF”) election, and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Such adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences may continue to apply after we cease to be a PFIC unless a purging election is made. Our PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. We have determined that we are likely to be treated as a PFIC with respect to our 2020 taxable year, and expect to be treated as a PFIC with respect to the portion of our 2021 taxable year prior to the Domestication. Accordingly, we will endeavor to provide 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 QEF election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information. A QEF election is not available with respect to our redeemable warrants. Following the Domestication, we will be a U.S. corporation and not a PFIC. We urge U.S. investors to consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our Business Combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.
We may, in connection with our Business Combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Law, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific Business Combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our Business Combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless. See “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.
We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our Co-Founders. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our Business Combination. The service of certain of our officers and directors, including our Co-Founders, depends in part on their continued engagement with us. These arrangements are “at will” and thus can be terminated by either party at any time, including for reasons that may be unrelated to us. In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to successfully effect our 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 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 Business Combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our Business Combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our Business Combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our Business Combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our Business Combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with our Business
Combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of our 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 our Business Combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our Business Combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our Business Combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our Business Combination.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our Business Combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our Business Combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders 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 Business Combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidates’ key personnel upon the completion of our 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 Business Combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our Business Combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our Business Combination. Each of our officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation and our 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 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 Business Combination. For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management-Directors and Executive Officers.”
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our Business Combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our Sponsor and officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business, that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours or that is focused on a particular industry.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to other entities prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - “Conflicts of Interest.”
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us, including the formation of, or participation in, one or more other blank check companies. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our Sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our Sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our Sponsor, officers and directors. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - “Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our Sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our Business Combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business-Effecting our Business Combination” and “-Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our Company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of our Business Combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our Sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our Business Combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our Business Combination.
Our Initial Shareholders collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares. The Founder Shares will be worthless if we do not complete a Business Combination. In addition, our Sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 11,326,667 Private Placement Warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share, for a purchase price of approximately $16,990,000 in the aggregate), or $1.50 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Each Private Placement Warrant may be exercised for one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein.
The Founder Shares are identical to the ordinary shares included in the Units except that (i) holders of the Founder Shares have the right to vote on the appointment of directors prior to our Business Combination, (ii) the Founder Shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, (iii) our Sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (A) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and Public Shares in connection with the completion of our Business Combination and (B) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their Founder Shares if we fail to complete our Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any Public Shares they hold if we fail to complete our Business Combination within the prescribed time frame, (iv) the Founder Shares are subject to registration rights and (v) the Founder Shares are automatically convertible into our Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the completion of our Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein.
The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing a Business Combination and influencing the operation of the business day following the Business Combination.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our Business Combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the Trust Account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the Trust Account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
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default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after a Business Combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
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acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
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our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;
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our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;
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our inability to pay dividends on our ordinary shares;
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using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our ordinary shares if declared, our ability to pay expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;
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limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
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increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and
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limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement of Warrants provides us with $699,142,500 which is available to complete our Business Combination (after payment of $25,357,500 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the Trust Account). The amount available to us may be less in the event of redemptions.
We may effectuate our Business Combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our Business Combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our 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:
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solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or
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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 Business Combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our 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 Business Combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our 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 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 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 management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our Business Combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure a business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our Business Combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our Business Combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may 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, our Business Combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our Business Combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as 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 a business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do 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, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our 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 Business Combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our 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 their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all 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 our Business Combination or redeem any shares, all ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
The exercise price for the redeemable warrants is higher than in many similar blank check company offerings in the past, and, accordingly, the redeemable warrants are more likely to expire worthless.
The exercise price of the redeemable warrants is higher than is typical in many similar blank check companies in the past. Historically, the exercise price of a warrant was generally a fraction of the purchase price of the units in the initial public offering. The exercise price for our redeemable warrants is $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. As a result, the redeemable warrants are less likely to ever be in the money and more likely to expire worthless.
In order to effectuate a Business Combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our Business Combination but that our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and changed industry focus. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in order to effectuate our Business Combination though 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, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 65% of the warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered in the Public Offering, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
Certain 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 generally requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of a Business Combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s public shareholders attending and voting at a general meeting. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions, including those related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement of warrants into the Trust Account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders, as described herein), but excluding the provision of the articles relating to the appointment of directors, may be amended if approved by special resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of at least two-thirds of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares. Our Initial Shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, who collectively beneficially own, on an as converted basis, 20% of our ordinary shares upon the Close Date, 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 more easily than some other blank check companies, 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 that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares. These agreements are contained in letter agreements that we have entered into with our Sponsor, directors and each member of our management team. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our Sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our Business Combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our Business Combination, because we have not yet identified any
prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of the offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our Business Combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our Business Combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our Business Combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our Business Combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, plus any pro-rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our redeemable warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our Business Combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our Business Combination.
Our Initial Shareholders will control the election of our board of directors until consummation of our Business Combination and will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they will elect all of our directors and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our Initial Shareholders own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. In addition, the Founder Shares, all of which are held by our Initial Shareholders, will entitle the holders to appoint all of our directors prior to our Business Combination. Holders of our Public Shares will have no right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the appointment of directors prior to our Business Combination.
Neither our Initial Shareholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 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, as a result of their substantial ownership in our Company, our Initial Shareholders may exert a substantial influence on other 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 and approval of major corporate transactions. If our Initial Shareholders purchase any additional ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our Initial Shareholders, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) 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 Business Combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of our 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 Initial Shareholders, because of their 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
Business Combination. Accordingly, our Initial Shareholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a shareholder vote at least until the completion of our Business Combination.
We may amend the terms of the redeemable warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of the redeemable warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding redeemable warrants. As a result, the exercise price of such warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of our Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of such a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the redeemable warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding redeemable warrants voting together as a single class, to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of redeemable warrants solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or working capital warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants or working capital warrants, 65% of the then outstanding private placement warrants or working capital warrants, as applicable, voting together as a single class. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the redeemable warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding redeemable warrants voting together as a single class, approve of such amendment. Our ability to amend the terms of such warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding warrants includes, but is not limited to amendments to increase the exercise price, convert such warrants into cash or shares, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of such warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired redeemable warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making such warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem issued and outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant if, among other things, the last reported sale price of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”) equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for changes to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant). If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the issued and outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the issued and outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us (other than as otherwise permitted under the warrant agreement) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for changes to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
Our warrants and Founder Shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our Business Combination.
On the Close Date, we issued an aggregate of 11,326,667 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share. Our Initial Shareholders currently own an aggregate of 18,112,500 Founder Shares. The Founder Shares are convertible into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our Sponsor makes any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. Our warrants are also redeemable by us for Class A ordinary shares.
To the extent we issue Class A ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants when exercised will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete our Business Combination. Therefore, our warrants and Founder Shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in the offering except that, so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our Sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our Business Combination, (ii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iii) are subject to registration rights.
Because each unit contains one-third of one redeemable warrant, and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-third of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the redeemable warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares, and only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one Class A ordinary share and one warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the redeemable warrants upon completion of a business combination since the redeemable warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-third of the number of shares, as compared to units that each contain a warrant to purchase one whole share, and to provide an incentive to our public shareholders to not redeem their Class A ordinary shares. We believe this makes us a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if they included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate a Business Combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, if (i) we issue additional ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our Business Combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our Business Combination on the date of the completion of our Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 and $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively. This may make it more difficult for us to complete a Business Combination with a target business.
Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous Business Combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include target historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financing reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our Business Combination within the prescribed time frame.
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 30th before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31st. 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 accountant standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other
things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of any fiscal year for so long as either (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates does not equal or exceed $250.0 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues did not equal or exceed $100.0 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates did not equal or exceed $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our 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, 2021. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a special purpose acquisition company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target company with which we seek to complete our 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 officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.
We have been advised by Maples and Calder, 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.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
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 management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include three-year director terms and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our 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 the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
After our 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 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.
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 target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our Business Combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such Business Combination, and if we effect such Business Combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our Business Combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our 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 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:
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costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
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rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
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complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
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laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
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exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;
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tariffs and trade barriers;
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regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
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local or regional economic policies and market conditions;
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unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;
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longer payment cycles;
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tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
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currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
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rates of inflation;
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challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
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cultural and language differences;
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employment regulations;
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underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;
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corruption;
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protection of intellectual property;
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social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances;
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regime changes and political upheaval;
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terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;
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deterioration of political relations with the United States; and
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government appropriation of assets.
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We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete our 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 management following our 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 Business Combination, any or all of our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the Company and the management of the target business at the time of our Business Combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with 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 Business Combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue will 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 legal 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 target business with which to consummate our Business Combination and if we effect our Business Combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, 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 target business or, following consummation of our 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 Business Combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our 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 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.
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 revenue generating activities to compliance activities.
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.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties.
We currently maintain our corporate offices at 3 Columbus Circle, Suite 2215, New York, NY 10019. The cost for this space is included in the $25,000 per month fee that we pay an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We believe, based on fees for similar services in the New York area, that the fee charged by our Sponsor is at least as favorable as we could have obtained from an unaffiliated party. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
We are not currently subject to any material legal proceedings, nor, to our knowledge, is any material legal proceeding threatened against us or any of our officers or directors in their corporate capacity.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
None.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
(a) Market Information
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are each traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “AACQU,” “AACQ” and “AACQW,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on July 15, 2020, and our Class A ordinary shares and warrants commenced separate public trading on September 3, 2020.
(b) Holders
On February 12, 2021, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our separately traded Class A ordinary shares, and one holder of record of our separately traded Warrants.
(c) Dividends
None.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
(e) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
None.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. Selected Financial Data.
Not required for smaller reporting companies.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a special purpose acquisition company incorporated in the Cayman Islands on January 24, 2020 formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar Business Combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash derived from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, shares and debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a Business Combination will be successful.
Recent Developments
On February 16, 2021, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) by and between the Company, Zero Carbon Merger Inc., a Delaware corporation and our direct, wholly owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), and Micromidas, Inc., a Delaware corporation doing business as Origin Materials (“Micromidas”).
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, (i) the Company will domesticate from a Cayman Islands exempted company to a Delaware corporation (the “Domestication”) and (ii) Merger Sub will merge with and into Micromidas with Micromidas continuing as the surviving entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger” and together with the Domestication and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Proposed Business Combination”). In connection with the Domestication, the Company will change its name to “Origin Materials, Inc.” We refer to the Company following the Business Combination as “Origin.”
As a result of the Proposed Business Combination, each issued and outstanding Class A ordinary share and Class B ordinary share of the Company will convert into a share of Class A common stock of Origin (“Class A Common Stock”), and each issued and outstanding warrant to purchase Class A ordinary shares of the Company will be exercisable by its terms to purchase an equal number of shares of Class A Common Stock.
The aggregate stock consideration to be distributed to Micromidas’s holders at the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”) is 78,213,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, which is subject to certain downward adjustments pursuant to the Merger Agreement. At the Effective Time, by virtue of the Merger and without any action on the part of the Company, Merger Sub, Micromidas or the holders of any of Micromidas’s securities:
(a) each share of Micromidas common stock (“Micromidas Common Stock”), series A preferred stock (“Micromidas Series A Preferred Stock”), series B preferred stock (“Micromidas Series B Preferred Stock”) and series C preferred stock (“Micromidas Series C Preferred Stock”), in each case outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time will be canceled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Class A Common Stock equal to the Common Exchange Ratio, Series A Exchange Ratio, Series B Exchange Ratio and Series C Exchange Ratio, respectively, each as defined in the Merger Agreement (subject to certain adjustments as described in the Merger Agreement);
(b) any shares of Micromidas capital stock held in the treasury of Micromidas or owned by the Company, Merger Sub or Micromidas immediately prior to the Effective Time will be canceled without any conversion thereof and no payment or distribution shall be made with respect thereto;
(c) each issued and outstanding share of common stock of Merger Sub will be converted into and become one validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable share of common stock of the surviving corporation in the Merger; and
(d) each warrant to purchase Micromidas stock will terminate, be cancelled and cease to exist and will be deemed to have been exercised immediately prior to the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”) and settled in the applicable number of shares of Micromidas Series A Preferred Stock or Micromidas Series B Preferred Stock, as applicable, rounded down to the nearest whole share, and then treated in the manner described in (a), above;
(e) each option to purchase Micromidas Common Stock that is outstanding under Micromidas’s 2010 Stock Incentive Plan and the 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Incentive Plans”) (each, a “Company Option”) held by a former employee or service provider of Micromidas, Inc. (each, a “Former Employee Option”) that is vested and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be deemed to have been exercised, on a net exercise basis with respect to the applicable exercise price and any required withholding or employment taxes thereon, immediately prior to the Closing and settled in the applicable number of shares of Micromidas Common Stock, rounded down to the nearest whole share, and treated in accordance with clause (a) above. Each Former Employee Option that is
unvested and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time shall be automatically cancelled at the Closing without the payment of consideration. From and after the Closing, except with respect to the holder’s right to receive Class A Common Stock, if any, the Former Employee Option shall be cancelled and cease to be outstanding and the holder shall cease to have any rights with respect thereto;
(f) each Company Option (other than a Former Employee Option), whether vested or unvested, will be assumed by Artius and converted into an option to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock (each, a “Converted Option”) equal to the product (rounded down to the nearest whole number) of (a) the number of shares of Micromidas Common Stock subject to such Company Option immediately prior to the Effective Time and (b) the Common Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share (rounded up to the nearest whole cent) equal to (i) the exercise price per share of such Company Option immediately prior to the Effective Time divided by (ii) the Common Exchange Ratio; provided, however, that the exercise price and the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable pursuant to such Converted Options shall be determined in a manner consistent with the requirements of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”); provided, further, however, that in the case of such Company Option to which Section 422 of the Code applies, the exercise price and the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable pursuant to such option shall be determined in accordance with the foregoing, subject to such adjustments in a manner consistent with Treasury Regulation Section 1.424-1, such that the Converted Option will not constitute a modification of such Company Option for purposes of Section 409A or Section 424 of the Code. Except as specifically provided above, following the Effective Time, each Converted Option shall continue to be governed by the same terms and conditions (including vesting and exercisability terms) as were applicable to the corresponding former Company Option immediately prior to the Effective Time. At or prior to the Effective Time, the Company shall take any actions that are necessary to effectuate the treatment of the Company Options pursuant to this paragraph.
As additional consideration for the Merger, after the Effective Time, Origin will issue to certain holders of Micromidas’s securities up to 25 million additional shares of Class A Common Stock (the “Earnout Shares”) as follows: (i) one third of the Earnout Shares will be issued when the volume weighted average price of Class A Common Stock (“VWAP”) equals or exceeds $15.00 for 10 consecutive trading days during the three year period following the closing of the Proposed Business Combination, (ii) one third of the Earnout Shares will be issued when VWAP equals or exceeds $20.00 for 10 consecutive trading days during the four year period following the closing of the Proposed Business Combination, and (iii) one third of the Earnout Shares will be issued when VWAP equals or exceeds $25.00 for 10 consecutive trading days during the five year period following the closing of the Proposed Business Combination.
Under the Merger Agreement, the obligations of the parties to consummate the transactions contemplated thereby are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions, including, the Company obtaining the requisite approval of its shareholders, which the company expects to seek at a special meeting of the Company. The Merger Agreement may be terminated at any time prior to the Closing by mutual written consent of the Company and Micromidas and, among other things, if the Proposed Business Combination has not occurred by August 31, 2021. As such, the Closing cannot be assured.
Concurrently with the execution of the Merger Agreement, the Company entered into the following agreements:
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Subscription Agreements with certain qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors (collectively, the “Investors”), pursuant to which, among other things, the Investors agreed to subscribe for and purchase, and the Company agreed to issue and sell to the Investors, an aggregate of 20,000,000 newly issued shares of Class A Common Stock in connection with the closing of the Proposed Business Combination for aggregate gross proceeds of $200,000,000 (the “PIPE Placement”);
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A Sponsor Letter Agreement , pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to, among other things, (i) vote in favor of the Artius Stockholder Voting Matters (as defined in the Merger Agreement), (ii) pay any excess of Artius Transaction Expenses (as defined in the Merger Agreement) over the Artius Transaction Expense Cap (as defined in the Sponsor Letter Agreement), and (iii) subject 4,500,000 of its Class B ordinary shares to certain vesting and forfeiture provisions pursuant to the Sponsor Letter Agreement, as further described below under “Sponsor Letter Agreement”.
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A Transaction Support Stockholder Support Agreement with Micromidas and certain stockholders of Micromidas pursuant to which the parties agreed, as promptly as practicable following the effectiveness of the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the approval by Artius shareholders of the Merger, to execute and deliver a written consent with respect to certain securities of Micromidas adopting the Merger Agreement and approving the Merger, delivered promptly, and in any event within one business day after (i) the registration statement related to the Merger is declared effective and (ii) the Company has requested such delivery. The securities of Micromidas owned by its stockholders who are party to the Company Transaction Stockholder Support Agreements and subject to such the agreements are sufficient to approve the adoption of the Merger Agreement.
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A Lock-up Agreement, pursuant to which the Sponsor, certain executive officers and directors of Micromidas and certain existing stockholders of Micromidas agreed to restrict, among other things, the transfer of Company securities held by such holders immediately following the Closing until the earliest to occur of (i) 365 days after the date of the Closing, (ii) the first day after the date on which the closing price of the Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the date of the Closing, or (iii) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction after the Closing date that results in all of the public stockholders of the Company having the right to exchange their shares of Class A Common Stock for cash, securities or other property.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. Our only activities from inception through December 31, 2020 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and the search for a target company for a Business Combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial Business Combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held after the Initial Public Offering. We are incurring expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses in connection with searching for, and completing, a Business Combination.
For the period from January 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $125,151, which consists of operating and formation costs of $341,627 offset by interest income on marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $212,516 and an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $3,960.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On July 16, 2020, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 72,450,000 Units, inclusive of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their option to purchase an additional 9,450,000 Units, at a price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $724,500,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 11,326,667 Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant generating gross proceeds of $16,990,000.
Following the Initial Public Offering, the exercise of the over-allotment option in full and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $724,500,000 was placed in the Trust Account, and we had $1,385,431 of cash
held outside of the Trust Account, after payment of costs related to the Initial Public Offering, and available for working capital purposes. We incurred $40,686,819 in transaction costs, including $14,490,000 of underwriting fees, $25,357,500 of deferred underwriting fees and $839,319 of other offering costs.
For the period from January 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, net cash used in operating activities was $562,274, consisting of a net loss of $125,151, interest earned on marketable securities held in the Trust Account and not available for operations of $212,516 and an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in our Trust Account of $3,960. Changes in operating assets and liabilities used $220,647 of cash from operating activities.
At December 31, 2020, we had marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $724,716,476. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account, excluding deferred underwriting commissions, to complete our Business Combination. We may withdraw interest from the Trust Account to pay taxes, if any. To the extent that our share capital or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete a Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
At December 31, 2020, we had cash of $1,123,407 held outside of the Trust Account. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a 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 a Business Combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our Business Combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our Business Combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our Business Combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such Business Combination.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2020. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of the Sponsor a monthly fee of $25,000 for accounting, bookkeeping, office space, IT support, professional, secretarial and administrative services, provided to the Company. We began incurring these fees on July 14, 2020 and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of a Business Combination and the Company’s liquidation.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per unit, or $25,357,500 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters 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.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America 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 critical accounting policies:
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Redemption
We account for our Class A ordinary shares subject to possible conversion in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption are classified as a liability instrument and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable ordinary shares (including 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 our control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. Our Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
Net Loss Per Ordinary Share
We apply the two-class method in calculating earnings per share. Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, which are not currently redeemable and are not redeemable at fair value, have been excluded from the calculation of basic net loss per ordinary share since such shares, if redeemed, only participate in their pro rata share of the Trust Account earnings. Our net income is adjusted for the portion of income that is attributable to ordinary shares subject to redemption, as these shares only participate in the earnings of the Trust Account and not our income or losses.
Recent Accounting Standards
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
Following the consummation of our Initial Public Offering, the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering, including amounts in the Trust Account, have been invested in U.S. government treasury bills, notes or bonds with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds that invest solely in US treasuries. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act, such as this Report, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current chief executive officer and chief financial officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, as of December 31, 2020, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information.
None.
PART III

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Our current directors and executive officers are as follows:
Name
Age
Title
Charles Drucker
Executive Chairman
Boon Sim
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Director
Steven W. Alesio
Director
Kevin Costello
Director
Karen Richardson
Director
Charles Drucker has served as Executive Chairman of our Board of Directors since June 24, 2020. Mr. Drucker has had a decades-long career in the financial services industry. Mr. Drucker was a member of the board of directors of Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (“FIS”) and served as Vice Chairman until March 1, 2020. From January 2019 until its acquisition by FIS, he served as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Worldpay, a leading global payments company, and also served as Worldpay’s Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer from January 2018 to December 2018. From 2009 to 2017, Mr. Drucker was the Chief Executive Officer of Worldpay’s predecessor, Vantiv. Prior to joining Vantiv, Inc., Mr. Drucker served as Executive Vice President of Fifth Third Bancorp from June 2005 to June 2009. Prior to joining Fifth Third Bancorp, Mr. Drucker was with First Data Corporation and Wells Fargo. Mr. Drucker has also served on the board of directors of Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc. since 2016. Mr. Drucker has been selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive senior management experience in the payments and technology industries, as well as his experience with deep financial services.
Boon Sim has been our Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company since February 4, 2020 and our Chief Financial Officer since June 24, 2020. Mr. Sim has been Managing Partner of Artius Capital Partners since September 2017. Prior to that position, Mr. Sim was Advisory Senior Director of Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, from April 2016 to December 2017, and President, Americas Group, Head of Markets Group and Head of Credit and Life Science Portfolio from June 2012 to April 2016. He was previously the Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Credit Suisse. During his twenty-year career at Credit Suisse and its predecessor, The First Boston Corporation, Mr. Sim held several senior positions of increasing responsibility, including Head of M&A Americas and Co-head of Technology Group. Before joining The First Boston Corporation, Mr. Sim worked as a design engineer at Texas Instruments Inc., focusing on semiconductor design. Mr. Sim has also served on the board of directors of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board since 2020. Mr. Sim has been selected to serve on our board of directors due to his significant financial investment experience.
Steven W. Alesio has served on our board of directors since July 2020. Mr. Alesio is a business executive currently serving on the board of directors of CDW Corporation and Teaching Strategies. From 2010 to 2017, Mr. Alesio served as an Operating Partner at Providence Equity Partners L.L.C., a global asset management firm. Prior to joining Providence Equity, Mr. Alesio served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, a provider of credit information on businesses and corporations, a position he held from 2005 to 2010. Mr. Alesio joined Dun & Bradstreet in 2001 as Senior Vice President, was named President and Chief Operating Officer and elected to the board of directors in 2002. Prior to joining Dun & Bradstreet, Mr. Alesio spent 19 years with the American Express Company, where he served in marketing and general management roles. Mr. Alesio has been selected to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive experience within the technology and financial services industries.
Kevin Costello has served on our board of directors since July 2020. Mr. Costello has been an active investor, operator, and advisor to a variety of technology companies. He currently sits on the board of PRGX Global, Inc., Kaufman, Hall & Associates, LLC, Blue Cat Networks, Inc., Elemica, Inc., and Kahua, Inc. He was formerly lead independent director of Rackspace Inc., a director of Cbeyond, Inc., FinancialForce.com, Inc., and The
Rainmaker Group, Inc. He was executive chairman of Top Tech Holdings, Inc. Mr. Costello served as a director of Vantiv, Inc. from 2014 to 2017 and as a director of its successor Worldpay until July 2019. Mr. Costello served in a variety of senior roles at Ariba, Inc. from 2002 to 2007 and as President from 2007 until its acquisition by SAP in 2012. Following that acquisition, Mr. Costello served as president of Ariba, an SAP Company, from 2012 to 2014. Prior to joining Ariba, Mr. Costello spent 18 years with Andersen Business Consulting, during which he served in various senior management positions. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS in accounting. Mr. Costello has been selected to serve on our board of directors due to his leadership experience with public companies and technology and software companies as well as his background in finance and accounting.
Karen Richardson has served on our board of directors since July 2020. Ms. Richardson has a breadth of experience in the technology services industry and currently serves as a non-executive director of BP plc, Exponent, Inc. and Doma. Ms. Richardson served as a director of Worldpay from 2018 until July 2019. Prior to this, Ms. Richardson was an independent non-executive director of Worldpay Group plc. Ms. Richardson also served as a non-executive director at BT Plc from 2011-2018. Prior to her time at Worldpay and BT, Ms. Richardson held a number of senior sales and marketing roles in technology companies, including her tenure as Chief Executive Officer at Epiphany Inc. between 2003 and 2006. Ms. Richardson has also served as an advisor to Silver Lake Partners and has served on a number of private company boards, including i2 Holdings, Ayasdi LLC, Hackerrank, Convercent, Inc., Virtuoz, Proofpoint, Inc. and Hi5 Networks, Inc. Ms. Richardson has been selected to serve on our board of directors due to her leadership experience in technologically complex organizations.
Number, Terms of Office and Election of Officers and Director
Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Kevin Costello, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Steven W. Alesio and Karen Richardson, will expire at the second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Charles Drucker and Boon Sim, will expire at the third annual general meeting. We may not hold an annual general meeting until after we consummate our Business Combination.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship, which, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Karen Richardson, Kevin Costello and Steven W. Alesio are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
The members of our audit committee are Kevin Costello, Karen Richardson and Steven W. Alesio, and Karen Richardson serves as its Chair.
Each member of the audit committee meets the financial literacy requirements of Nasdaq and our board of directors has determined that Kevin Costello qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We has adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibilities of the audit committee, including:
•
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 permitted 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;
•
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 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 (i) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues;
•
reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and
•
reviewing with management, the independent 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.
Compensation Committee
Kevin Costello, Karen Richardson and Steven W. Alesio serve as members of our compensation committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent. As described above Kevin Costello, Karen Richardson and Steven W. Alesio are independent. Steven W. Alesio serves as chair of the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibilities 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 approving on an annual basis the compensation of all of our other officers;
•
reviewing on an annual basis 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;
•
if required, 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.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, other than reimbursement of expenses, no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, were paid by us to any of our sponsor, members of our management team or our or their affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate the consummation of, our Business Combination. Accordingly, prior to the consummation of Business Combination, the compensation committee was only responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with the Business Combination.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee, though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by applicable law or stock exchange rules. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(2) of the Nasdaq listing rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(1)(A) of the Nasdaq listing rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
Prior to our initial business combination, the board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our shareholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at an annual meeting of shareholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of shareholders). Our shareholders that wish to nominate a director for election to the Board should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our shareholders.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, (i) as a member of the compensation committee or board of directors of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our compensation committee, or (ii) as a member of the compensation committee of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our board of directors.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available on our website. Any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics will be disclosed on such website promptly following the date of such amendment or waiver. We have previously filed copies of our form of Code of Ethics, our form of Audit Committee Charter and our form of Compensation Committee Charter as exhibits to our registration statement in connection with our Public Offering. You may review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request to us in writing at 3 Columbus Circle, Suite 2215, New York, New York 10019 or by telephone at (212) 309-7668.
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;
•
duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders;
•
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 which that director has.
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.
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. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a Business Combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such Business Combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers and directors will materially affect our ability to complete our Business Combination.
Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:
•
None of our officers or directors is required to commit his or her full time to our affairs and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating his or her time among various business activities.
•
In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as the other entities with which they are affiliated. Our management may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. For a complete description of our management’s other affiliations, see “-Directors and Executive Officers.”
•
Our Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to our Founder Shares and Public Shares in connection with the consummation of our Business Combination. Additionally, our Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares if we fail to consummate our Business Combination within 24 months after the Close Date. If we do not complete our Business Combination within such applicable time period, the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants held in the Trust Account will be used to fund the redemption of our Public Shares, and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. With certain limited exceptions, the Founder Shares will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our Shareholders until the earlier of (1) one year after the completion of our Business Combination and (2) the date on which we consummate a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization, or other similar transaction after our Business Combination that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the last sale price of our ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our Business Combination, the Founder Shares will be released from the lock-up. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the ordinary shares underlying such warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees until 30 days after the completion of our Business Combination. Since our Sponsor and officers and directors may directly or indirectly own ordinary shares and warrants, our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our 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 target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our Business Combination.
The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.
Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors may have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities.
We are not prohibited from pursuing a Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our Business Combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or from an independent accounting firm, that such a Business Combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. Furthermore, in no event will our Sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid by the company any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our Business Combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on Nasdaq, we will also reimburse our Sponsor for office space and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $25,000 per month.
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor
In the event that we submit our Business Combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any Founder Shares held by them (and their permitted transferees will agree) and any Public Shares purchased during or after our Public Offering in favor of our 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, 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 expect to purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.
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 complete a Business Combination.
Our indemnification obligations may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires the Company’s executive officers, directors, and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of a registered class of the Company’s equity securities, to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of the Company’s common stock. Such officers, directors, and persons are required by SEC regulation to furnish the Company with copies of all Section 16(a) forms that they file with the SEC.
To our knowledge, based solely on review of the copies of such reports and amendments to such reports with respect to the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the SEC, all required Section 16 reports under the Exchange Act for our directors, executive officers, principal accounting officer and beneficial owners of greater than 10% of our common stock were filed on a timely basis during the year ended December 31, 2020, except that the initial statement on beneficial ownership on Form 3 for Artius Acquisition Partners LLC was due on July 13, 2020 but was filed two days late.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on July 14, 2020, through the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or our liquidation, we pay monthly recurring expenses of $25,000 to an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. Our Sponsor, executive officers, directors, or any of their respective affiliates, are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combinations. Our independent directors will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our Sponsor, executive officers, directors and our or their affiliates.
After the completion of our Business Combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed Business Combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, 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 by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent 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 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 Business Combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management team to remain with us after the consummation of a 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.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.
We have no compensation plans under which equity securities are authorized for issuance.
The following table sets forth information available to us at March 3, 2021 with respect to our ordinary shares held by:
•
each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding ordinary shares;
•
each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially own ordinary shares; and
•
all our executive officers and directors as a group.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have shared or sole voting and investment power with respect to all ordinary shares beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the Private Placement Warrants as they are not exercisable within 60 days of March 3, 2021.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1)
Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned(2)
Approximate
Percentage of
Issued and
Outstanding
Ordinary Shares
Artius Acquisition Partners LLC (our sponsor)(3)
18,112,500
%
Boon Sim(3)
18,112,500
%
Charles D. Drucker(3)
18,112,500
%
Steven W. Alesio
-
-
Kevin Costello
-
-
Karen Richardson
-
-
All executive officers and directors as a group (5 individuals)
18,112,500
%
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is 3 Columbus Circle, Suite 2215, New York, NY 10019.
(2) Interests shown consist solely of Founder Shares, classified as Class B ordinary shares. This table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the 11,326,667 Private Placement Warrants as they are not exercisable within 60 days of February 18, 2021.
(3) Mr. Sim is the managing member of Aecus Partners LLC and Mr. Drucker is the managing member of WCBRP LLC. Aecus Partners LLC and WCBRP LLC are the founding member of Artius Acquisition Partners LLC and together exercise voting and investment power with respect to the Class B ordinary shares held by Artius Acquisition Partners LLC. The shares beneficially owned by Artius Acquisition Partners LLC may also be deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Sim and Mr. Drucker.
Our Shareholders beneficially own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares and have the right to elect all of our directors prior to our Business Combination as a result of holding all of the Founder Shares. Holders of our Public Shares will not have the right to elect any directors to our board of directors prior to our Business Combination. In addition, because of their ownership block, our 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.
On February 4, 2020 our Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 11,500,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share. On June 24, 2020 and July 13, 2020, we effected share capitalization resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 18,112,500 Founder shares. At December 31, 2020, our Sponsor held 18,112,500 Founder Shares.
On the Close Date, we consummated an initial public offering of 72,450,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit generating gross proceeds of $724,500,000 before underwriting discounts and expenses. Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share of the Company at $0.0001 par value and one-third of one warrant. Prior to the Close Date, we completed the sale of the Private Placement Warrants.
Our Sponsor and our executive officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws. See “Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” below for additional information regarding our relationships with our promoters.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
Founder Shares
On February 4, 2020 our Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 11,500,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share. On June 24, 2020 and July 13, 2020, we effected share capitalization resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 18,112,500 Founder shares. At December 31, 2020, our Sponsor held 18,112,500 Founder Shares.
The Founder Shares are identical to the Public Shares included in the Units sold in the Public Offering except that the Founder Shares are subject to certain rights and transfer restrictions, as described in further detail below, and are automatically converted into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions contained in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
The Shareholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any Founder Shares during the Lock Up Period.
Private Placement Warrants
Prior to the Close Date, our Sponsor purchased 11,326,667 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $16,990,000. Each Private Placement Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share for $11.50 per share. The Private Placement Warrants may not be redeemed by the Company so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees. If any Private Placement Warrants are transferred to holders other than our Sponsor or its permitted transferees, such Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the Warrants included in the Units sold in the Public Offering. Our Sponsor has the option to exercise the Private Placement Warrants on a cashless basis.
If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date, the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Company’s Public Shares, subject to the requirements of applicable law, and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
Registration Rights
Holders of the Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants hold registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands that the Company register under the Securities Act the Private Placement Warrants, and the Class A ordinary shares underlying the Private Placement Warrants and Class B ordinary shares. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed by the Company subsequent to its completion of a Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that that Company will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable Lock Up Period. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Related Party Notes
Between January 24, 2020 and the Close Date, our Sponsor loaned us $215,215 in unsecured promissory notes. The funds were used to pay up front expenses associated with our Public Offering. These notes were non-interest bearing and were repaid in full to our Sponsor at the Close Date.
Our Sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combination opportunities. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made 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 our 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 a Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that our Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. The terms of such loans 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 or an affiliate of our Sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our Trust Account.
After our 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 shareholder meeting held to consider our Business Combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
Administrative Services Agreement
On the July 14, 2020, we entered into an agreement to pay $25,000 a month for office space, administrative and support services to an affiliate of our Sponsor, and will terminate the agreement upon the earlier of a Business Combination or our liquidation.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our Board of Directors has determined that Karen Richardson, Kevin Costello and Steven W. Alesio are “independent directors” under applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
In addition to the transactions described above, we and our Sponsor, among others, entered into certain agreements in connection with the signing of the Business Combination Agreement, pursuant to which, among other things, our Sponsor and our directors and officers have certain interests. For more information, please see Item 1. Business - “Recent Developments.”

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the period from January 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 totaled $60,025. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay Marcum for consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards for the period from January 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the period from January 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the period from January 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K:
Financial Statements: See “Index to Financial Statements” at “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” herein.
(b) Exhibits: The exhibits listed in the accompanying index to exhibits are filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Exhibit
Number
Description
2.1*
Business Combination Agreement, dated as of February 16, 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1 filed with Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021 (File No. 001-39378)).
3.1*
Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
4.1*
Specimen Unit Certificate (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 filed by the Company on July 2, 2020 (File No. 333-239421)).
4.2*
Specimen Class A Ordinary Share Certificate (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.2 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 filed by the Company on July 2, 2020 (File No. 333-239421)).
4.3*
Specimen Warrants Certificate (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.3 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 filed by the Company on July 2, 2020 (File No. 333-239421)).
4.4*
Warrant Agreement, dated as of July 13, 2020, between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-29378)).
4.5**
Description of Registrant’s Securities.
10.1*
Form of Letter Agreements, dated July 13, 2020, between the Company and each of its officers and directors, and the Sponsor (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.5 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.2*
Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated as of July 13, 2020, between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.3*
Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of July 13, 2020, among the Company, the Sponsor and certain security holders (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.4*
Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, dated as of October 6, 2020, between the Company and the Sponsor (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.3 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.5*
Form of Indemnity Agreements, dated as of July 13, 2020, between the Company and each of its officers and directors (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.6, 10.7 , 10.8 and 10.9 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
Exhibit
Number
Description
10.6*
Administrative Services Agreement, dated July 2, 2020 between the Company and Artius Management LLC (incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 filed with the Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on July 16, 2020 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.7*
Form of Transaction Support Agreement, dated as of February 16, 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 filed with Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.8*
Form of Sponsor Letter Agreement, dated as of February 16, 2021, (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 filed with Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.9*
Form of Subscription Agreement, dated as of February 16, 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 filed with Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021 (File No. 001-39378)).
10.10*
Form Lock-Up Agreement, dated as of February 16, 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 filed with Company’s Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 17, 2021 (File No. 001-39378)).
24.1**
Power of Attorney (included on the signature pages herein).
31.1**
Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a-14(a) and 15(d)-14(a), as adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.1**
Certification of Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
101.INS**
XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH**
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL**
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF**
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB**
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE**
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
* Incorporated by reference.
** Filed herewith.