EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1828248
Filing Year: 2024
Filename: 1828248_10-K_2024_0001410578-24-000414.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1.Business.
Introduction
We are a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this Annual Report as our initial business combination. On August 1, 2023, the Company entered into the Merger Agreement (as defined below) by and among the Company, Pubco, Merger Sub, CorpAcq (each as defined below) and certain shareholders of CorpAcq. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, the Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company being the surviving entity in the merger. Please see “ - 2023 and 2024 Developments” for additional information. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
Our founder, Michael Klein, is also the founder and managing partner of M. Klein and Company, LLC (together with its affiliates, “M. Klein and Company”), which he founded in 2012. M. Klein and Company is a global strategic advisory firm that provides its clients a variety of advice tailored to their objectives. Mr. Klein is a strategic advisor to global companies, boards of directors, senior executives, governments and institutional investors. Mr. Klein’s background in strategic advisory work was built during his 37 year career, including more than two decades at Citigroup Inc. (“Citi”) and its predecessors, during which he initiated and executed strategic advisory transactions. He began his career as an investment banker in the M&A Advisory Group at Salomon Brothers and subsequently became Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Citi Markets and Banking, with responsibilities for Global Corporate and Investment Banking and Global Transaction Services across Citi. In his role as Co- CEO, he was responsible for all relationship, advisory, underwriting, and capital markets issuance activity.
Our executive offices are located at 640 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019 and our telephone number is (212) 380-7500. Our corporate website address is http://vii.churchillcapitalcorp.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this Annual Report. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
Company History
In December 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock (the “Class B common stock” or “founder shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On February 5, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 20,125,000 shares thereof. Additionally, on February 11, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 5,750,000 shares thereof, resulting in 34,500,000 founder shares outstanding. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of shares of Class B common stock issued was based on the expectation that the shares of Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of our determined Class A common stock and our Class B common stock (collectively, our “common stock”) upon completion of the initial public offering (the “IPO”).
On February 17, 2021, we completed our IPO of 138,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit (the “units”), generating gross proceeds of $1,380,000,000. Each unit consists of one of the Company’s shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “public shares” or “Class A common stock”), and one-fifth of one warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 32,600,000 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $32,600,000 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $1,380,000,000 from the proceeds of the IPO and the private placement warrants was placed in a trust account (the “trust account”) such that the trust account held $1,380,000,000 at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
On April 2, 2021, we announced that, commencing April 5, 2021, holders of the 138,000,000 units sold in the IPO may elect to separately trade the shares of Class A common stock and the warrants included in the units. Those units not separated trade on the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “CVIIU” and the shares of Class A common stock and warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “CVII” and “CVIIW,” respectively.
2023 and 2024 Developments
On August 1, 2023, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among the Company, Polaris Pubco Plc (now known as CorpAcq Group Plc), a public limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales (“Pubco”), NorthSky Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Pubco (“Merger Sub”), CorpAcq Holdings Limited, a private limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales (“CorpAcq”) and certain shareholders of CorpAcq. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, the parties thereto intend to enter into a business combination transaction pursuant to which certain shareholders of CorpAcq will contribute their interests in CorpAcq to Pubco and Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company being the surviving entity in the merger.
The proposed merger is expected to be consummated after the required approval by the stockholders of the Company and the satisfaction of certain other conditions summarized below.
The total consideration to be paid to the shareholders of CorpAcq will be equal to the sum of:
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an amount in U.S. Dollars (the “Closing Seller Cash Consideration”) equal to the sum of (a) all available cash and cash equivalents of the Company and its subsidiaries, including all amounts in the trust account of the Company (after reduction for the aggregate amount of payments required to be made in connection with the CCVII Stockholder Redemption (defined in the Merger Agreement)), plus the CCVII Facilitated Financing Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement), if any, in each case calculated as of immediately prior to closing and without giving effect to the Delayed Financing Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement) minus (b) the aggregate amount of the CorpAcq Transaction Expenses and CCVII Transaction Expenses (each, as defined in the Merger Agreement), minus (c) an amount in cash equal to the amount required to fully redeem all of the preferred shares of CorpAcq outstanding immediately prior to closing, minus (d) an amount equal to $128,600,000 minus the CorpAcq Holder Facilitated Financing Amount (defined in the Merger Agreement), if any (clauses (a) - (d), collectively, the “Closing Seller Preliminary Cash Consideration”), minus (e) 99.99% of the amount by which the Closing Seller Preliminary Cash Consideration exceeds $257,200,000 (or such lesser amount as indicated by CorpAcq); plus
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a number of ordinary shares of Pubco (“Pubco Ordinary Shares”) equal to (a) a number of shares (rounded down to the nearest whole share) equal to (i) $803,822,000, minus the Closing Seller Cash Consideration, divided by (ii) $10.00, and (b) if the “Delivered Capital Adjustment Amount” (defined in the Sponsor Agreement to be an amount equal to (x) 12.5% multiplied by (y) (1) the Delivered Capital Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement), minus (2) $592,000,000), is a negative number, plus a number of Pubco Ordinary Shares (rounded down to the nearest whole
share) (the “Incremental Share Consideration”) equal to (i) the absolute value of the Delivered Capital Adjustment Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement), divided by (ii) $10.00, multiplied by (iii) 50%; plus
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15,000,000 class C-2 ordinary shares in Pubco, which shall have terms substantially equivalent to those set forth on Exhibit A of the Merger Agreement; plus
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the Pubco Ordinary Shares which constitute: (a) a number of Pubco Ordinary Shares equal to the Incremental Share Consideration (the “Incremental Earnout Shares”) and (b) an aggregate amount of Pubco Ordinary Shares equal to (i) 15,000,000 minus (ii) the Specified Sponsor Retained Share Amount (as defined in the Sponsor Agreement) and as may be adjusted pursuant the Sponsor Agreement (the “Base Earnout Shares”); provided that no Incremental Earnout Shares shall be issued at Closing and only 11,000,000 Base Earnout Shares shall be issued at Closing and, instead of a right to any additional Incremental Earnout Shares or Base Earnout Shares at Closing, the shareholders of CorpAcq party to the Merger Agreement shall have the contingent right to receive any remaining Incremental Earnout Shares or Base Earnout Shares, as applicable, from the Pubco within five (5) days following the final calculation of the Delayed Financing Amount pursuant to the Sponsor Agreement. The Incremental Earnout Shares and the Base Earnout Shares will be unvested upon issuance and will be subject to the same vesting and forfeiture provisions and voting and dividend rights as are described below in respect of the Sponsor’s Base Vesting Shares and Earn-Out Vesting Shares, respectively. Upon vesting and prior to redemption in exchange for Post-Combination Company Ordinary A1 Shares, the Incremental Earn Out Shares shall be entitled to receive an additional catchup payment such that each holder receives an amount that would have been paid out on those shares since issue as if they had the same economic rights as the Post-Combination Company Ordinary A1 Shares during that period.
The Merger Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants by the parties thereto and the closing is subject to certain conditions as further described in the Merger Agreement
At a special meeting of our stockholders held on May 11, 2023, our stockholders approved an amendment to our amended and restated charter to extend the date by which we must consummate an initial business combination from May 17, 2023 to February 17, 2024 (or such earlier date as determined by the Churchill Board). In connection with the initial extension, on May 16, 2023, our sponsor agreed to make monthly deposits directly to the trust account of $1,000,000 per month. Such contributions are made pursuant to a non-interest bearing unsecured promissory note (as amended, the “Extension Promissory Note”).
On February 5, 2024, we completed the voluntary transfer of the listing of our Class A common stock, units and warrants from the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) to Nasdaq. Our Class A common stock, units and warrants are currently traded on Nasdaq under the symbols “CVII,” “CVIIU” and “CVIIW,” respectively.
At a subsequent special meeting of our stockholders (the “February Extension Special Meeting”) held on February 8, 2024, our stockholders approved an amendment to our amended and restated charter to extend the date by which we must consummate an initial business combination from February 17, 2024 to August 17, 2024 (or such earlier date as determined by the Churchill Board) (such amendment, the “Extension”). The purpose of the Extension is to allow us additional time to complete our initial business combination. In connection with the February Extension Special Meeting, our stockholders approved an amendment to our charter to provide for the right of holders of founder shares to convert some or all of the founder shares into shares of our Class A common stock on a one-to-one basis at any time at the election of the holder.
On February 9, 2024, we and the sponsor amended the Extension Promissory Note issued by us to the sponsor on May 16, 2023, pursuant to which the sponsor has agreed to continue to make monthly deposits directly to the trust account of $1,000,000 million per month (each deposit, a “Contribution”).
Pursuant to the Extension Promissory Note, each contribution will be paid monthly beginning on May 17, 2023 and thereafter on the seventeenth day of each month (or if such seventeenth day is not a business day, on the business day immediately preceding such seventeenth day) until the earliest to occur of (i) August 15, 2024, (ii) the consummation of an initial business combination, and (iii) if an initial business combination is not consummated, the date on which our board of directors (determines, in its sole discretion, to liquidate the trust account. The Extension Promissory Note will mature on the earlier of (1) the date we consummate an initial business combination and (2) the date that the winding up of our company is effective (such date, the “Maturity Date”). The Extension Promissory Note does not bear any interest, and is repayable by us to the sponsor upon the Maturity Date. The Maturity Date may be accelerated upon the occurrence of an “Event of Default” (as defined in the Extension Promissory Note). Any outstanding principal under the Extension Promissory Note may be prepaid at any time by us, at our election and without penalty.
Sponsor Agreement
In connection with the execution of the Merger Agreement, the Company amended and restated in its entirety that certain letter, dated February 11, 2021, from the sponsor and each of the individuals party thereto, each of whom is a member of the Company’s board of directors and/or management team (each, an “Insider” and collectively, the “Insiders”) to the Company (the “Support Agreement”), pursuant to which among other things, each of the sponsor and the Insiders agreed (i) to vote any of such Insider’s shares of common stock (1) in favor of the approval and adoption of the Merger Agreement and approval of the related transactions and all other CCVII Stockholder Matters (as defined in the Sponsor Agreement) and (2) against certain other matters, (ii) not to redeem any of such Insider’s shares of common stock in connection with the CCVII Stockholder Redemption, (iii) to take all actions to consummate the Merger, the other transactions and the matters contemplated by the Merger Agreement and the Sponsor Agreement and be bound by and comply with Sections 9.04 (Exclusivity) and 9.06 (Confidentiality; Publicity) of the Merger Agreement, (iv) not to enter into, modify or amend any contract between or among the Sponsor, any Insider, anyone related by blood, marriage or adoption to any Insider or any affiliate of any such person (other than the Company or any of its subsidiaries), on the one hand, and the Company or any of its subsidiaries, on the other hand, that would contradict, limit, restrict or impair (1) any party’s ability to perform or satisfy any obligation under the Sponsor Agreement or (2) Pubco’s, Bermuda Co’s, the Company’s or Merger Sub’s ability to perform or satisfy any of its obligations under the Merger Agreement, and (v) to be bound to certain other obligations as described therein.
Initial Business Combination
It is a requirement under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that an initial business combination must occur with one or more operating businesses that together have a fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed as permitted withdrawals and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. As of August 1, 2023, the date of the execution of the Merger Agreement, the balance of the funds in the trust account was approximately $600.0 million (excluding up to $48.3 million of deferred underwriting commissions as of such date) and 80% thereof represents approximately $480.0 million. In reaching its conclusion on the 80% asset test, our board used as a fair market value the $803.8 million equity value for CorpAcq, which was implied based on the terms of the business combination agreed to by the parties in negotiating the Merger Agreement.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires the affirmative vote of a majority of our board of directors, which must include a majority of our independent directors, to approve our initial business combination (or such other vote as the applicable law or stock exchange rules then in effect may require).
Corporate Information
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.
Financial Position
As of December 31, 2023, we had $594,061,727 of funds available for our business combination, assuming no further redemptions and after payment of up to $17,931,375 of deferred underwriting fees. In connection with the February Extension Special Meeting, 951,810 shares of Class A common stock were redeemed, resulting in the payment of approximately $10 million from the trust account. Based on redemptions in other recent SPAC initial business combinations, we may yet experience high levels of redemptions in connection with any vote on our initial business combination.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business.
By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
● subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry or geographical area in which we operate after our initial business combination; and
● cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we closely scrutinized the management of the prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is highly unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following our initial business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account as of the closing of the IPO was $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 right will include the requirement that any beneficial owner on whose behalf a redemption right is being exercised must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have each 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 any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (the “letter agreement”).
Manner of conducting redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination, in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination.
Since stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
● conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and
● file proxy materials with the SEC.
We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any stockholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our Nasdaq listing or Exchange Act registration.
In connection with the stockholder meeting called to approve of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
Unless otherwise required by applicable law, regulation or stock exchange rules, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the Company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders, officers and directors will count towards this quorum and have agreed to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds and agreements, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors have each 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 any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides 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 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 related to our initial business combination. Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (1) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners; (2) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (3) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on redemption upon completion of our initial business combination in connection with seeking stockholder approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in connection with seeking stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our affiliates to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or our affiliates at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Tendering stock certificates in connection with redemption rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination at the holder’s option. The proxy materials that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that any beneficial owner on whose behalf a redemption right is being exercised must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have up to two business days prior to the vote on the business combination to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. A final proxy statement will be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the Company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the Company’s stock in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the Company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until the end of the completion window (as defined below).
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we have until August 17, 2024 to complete our initial business combination (the period from the closing of the IPO until August 17, 2024, the “completion window”). If we are unable to complete our initial business combination by August 17, 2024 we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) 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 (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window.
Our initial stockholders, officers and directors have each 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 initial business combination within the completion window. However, if our sponsor or any of our officers and directors acquires public shares after the IPO, it will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 (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 related to our initial business combination.
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 held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes or make other permitted withdrawals, 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 IPO 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 and any permitted withdrawals or expenses for the dissolution of the trust, the per share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be $10.55 as of December 31, 2023. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors included herein. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.00 per public share in the aggregate or (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of permitted withdrawals, except as to any claims by a third party that executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether any such waiver is enforceable) and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. 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 and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per 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: (1) $10.00 per public share in the aggregate or (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of permitted withdrawals, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in certain instances. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or the independent directors may determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.00 per share. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors included herein.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As of December 31, 2023, we had access to approximately $612.0 million in the trust account with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) 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 (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such completion window. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the expiration of the completion window and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent ten years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations are limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account.
As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote.
Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below: (1) $10.00 per public share; or (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of permitted withdrawals and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors - If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.”
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, if they redeem their respective shares for cash in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance and timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares or if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with our initial business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above.
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains certain requirements and restrictions relating to the IPO that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. These provisions (other than amendments relating to the election and removal of directors, which require the approval of a majority of the Class B common stock then outstanding) cannot be amended without the approval of the holders of at least 65% of our common stock. Our initial stockholders, who collectively beneficially own 37.7% of our common stock, may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Prior to an initial business combination, we may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:
● if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the
right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law;
● prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to: (1) receive funds from the trust account; or (2) vote on any initial business combination;
● although we have not entered, as of the time of this Annual Report, into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with M. Klein and Company, any of our Strategic and Operating Partners, our sponsor, our directors or our officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with M. Klein and Company, any of our Strategic and Operating Partners, our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm that such a business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view;
● if required by applicable stock-exchange rules, our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount);
● if our stockholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon such approval at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares; and
● we will not effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides 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 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination.
Certain Potential Conflicts of Interest Relating to M. Klein and Company and Our Officers and Directors
Our sponsor is an affiliate of M. Klein and Company. Mr. Klein is the founder and managing partner of M. Klein and Company and acts as a strategic advisor to its clients. Mr. Klein has a fiduciary duty to M. Klein and Company, as well as to other entities in which he serves as a director or officer. As a result, Mr. Klein may have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to clients of M. Klein and Company or to other entities he owes a fiduciary duty. Mr. Klein had no duty to offer acquisition opportunities to the Company unless presented to him solely in his capacity as an officer or director of the Company and after he has satisfied his contractual and fiduciary obligations to other parties. As a result, M. Klein and Company’s clients may have competed with us for acquisition opportunities in the same industries and sectors as we targeted for our initial business combination. If any of them decided to pursue any such opportunity, we would have been precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas generated within M. Klein and Company, including by Mr. Klein and other persons who may make decisions for the Company, may have been suitable both for us and for M. Klein and Company or any of its clients, and would have been directed initially to such persons rather than to us. None of Mr. Klein, M. Klein and Company or members of our management team who are also employed by M. Klein and Company had any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they
became aware unless it was offered to them solely in their capacity as a director or officer of the Company and after they had satisfied their contractual and fiduciary obligations to other parties.
In addition, Mr. Klein and M. Klein and Company may have sponsored or formed other blank check companies similar to ours, including during the period in which we were seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. In particular M. Klein and Company, Mr. Klein and the Strategic and Operating Partners are actively engaged in AltC Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition corporation that completed its initial public offering in July 2021, and Churchill Capital Corp IX, a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this report. AltC Acquisition Corp., like us, is able to pursue initial business combination targets in any businesses or industries and has until July 12, 2024 to do so (absent an extension in accordance with its charter). Any such companies, including AltC Acquisition Corp. and Churchill Capital Corp IX, may have presented or may present, as applicable, additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target and may present additional conflicts of interest in completing our initial business combination. In addition, Mr. Klein, our Chief Executive Officer, is Chief Executive Officer of Churchill Capital Corp IX, Mr. Taragin, our Chief Financial Officer, is Chief Financial Officer of M. Klein and Company, AltC Acquisition Corp and Churchill Capital Corp IX and Stephen Murphy, one of our directors, is a director nominee of Churchill Capital Corp IX.
The potential conflicts described above may limit our ability to complete a business combination or other transactions. These circumstances could give rise to numerous situations where interests may conflict.
There can be no assurance that these or other conflicts of interest with the potential for adverse effects on the Company and investors will not arise.
Limitations on Our Access to Investment Opportunities Sourced by M. Klein and Company
M. Klein and Company may have competed with us for acquisition opportunities that we targeted for our initial business combination. If M. Klein and Company decided to pursue any such opportunity or determined in its sole discretion not to offer such opportunity to us, we may have been precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas generated within M. Klein and Company or by persons who may make decisions for us may have been suitable for both us and for M. Klein and Company may have been directed to M. Klein and Company or other third parties rather than to us. M. Klein and Company does not have any fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to our company, including, without limitation, to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware.
Our management team, in their other endeavors (including any affiliation they may have with M. Klein and Company), may have chosen or been required to present potential business combinations or other transactions to M. Klein and Company or third parties, before they presented such opportunities to us. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors - 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 or other transaction should be presented” in Part I of this Annual Report.
Not All Members of Our Management Team are Independent of M. Klein and Company
Our management team is responsible for the management of our affairs. Mr. Klein is the founder and managing partner of M. Klein and Company and acts as a strategic advisor to its clients. Mr. Klein has a fiduciary duty to M. Klein and Company, as well as to other entities in which he serves as a director or officer. As a result, Mr. Klein may have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to clients of M. Klein and Company. Mr. Klein had no duty to offer acquisition opportunities to the Company unless presented to him in his capacity as an officer or director of the Company or to other entities he owes a fiduciary duty. Please see “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - Conflicts of Interest” in Part III of this Annual Report for additional information regarding conflicts of interest relating to our management team.
Sponsor Indemnity
Our sponsor, an affiliate of M. Klein and Company, has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below: (1) $10.00 per public share; or (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case, net of permitted withdrawals, except as to any claims by a third party that executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether any such waiver is enforceable) and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. 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 and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. We believe the likelihood of our sponsor having to indemnify the trust account is limited because we will endeavor to have all vendors and prospective target businesses as well as other entities execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 640 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019. The cost for this space is included in the $50,000 per month fee that we pay an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have two officers and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Members of our management team are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any such person will devote in any time period to our company will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and we have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains such reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.
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.
Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date hereof.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A.Risk Factors.
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, the prospectus associated with our IPO and the registration statement of which such prospectus forms a part 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.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with:
● our ability to complete our initial business combination, including risks arising from the uncertainty resulting from concerns about the U.S. budget deficit, the debt ceiling and the credit rating of the United States, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Hamas and related volatility in the financial markets;
● our public shareholders’ ability to exercise redemption rights;
● the requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the completion window;
● the possibility that Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange;
● a 1% U.S. federal excise tax in connection with redemptions of our Class A common stock;
● being declared an investment company under the Investment Company Act;
● complying with changing laws and regulations;
● the performance of the prospective target business or businesses;
● our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;
● the pool of prospective target businesses that were available to us;
● the issuance of additional Class A common stock in connection with a business combination that may dilute the interest of our shareholders;
● the incentives to our sponsor, officers and directors to complete a business combination to avoid losing their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed;
● our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;
● our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;
● our ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;
● our ability to amend the terms of warrants in a manner that may be adverse to the holders of public warrants;
● our ability to redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise;
● our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; and
● provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law that may have the effect of inhibiting a takeover of us and discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, and limiting our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders.
Risks Relating to Consummation of or Inability to Consummate an Initial Business Combination
Holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote for our proposed business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
In connection with our proposed initial business combination, holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Holders of our founder shares hold 37.7% of our common stock. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our outstanding public shares do not approve of the business combination we consummate. Please see “Item 1. Business - Manner of conducting redemptions” for additional information.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our founder shares, we would need 11,282,131, or 19.8%, of the 57,064,261 public shares to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted) in order to have such initial business combination approved. Holders of our founder shares hold 37.7% of our common stock. Accordingly, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders.
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 and the stockholder vote regarding the approval of such business combination.
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 set forth in our proxy documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination and voting on such business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may prevent us from completing the initial business combination.
The Merger Agreement has a minimum cash condition that requires as a closing condition that we have a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights in connection with the business combination, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to consummate the business combination. 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 and such amount of deferred underwriting discount is not available for us to use as consideration in an initial business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to 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 or liquidate. If we are able to consummate the business combination, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we entered into the Merger Agreement, we did not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights and, therefore, we had to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that would be submitted for redemption. Since the Merger Agreement contains a minimum cash condition, we needed to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements or may need to arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the Class B common stock results in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, the amount of deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters is not required to be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the business combination or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.
Because the Merger Agreement contains a minimum cash condition, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful increases. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, in which case we will cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders would only receive approximately $10.55 per share based on amounts in the trust account at December 31, 2023, or less than such amount in certain circumstances.
Pursuant to our amended and restated charter, we must consummate our initial business combination within the completion window. There can be no assurances that we will be able to complete the business combination or to find a suitable alternative target business within such time period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the U.S. debt ceiling and budget deficit concerns have increased the possibility of credit-rating downgrades and economic slowdowns, or a recession in the United States. Financial markets also may be adversely affected by current or anticipated military conflict, including the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally, which could cause or continue to cause, as applicable, market disruptions, including significant volatility in energy and other commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain interruptions, and adversely affect the global economy and financial markets leading to instability and lack of liquidity in capital markets. Any negative impact on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from downgrades to the U.S. government’s sovereign credit rating or its perceived creditworthiness, the war in Ukraine and subsequent actions could adversely affect our search for a business combination and any target business with which we may ultimately consummate a business combination.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within the completion window, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.55 per share (based on amounts in the trust account at December 31, 2023), or less than $10.00 per share in certain circumstances where a third party brings a claim against us that the sponsor is unable to indemnify (as described herein), on the redemption of their shares. Please see “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors included herein.
If permitted withdrawals and other sources of working capital are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain such loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their respective affiliates is under any obligation or other duty to loan funds to us in such circumstances. Any such loans would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because of insufficient funds, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.55 per share (based on amounts in the trust account at December 31, 2023), or less in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “-If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors included herein.
Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from the public, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our common stock.
At any time prior to the stockholder special meeting in connection with the business combination, during a period when they are not then aware of any material nonpublic information regarding our public shares, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may (although they are under no obligation to do so) purchase public shares or public warrants from public stockholders in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market and separate from the redemption process in connection with the stockholder special meeting in connection with the business combination. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will only make open market purchases to the extent the price per public share so acquired is no higher than the redemption price that would be available in connection with the redemption procedures described in the proxy statement/prospectus filed in connection with the stockholder special meeting. In addition, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will waive any redemption rights with respect to any public shares purchased in open market purchases and will not vote any public shares purchased in open market purchases in favor of the business combination proposal.
As of the date of this report, no such transactions have occurred nor are they planned to occur. However any such purchase arrangements might include, without limitation, that in the event shares are purchased in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. Similarly, our sponsor, and our directors, officers or advisors or any of our respective affiliates may (although they are under no obligation to do so) enter into arrangements or contractual acknowledgements with public stockholders, including to (i) confirm that such stockholder, although still the record holder of public shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights or (ii) protect such stockholders against potential loss in value of their shares, including through the granting of put options and the transfer to such stockholders of shares owned by our sponsor for nominal value.
The purposes of such purchases and arrangements would be to reduce the number of public shares that may be redeemed in connection with the stockholder special meeting, and to increase the likelihood of satisfaction of the requirements to consummate the business combination where it appears that such requirements would otherwise not be met, and may, in the case of purchases, include a business decision to increase such purchaser’s ownership of shares at an attractive price. If such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange or reducing the liquidity of the trading market for such securities.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for redeeming its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
If a stockholder fails to receive our proxy materials, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy materials that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (1) the completion of our initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window; and (3) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the completion window for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond the completion window before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
If the funds available to us outside of the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the completion window, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the completion window, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. 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, including permitted withdrawals and loans or additional investments from our sponsor, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the completion window; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or merger agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.55 per share (based on amounts in the trust account at December 31, 2023), or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors included herein.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
We cannot assure you that our due diligence will identify all material issues that may be present with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses 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 stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the per share amount initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors.
Our sponsor has agreed that it will indemnify us if and to the extent losses to which it may become subject as a result of any claims by a vendor (other than our independent public accountants) for services rendered or products sold to it, or a prospective target business with which it has entered into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share of our Class A common stock or (ii) the actual amount per share of Class A common stock held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share of Class A common stock is then held in the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets less a price per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of amounts withdrawn to fund our working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $1,000,000, and/or to pay our taxes. Such indemnification obligation (x) shall not apply to any claims by a third party that executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) and (x) shall not apply to any claims under our indemnity of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. 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 our securities. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per share of Class A common stock. In such event, we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination, and our public shareholders would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of their shares of Class A common stock. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our independent directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of: (1) $10.00 per public share; or (2) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of permitted withdrawals, 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 may choose not to do so in certain instances. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or the independent directors may 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 stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per share amount that would otherwise be received by our public stockholders in connection with our liquidation would be reduced.
We may be subject to a 1% U.S. federal excise tax in connection with redemptions of our Class A common stock.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) was signed into law. The IR Act provides for, among other things, a 1% U.S. federal excise tax on certain repurchases (including redemptions) of stock by publicly traded U.S. corporations after December 31, 2022. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its stockholders from whom the shares are repurchased (although it may reduce the amount of cash distributable in a current or subsequent redemption). The amount of the excise tax is 1% of the fair market value of any shares repurchased by the repurchasing corporation during a taxable year, which may be potentially netted by the fair market value of certain new stock issuances by the repurchasing corporation during the same taxable year. In addition, a number of exceptions apply to this excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of, this excise tax.
On December 27, 2022, the Treasury published Notice 2023-2, which provided clarification on some aspects of the application of the excise tax. The notice generally provides that if a publicly traded U.S. corporation completely liquidates and dissolves, distributions in such complete liquidation and other distributions by such corporation in the same taxable year in which the final distribution in complete liquidation and dissolution is made are not subject to the excise tax.
Because any such excise tax would be payable by us and not by the redeeming holder, it could cause a reduction in the value of our Class A common stock, cash available with which to effectuate a business combination or cash available for distribution in a subsequent liquidation. Whether and to what extent we would be subject to the excise tax in connection with an initial business combination will depend on a number of factors, including (i) the structure of the initial business combination, (ii) the fair market value of the redemptions and repurchases in connection with the initial business combination, (iii) the nature and amount of any “PIPE” or other equity issuances in connection with the initial business combination (or any other equity issuances within the same taxable year of the initial business combination) and (iv) the content of any subsequent regulations, clarifications, and other guidance issued by the Treasury. However, to mitigate this uncertainty, any funds held in the trust account prior to the termination of such account, including any interest thereon, will not be used to pay for any excise tax liabilities with respect to any redemptions of our Class A common stock, prior to or in connection with an extension of the completion window, an initial business combination or our liquidation.
Changes in laws, regulations, or rules, or a failure to comply with any laws, regulations, or rules, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, investments and results of operations.
We are subject to laws, regulations and rules enacted by national, regional and local governments and Nasdaq. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC, Nasdaq and other legal or regulatory requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws, regulations and rules may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws, regulations or rules 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, regulations or rules, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including its ability to consummate our initial business combination, investments and results of operations.
On January 24, 2024, the SEC adopted final rules (the “2024 SPAC Rules”) relating to, among other items, enhancing disclosures in initial business combination transactions involving SPACs and private operating companies; amending the financial statement requirements applicable to transactions involving shell companies; enhancing disclosure requirements related to projections, including requiring disclosure of all material bases of the projections and all material assumptions underlying the projections; increasing the potential liability of certain participants in proposed initial business combination transactions; and the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act. The 2024 SPAC Rules will become effective July 1, 2024. In the event our initial business combination has not been consummated by such date, such rules may materially adversely affect our ability to consummate our initial business combination and may increase the costs and time related thereto.
See also “-We may be subject to a 1% U.S. federal excise tax in connection with redemptions of our Class A Common stock” and “-If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.”
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including, without limitation, restrictions on the nature of our investments, restrictions on the issuance of securities, and restrictions on the enforceability of agreements entered into by us, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete a business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including, without limitation, registration as an investment company with the SEC (which may be impractical and would require significant changes in, among other things, our capital structure); adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and compliance with other rules and regulations that we are currently not subject to.
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business is 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.
It is possible that a claim could be made that we have been operating as an unregistered investment company. If we were deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we might be forced to abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead be required to liquidate. If we are required to liquidate, our investors would not be able to realize the benefits of owning stock in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our stock following such a transaction, and our warrants would expire worthless.
We do not believe that our principal activities currently subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, from the time beginning with the consummation of our IPO, the proceeds held in the trust account have been invested only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments and by subsequently holding all funds in the trust account in cash, which may include demand deposit accounts (as described in the following paragraph), and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long-term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we do not believe we are an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The IPO was not intended for persons seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our primary business objective, which is a business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window; and (iii) absent a business combination, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. Because we have invested only in permitted instruments, we believe we are not an investment company. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to consummate our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window.
To mitigate the risk of us being deemed to have been operating as an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended) all funds in the trust account are held and will be held in cash (which may include demand deposit accounts) until the earlier of consummation of our business combination or liquidation. Furthermore, such cash (which may include demand deposit accounts) is held in bank accounts, which exceed federally insured limits as guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”). While we have only placed our trust account deposits with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., only a small portion of the funds in our trust account will be guaranteed by the FDIC.
We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 100,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 362,000,000 and 65,500,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not upon the conversion of the Class B common stock. Shares of Class B common stock are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein. There are no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock, and may issue shares of preferred stock, in order to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination (although our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or on our initial business combination or that would entitle holders thereof to receive funds from the trust account). We may also issue shares upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote on any initial business combination. The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
● may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in the IPO;
● may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;
● could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and
● may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, common stock and/or warrants.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may materially negatively impact our operations and profitability.
As of December 31, 2023, we had access to approximately $594.1 million in the trust account that we may use to complete our initial business combination (which takes into account $17.9 million of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account, does not take into account approximately $10 million from the trust account to redeem shares in connection with the February Extension Special Meeting and assumes no further redemptions, which could be significant). We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive, geographic and regulatory risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
● solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or
● dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive, geographic and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (such that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of not less than 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions (other than amendments relating to the appointment of directors, which require the approval by a majority of the Class B common stock then outstanding) related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to fund the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our common stock, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that it may be amended by holders of a majority of our common stock, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL, or applicable stock exchange rules. We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or on our initial business combination. Our initial stockholders, who beneficially own 37.7% of our common stock, may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which governs our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete our initial business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in letter agreements that we have entered into with each of our sponsor, officers and directors. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
Although we believe that the funds available in our trust account will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet held a stockholder vote on the proposed business combination, we cannot say so for certain. If the funds available in our trust account prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing (including from M. Klein and Company) or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. M. Klein and Company is not obligated to provide, or seek, any such financing or, except as expressly set forth herein, to provide any other services to us. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our initial business combination and our structure thereafter may not be tax-efficient to our stockholders and warrant holders. As a result of our business combination, our tax obligations may be more complex, burdensome and uncertain.
Although we will attempt to structure our initial business combination in a tax-efficient manner, tax structuring considerations are complex, the relevant facts and law are uncertain and may change, and we may prioritize commercial and other considerations over tax considerations. For example, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to any requisite stockholder approval, we may structure our business combination in a manner that requires stockholders and/or warrant holders to recognize gain or income for tax purposes, effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction, or reincorporate in a different jurisdiction (including, but not limited to, the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located). We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders or warrant holders to pay taxes in connection with our business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, a stockholder or a warrant holder may need to satisfy any liability resulting from our initial business combination with cash from its own funds or by selling all or a portion of the shares received. In addition, stockholders and warrant holders may also be subject to additional income, withholding or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after our initial business combination.
In addition, we may effect a business combination with a target company that has business operations outside of the United States, and possibly, business operations in multiple jurisdictions. If we effect such a business combination, we could be subject to significant income, withholding and other tax obligations in a number of jurisdictions with respect to income, operations and subsidiaries related to those jurisdictions. Due to the complexity of tax obligations and filings in other jurisdictions, we may have a heightened risk related to audits or examinations by U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. taxing authorities. This additional complexity and risk could have an adverse effect on our after-tax profitability and financial condition.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
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 common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq. We cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. In general, we must maintain a minimum number of holders of our securities and certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements in order to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those continued listing requirements at that time.
Nasdaq rule IM-5101-2 requires that a special purpose acquisition company such as Churchill must complete one or more business combinations within 36 months of the effectiveness of its IPO registration statement, or such shorter period that the Company specifies in its registration statement, being February 11, 2024 (the “Nasdaq Deadline”).
On March 1, 2024, we received a written notice (the “Notice”) from the Listing Qualifications Department of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq Staff”) indicating that, due to our non-compliance with Nasdaq rule IM-5101-2, unless we timely request a hearing (“Hearing Request”) before the Nasdaq Hearings Panel (the “Panel”) by March 8, 2024, trading of our securities on Nasdaq would be suspended at the opening of business on March 12, 2024. The Notice also provided that if we do not comply with the foregoing requirement, Nasdaq Staff will issue a Staff Delisting Determination under Rule 5810 to delist our securities and a Form 25-NSE will be filed with the SEC, which will remove our securities from listing and registration on Nasdaq.
On March 8, 2024, we submitted a Hearing Request with the Panel in accordance with the Notice and pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5800 Series. The Hearing Request will stay the suspension and delisting of our securities and the filing of the Form 25-NSE, pending the Panel’s decision.
Notwithstanding the Hearing Request, there can be no assurance that we will be able to satisfy Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, that our securities will not be delisted from Nasdaq or that the Panel will not affirm the Staff’s delisting determination during the appeal process. As part of Nasdaq’s ongoing review or in response to any submissions we have made or will make, Nasdaq may identify additional deficiencies under the Nasdaq listing rules.
The business combination was not consummated by the Nasdaq Deadline. As such, Nasdaq may delist our securities, which could limit investors’ ability to transact in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions, further outlined below.
Given the above, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq, including prior to the business combination.
If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange, including as a result of the failure to complete an initial business combination prior to the Nasdaq Deadline, and we are not able to list such securities on another national securities exchange, we would likely lose any active trading market for our securities, as our securities may then only be traded on one of the over-the-counter markets, if at all. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
● a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
● reduced liquidity for our securities;
● a determination that our Class A common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
● a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
● a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A common stock and warrants qualify as covered securities under such statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under such statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the U.S. securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet of our company demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if the IPO were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of our initial business combination.
If you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not restrict our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold the Excess Shares and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your Excess Shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our shares of Class A common stock as soon as reasonably possible following the last day of the completion window in the event we do not complete an initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we do not intend to comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, consultants, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We will not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination and you will not be entitled to any of the corporate protections provided by such a meeting.
We will not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Our Class B stockholders are entitled to elect all of our directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination and have elected to do so by written consent without a meeting.
We have not registered the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a “cashless basis” and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We have not registered the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder or an exemption from registration or qualification is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in the IPO, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of their founder shares after those shares convert to shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the resale of such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock.
Our initial stockholders control the election of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination and hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they will elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support. Similarly, following the consummation of our initial business combination, one or more shareholders of the target may have a substantial interest in the combined company and may require us to enter into agreements or other arrangements with respect to board composition and for designation rights.
Our initial stockholders own 37.7% of our outstanding common stock. In addition, the founder shares, all of which are held by our initial stockholders, entitle the holders to elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, provided, however, that with respect to the election of directors in connection with a meeting of the stockholders of the Company in which a business combination is submitted to the stockholders of the Company for approval, holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock, voting together as a single class, shall have the exclusive right to vote for the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will, other than as provided in the preceding sentence, have no right to vote on the election of directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended by a majority of the Class B common stock then outstanding. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election of directors prior to our initial business combination other than at a stockholders’ meeting during which a business combination is submitted to the stockholders for approval, as described above.
Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Annual Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a stockholder vote.
Our sponsor contributed $25,000, or approximately $0.0007 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class A common stock.
Our sponsor acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to the dilution of holders of our Class A common stock. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock result in the issuance of Class A shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public stockholders seek redemptions from the trust. In addition, because of the anti-dilution rights of the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A common stock.
The purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may significantly dilute value of our public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our sponsor may make a substantial profit on its investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the trading price of our common stock were to materially decline following completion of an initial business combination.
Our sponsor paid an aggregate purchase price of $25,000 for the founder shares, or approximately $0.0007 per share. Additionally, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 32,600,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $32,600,000. Michael Klein, Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas, Mark Klein, Karen G. Mills, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager, all of whom are directors of the Company, each has an economic interest in the founder shares and private placement warrants purchased by our sponsor as a result of his or her membership interest in our sponsor. Even if following a business combination, the trading price of our common stock or shares of the post-combination company significantly declines, not giving effect to any lock-up or vesting terms applicable to its founder shares or to securities received by our sponsor in respect of its founder shares in connection with our initial business combination, our sponsor, as well as our directors and officers that have an economic interest in our sponsor, would be able to make significant profit on its investment in us even if the trading price of our common stock or shares of the post-combination company at such time is substantially less than $10.00 per share. Accordingly, our sponsor, as well as our directors and officers that have an economic interest in our sponsor, may be more willing to pursue an initial business combination with a riskier, weaker-performing or less-established target business than would be the case if our sponsor had paid the same per share price for the founder shares as our public stockholders paid for their public shares.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the warrants could be converted into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant. Our initial stockholders may purchase public warrants with the intention of reducing the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to warrantholders for approval, including amending the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. While our initial stockholders have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for such transactions, there is no limit on the number of our public warrants that our initial stockholders may purchase and it is not currently known how many public warrants, if any, our initial stockholders may hold at the time of our initial business combination or at any other time during which the terms of the public warrants may be proposed to be amended.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to: (1) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so (2) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants; or (3) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 27,600,000 shares of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share (subject to adjustment as provided herein), as part of the units offered in the IPO. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we also issued in a private placement an aggregate of 32,600,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our initial stockholders currently hold 34,500,000 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants or conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in the IPO except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees: (1) they will not be redeemable by us; (2) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) the holders thereof (including with respect to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights. Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, upon the completion of the business combination, our sponsor will forfeit to us a certain number of its private placement warrants for no consideration.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders 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, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Section 203 of the DGCL affects the ability of an “interested stockholder” to engage in certain business combinations, for a period of three years following the time that the stockholder becomes an “interested stockholder.” We elected in our certificate of incorporation not to be subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. Nevertheless, our certificate of incorporation contains provisions that have the same effect as Section 203 of the DGCL, except that it provides that affiliates of our sponsor and their transferees are not deemed to be “interested stockholders,” regardless of the percentage of our voting stock owned by them, and are therefore not subject to such restrictions. These charter provisions may limit the ability of third parties to acquire control of our company.
If we are unable to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and financial results.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud.
In connection with the restatements of our previously issued audited balance sheet as of February 17, 2021 and our financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021, we previously identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, solely related to our accounting for complex financial instruments, as of December 31, 2021.
While our previous material weakness has been remediated, if we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
Risks Relating to Our Management Team
Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other responsibilities. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our business combination. Each of our officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs.
For example, Michael Klein, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors, is the founder and managing partner of M. Klein and Company and acts as a strategic advisor to its clients. Mr. Klein has fiduciary duties to the other entities in which he serves as a director or officer, and will have no duty to offer acquisition opportunities to the Company unless presented to him solely in his capacity as an officer or director of the Company.
If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. Please see “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance” and “-Conflicts of Interest” in Part III of this Annual Report for a discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs and potential conflicts of interest.
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. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of any of our other 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 initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post- combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, we do not currently expect that any of them will do so. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
In addition, the officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial 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 candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may cause our key personnel to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination. However, we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination, as we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected.
Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities.
Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
The officers and directors of an initial business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial 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 initial business combination candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. As a result, we may need to reconstitute the management team of the post-transaction company in connection with our initial business combination, which may adversely impact our ability to complete an initial business combination in a timely manner or at all.
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 or other transaction should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business. We do not have employment contracts with our officers and directors that will limit their ability to work at other businesses. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. In addition, Mr. Klein and M. Klein and Company may have sponsored or formed other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we were seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may have presented conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. In particular, M. Klein and Company, Mr. Klein and the Strategic and Operating Partners are actively engaged in AltC Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition corporation that completed its initial public offering in July 2021, and Churchill Capital Corp IX, a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this report. AltC Acquisition Corp., like us, may pursue initial business combination targets in any businesses or industries and has until July 12, 2024 to do so (absent an extension in accordance with its charter). Any such companies, including AltC Acquisition Corp. and Churchill Capital Corp IX, may have presented or may present, as applicable, additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target and may present additional conflicts of interest in completing our initial business combination.
As described in “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - Conflicts of Interest” in Part III of this Annual Report, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required
to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
In addition, none of the Operating Partners are officers or directors of our company and therefore owe us no fiduciary duties as such. While we expect that they will assist us in identifying business combination targets, they have no obligation to do so and may devote a substantial portion of their business time to activities unrelated to us. Each Operating Partner may have fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to other organizations to present business combination opportunities to such other organizations rather than to us. Accordingly, if any Operating Partner becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor those obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us.
Please see “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - Conflicts of Interest” and “Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” in Part III of this Annual Report for a discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and potential 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 M. Klein and Company, our sponsor or our directors or officers. We do not have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
In particular, affiliates of our sponsor, our directors and our officers have invested, and may in the future invest, in a broad array of sectors, including those in which our company may invest. As a result, there may be substantial overlap between companies that would be a suitable business combination for us and companies that would make an attractive target for such other affiliates. Please see “Item 1. Business - Certain Potential Conflicts of Interest Relating to M. Klein and Company and Our Officers and Directors” in Part I of this Annual Report for additional information.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with M. Klein and Company, our sponsor, officers or directors which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other businesses, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with or competitive with M. Klein and Company, our sponsor, officers and directors, and their respective affiliates. Our 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” in Part III of this Annual Report. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and
there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Item 1. Business - Initial Business Combination” in Part I of this Annual Report, and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our stockholders from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with M. Klein and Company, our sponsor, officers or directors, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our initial stockholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to any public shares they may hold), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
In December 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,625,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On February 5, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 20,125,000 shares thereof. Additionally, on February 11, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 5,750,000 shares thereof, resulting in 34,500,000 founder shares outstanding. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of shares of Class B common stock issued was based on the expectation that the shares of Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of the IPO. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 32,600,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $32,600,000 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $1,380,000,000 was placed in a trust account at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units sold in the IPO, except that: (1) only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to our initial business combination, provided, however, that with respect to the election of directors in connection with a meeting of the stockholders of the Company in which a business combination is submitted to the stockholders of the Company for approval, holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock, voting together as a single class, shall have the exclusive right to vote for the election of directors; (2) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below; (3) our sponsor, officers and directors have each entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to: (a) waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (b) waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within the completion window; and (c) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window); (4) the founder shares are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein; and (5) the holders of founder shares are entitled to registration rights.
The personal and financial interests of our sponsor, officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the deadline for completing our initial business combination nears.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
In connection with pursuing a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
In connection with pursuing a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we are subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
In connection with pursuing such business combination, special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting may include any of the following:
● costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
● rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
● complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
● laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
● tariffs and trade barriers;
● regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
● longer payment cycles;
● tax consequences;
● currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
● rates of inflation;
● challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
● cultural and language differences;
● employment regulations;
● crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region and between Israel and Hamas;
● deterioration of political relations with the United States;
● obligatory military service by personnel; and
● government appropriation of assets.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the Company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination could remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
General Risk Factors
We have no operating history and no revenues, and investors have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We have no operating results, and we will not commence operations until after we have completed our initial business combination. Because we lack an operating history and our sole purpose is to complete a business combination with one or more operating companies, investors have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. If we fail to complete our business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Past performance by M. Klein and Company and members of our management team or our Strategic and Operating Partners may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, M. Klein and Company and other members of our management team or our Strategic and Operating Partners is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance, including related to acquisitions, of M. Klein and Company and members of our management team or our Strategic and Operating Partners is not a guarantee either: (1) that we have been able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record and performance of M. Klein and Company and members of our management team or our Strategic and Operating Partners as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. An investment in us is not an investment in M. Klein and Company or our Strategic and Operating Partners.
Certain agreements related to the IPO may be amended without stockholder approval.
Certain agreements, including the underwriting agreement relating to our IPO, the letter agreements between us and each of our sponsor, officers and directors, and the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders, may be amended without stockholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions that our public stockholders might deem to be material. While we do not expect our board to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendments would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. This provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law:
● Any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;
● Any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of us to us or our stockholders;
● Any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or the bylaws; or
● Any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine, except for, as to each of the actions and proceedings noted above, any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery
determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction or (D) any action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our securities will be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to this exclusive forum provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, employees, agents or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find this choice of forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. Additional costs associated with resolving an action in other jurisdictions could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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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 executive offices at 640 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019. The cost for this space is included in the $50,000 per month fee that we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services.

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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.
Market Information
On February 5, 2024, we completed the voluntary transfer of the listing of our Class A common stock, units and warrants from the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) to Nasdaq. Our Class A common stock, units and warrants are currently traded on Nasdaq under the symbols “CVII,” “CVIIU” and “CVIIW,” respectively.
Holders
Although there are a larger number of beneficial owners, as of April 1, 2024, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our separately traded Class A common stock, one holder of record of our Class B common stock and one holder of record of our separately traded warrants.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our shares of common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
In December 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,625,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On February 5, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 20,125,000 shares thereof. Additionally, on February 11, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 5,750,000 shares thereof, resulting in 34,500,000 founder shares outstanding. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of the IPO.
On February 17, 2021, we completed our IPO of 138,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $1,380,000,000. Each unit consists of one of the Company’s shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-fifth of one warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments. Following the closing of the IPO, an aggregate of $1,380,000,000 was placed in the trust account.
The Company incurred $73,525,223 of offering costs in connection with the IPO, comprised of $725,223 of deal costs, $24,500,000 of underwriters’ discount paid, and $48,300,000 of deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the trust account solely in the event the Company completes a business combination. There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from the IPO as described in our final prospectus dated February 11, 2021, which was filed with the SEC.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 32,600,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $32,600,000 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $1,380,000,000 was placed in a trust account at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6.[Reserved].

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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 blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. We intend to effectuate our business combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock 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
Business Combination
On August 1, 2023, the Company entered into the Merger Agreement by and among the Company, Pubco, Merger Sub, CorpAcq and certain shareholders of CorpAcq. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, the parties thereto intend to enter into a business combination transaction pursuant to which certain shareholders of CorpAcq will contribute their interests in CorpAcq to Pubco and Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company being the surviving entity in the merger.
The proposed merger is expected to be consummated after the required approval by the stockholders of the Company and the satisfaction of certain other conditions summarized below.
The total consideration to be paid to the shareholders of CorpAcq will be equal to the sum of:
●
an amount in U.S. Dollars (the “Closing Seller Cash Consideration”) equal to the sum of (a) all available cash and cash equivalents of the Company and its subsidiaries, including all amounts in the trust account of the Company (after reduction for the aggregate amount of payments required to be made in connection with the CCVII Stockholder Redemption (defined in the Merger Agreement)), plus the CCVII Facilitated Financing Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement), if any, in each case calculated as of immediately prior to closing and without giving effect to the Delayed Financing Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement) minus (b) the aggregate amount of the CorpAcq Transaction Expenses and CCVII Transaction Expenses (each, as defined in the Merger Agreement), minus (c) an amount in cash equal to the amount required to fully redeem all of the preferred shares of CorpAcq outstanding immediately prior to closing, minus (d) an amount equal to $128,600,000 minus the CorpAcq Holder Facilitated Financing Amount (defined in the Merger Agreement), if any (clauses (a) - (d), collectively, the “Closing Seller Preliminary Cash Consideration”), minus (e) 99.99% of the amount by which the Closing Seller Preliminary Cash Consideration exceeds $257,200,000 (or such lesser amount as indicated by CorpAcq); plus
●
a number of ordinary shares of Pubco (“Pubco Ordinary Shares”) equal to (a) a number of shares (rounded down to the nearest whole share) equal to (i) $803,822,000, minus the Closing Seller Cash Consideration, divided by (ii) $10.00, and (b) if the “Delivered Capital Adjustment Amount” (defined in the Sponsor Agreement to be an amount equal to (x) 12.5% multiplied by (y) (1) the Delivered Capital Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement), minus (2)
$592,000,000), is a negative number, plus a number of Pubco Ordinary Shares (rounded down to the nearest whole share) (the “Incremental Share Consideration”) equal to (i) the absolute value of the Delivered Capital Adjustment Amount (as defined in the Merger Agreement), divided by (ii) $10.00, multiplied by (iii) 50%; plus
●
15,000,000 class C-2 ordinary shares in Pubco, which shall have terms substantially equivalent to those set forth on Exhibit A of the Merger Agreement; plus
●
the Pubco Ordinary Shares which constitute: (a) a number of Pubco Ordinary Shares equal to the Incremental Share Consideration (the “Incremental Earnout Shares”) and (b) an aggregate amount of Pubco Ordinary Shares equal to (i) 15,000,000 minus (ii) the Specified Sponsor Retained Share Amount (as defined in the Sponsor Agreement) and as may be adjusted pursuant the Sponsor Agreement (the “Base Earnout Shares”); provided that no Incremental Earnout Shares shall be issued at Closing and only 11,000,000 Base Earnout Shares shall be issued at Closing and, instead of a right to any additional Incremental Earnout Shares or Base Earnout Shares at Closing, the shareholders of CorpAcq party to the Merger Agreement shall have the contingent right to receive any remaining Incremental Earnout Shares or Base Earnout Shares, as applicable, from the Pubco within five (5) days following the final calculation of the Delayed Financing Amount pursuant to the Sponsor Agreement. The Incremental Earnout Shares and the Base Earnout Shares will be unvested upon issuance and will be subject to the same vesting and forfeiture provisions and voting and dividend rights as are described below in respect of the Sponsor’s Base Vesting Shares and Earn-Out Vesting Shares, respectively. Upon vesting and prior to redemption in exchange for Post-Combination Company Ordinary A1 Shares, the Incremental Earn Out Shares shall be entitled to receive an additional catchup payment such that each holder receives an amount that would have been paid out on those shares since issue as if they had the same economic rights as the Post-Combination Company Ordinary A1 Shares during that period.
The Merger Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants by the parties thereto and the closing is subject to certain conditions as further described in the Merger Agreement.
Sponsor Agreement
In connection with the execution of the Merger Agreement, the Company amended and restated in its entirety that certain letter, dated February 11, 2021, from the sponsor and each of the individuals party thereto, each of whom is a member of the Company’s board of directors and/or management team (each, an “Insider” and collectively, the “Insiders”) to the Company (the “Support Agreement”), pursuant to which among other things, each of the sponsor and the Insiders agreed (i) to vote any of such Insider’s shares of common stock (1) in favor of the approval and adoption of the Merger Agreement and approval of the related transactions and all other CCVII Stockholder Matters (as defined in the Sponsor Agreement) and (2) against certain other matters, (ii) not to redeem any of such Insider’s shares of common stock in connection with the CCVII Stockholder Redemption, (iii) to take all actions to consummate the Merger, the other Transactions and the matters contemplated by the Merger Agreement and the Sponsor Agreement and be bound by and comply with Sections 9.04 (Exclusivity) and 9.06 (Confidentiality; Publicity) of the Merger Agreement, (iv) not to enter into, modify or amend any contract between or among the sponsor, any Insider, anyone related by blood, marriage or adoption to any Insider or any affiliate of any such person (other than the Company or any of its subsidiaries), on the one hand, and the Company or any of its subsidiaries, on the other hand, that would contradict, limit, restrict or impair (1) any party’s ability to perform or satisfy any obligation under the Sponsor Agreement or (2) Pubco’s, Bermuda Co’s, the Company’s or Merger Sub’s ability to perform or satisfy any of its obligations under the Merger Agreement, and (v) to be bound to certain other obligations as described therein.
On February 8, 2024, the stockholders of the Company approved a proposal to adopt an amendment, which is described in more detail in the definitive proxy statement of the Company filed with the SEC on February 12, 2024, to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the date by which the Company has to consummate a business combination from February 17, 2024 to August 17, 2024 (or such earlier date as determined by the Company’s board of directors) (the “Charter Amendment”). The Charter Amendment was filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on February 9, 2024 and
951,810 shares of Class A common stock were redeemed, resulting in the payment of approximately $10 million from the trust account.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities through December 31, 2023 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the IPO, described below, and identifying a target for our business combination and completing an initial business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our business combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and marketable securities held in the trust account. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, we had net income of $16,385,077, which consisted of interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $40,206,646 and reduction of deferred underwriting fee of $595,225, partially offset by change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $4,816,000, provision for income taxes of $13,000,039, and operating costs of $6,600,755.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had net income of $71,050,619, which consisted of a change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $57,516,000, and interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $20,048,815, partially offset by provision for income taxes of $4,168,793, an unrealized loss on marketable securities held in our trust account of $28,229, and operating costs of $2,317,174.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On February 17, 2021, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 138,000,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit, which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $1,380,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 32,600,000 Private Placement Warrants to the sponsor at a price of $1.00 per warrant, generating gross proceeds of $32,600,000.
Following the Initial Public Offering, the exercise of the over-allotment option and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $1,380,000,000 was placed in the trust account. We incurred $73,525,233 in transaction costs, including $24,500,000 of underwriting fees, net of $3,100,000 reimbursed from the underwriters, $48,300,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $725,223 of other costs.
As of December 31, 2023, we had cash held in the trust account of $611,993,102. Interest income on the balance in the trust account may be used by us to pay taxes and to pay working capital expenses subject to an annual limit of $1,000,000 (to the extent available). During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company withdrew $17,919,977 from the trust account to pay franchise taxes and income taxes, $1,000,000 for working capital purposes and $816,281,045 in connection with redemptions.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash used in operating activities was $18,285,666. Net income of $16,385,077 was affected by the change in the value of the warrant liabilities of $4,816,000, interest earned on marketable securities held in trust account of $40,206,646, deferred tax provision of $836,312 and reduction of deferred underwriting fee of $595,225. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $2,151,440 of cash for operating activities.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $1,298,774. Net income of $71,050,619 was affected by the change in the value of the warrant liabilities of $57,516,000, interest earned on marketable securities held in trust account of $20,048,815, deferred tax provision of $836,312, and an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in trust account of $28,229. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $4,350,881 of cash for operating activities.
In February 2023, we instructed the trustee with respect to the trust account to redeem the marketable securities held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in cash. As a result, we will continue to receive interest on the funds
held in the trust account. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (less deferred underwriting commissions and income taxes payable), to complete our business combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our 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.
As of December 31, 2023, we had cash of $4,869,699. We intend to use the funds held outside the trust account primarily to structure, negotiate and complete the business combination with CorpAcq.
To mitigate the risk of being viewed as operating an unregistered investment company (including pursuant to the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act of 1940), all funds in the trust account are held and will be held in cash (which may include demand deposit accounts) until the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination or liquidation. As a result, we receive interest on the funds held in the trust account.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a business combination, the initial stockholders or their affiliates 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 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 identical to the Private Placement Warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender.
Additionally, to fund working capital the Company has permitted withdrawals available up to an annual limit of $1,000,000. The Company may withdraw additional funds to pay income tax and franchise tax obligations. These permitted withdrawals are limited to only the interest available that has been earned in excess of the initial deposit at the Initial Public Offering. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has made a full withdrawal for 2023 from the trust account of $1,000,000 for working capital purposes.
On May 16, 2023, our sponsor agreed to make monthly deposits directly to the trust account of the Company in the amount of $1,000,000 following the approval and implementation of the initial extension proposal. Such contributions are made pursuant to the Extension Promissory Note issued by the Company to the sponsor. On February 9, 2024, our sponsor amended the Extension Promissory Note to increase the principal borrowing amount payable under the promissory note from $9,000,000 to $15,000,000 to pay monthly extension payment in accordance with the extension. All other terms remain the same. Contributions are paid monthly beginning on May 17, 2023 until the earliest to occur of (i) the consummation of the business combination, (ii) August 15, 2024 and (iii) if a business combination is not consummated, the date of liquidation of the trust account, as determined in the sole discretion of our board of directors. The Extension Promissory Note will mature on the earlier of (1) the date we consummate a business combination and (2) the date that the winding up of the Company is effective. As of December 31, 2023, the Extension Promissory Note had a balance of $8,000,000 with $1,000,000 available for withdrawal prior to the amendment of the Extension Promissory Note.
The Company may need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company’s officers, directors and sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s working capital needs. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern through one year from the date of these financial statements if a business combination is not consummated. These financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with ASC Subtopic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements Going Concern, the Company has until August 17, 2024 or such earlier date as determined by the board of directors to consummate a business combination. It is uncertain that the Company will be able to consummate a business combination by this time. If a business combination is not consummated by this date and an extension not obtained by the sponsor, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Management has determined that the potential mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after August 17, 2024 or such earlier date as determined by the board of directors. The Company intends to complete a business combination before the mandatory liquidation date.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2023. 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
The Company agreed, commencing on February 11, 2021 through the earlier of the Company’s consummation of a business combination and its liquidation, to pay an affiliate of the sponsor a total of $50,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services.
Following the IPO, the underwriters were entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $48,300,000 in the aggregate. In November 2023, the Company received letters from BofA Securities, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC waiving their rights to their portion of the deferred underwriting fee. In aggregate, the underwriting fees waived total approximately $30.4 million. The remaining approximately $17.9 million deferred fee will be waived by the underwriters in the event that the Company does not complete a business combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
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 not identified any critical accounting estimates. The following are the critical accounting policies:
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our Class A common stock subject to possible conversion in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features 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) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our Class A common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ deficit section of our balance sheets.
Warrant Liabilities
The Company accounts for the Warrants in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40-15-7D and 7F under which the Warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, the Company classifies the Warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjusts the Warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statements of operations. The Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a Monte Carlo simulation and a modified Black-Scholes model, respectively. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the Public Warrant quoted market price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date.
Net Income Per Share of Common Stock
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of Financial Accounting Standards Board ASC 260, “Earnings Per Share.” Net income per share of common stock is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. Remeasurement associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from net income per share of common stock as the redemption value approximates fair value.
Recent Accounting Standards
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures (“ASU 2023-09”), which will require the Company to disclose specified additional information in its income tax rate reconciliation and provide additional information for reconciling items that meet a quantitative threshold. ASU 2023-09 will also require the Company to disaggregate its income taxes paid disclosure by federal, state and foreign taxes, with further disaggregation required for significant individual jurisdictions. ASU 2023-09 will become effective for Annual periods beginning after December 15, 2024. The Company is still reviewing the impact of ASU 2023-09.
The Company’s 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
Not required for smaller reporting companies.

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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 and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
As required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our consolidated financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
(1)
pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company,
(2)
provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors, and
(3)
provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our consolidated financial statements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2023. In making these assessments, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that we did maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023.
This annual report does not include an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as a non-accelerated filer and smaller reporting company.
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.

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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
Michael Klein
Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Jay Taragin
Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Frankle
Director
Bonnie Jonas
Director
Mark Klein
Director
Malcolm S. McDermid
Director
Karen G. Mills
Director
Stephen Murphy
Director
Alan M. Schrager
Director
Michael Klein is our Chief Executive Officer, President and the Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Klein is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of AltC Acquisition Corp. and the Chief Executive Officer of Churchill Capital Corp IX, both of which are blank check companies whose respective sponsors are affiliates of M. Klein Associates, Inc. (“MKA”). Mr. Klein served as a Director of Credit Suisse Group AG and Credit Suisse AG from April 2018 to October 2022. Mr. Klein was the co-founder and Chairman of Churchill Capital Corp, a blank check company formed in 2018. Churchill Capital Corp merged with Clarivate Analytics in May 2019. Mr. Klein served as a member of the board of directors of Clarivate Plc from May 2019 until October 2020. Mr. Klein was the founder, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Churchill Capital Corp II, a blank check company formed in 2019. Churchill Capital Corp II merged with Skillsoft Corp. in June 2021, and Mr. Klein currently serves on the board of directors of Skillsoft Corp. Mr. Klein was also the founder, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Churchill Capital Corp III, a blank check company formed in 2019. Churchill Capital Corp III merged with MultiPlan, Inc. in October 2020, and Mr. Klein currently serves on the board of directors of MultiPlan, Inc. Mr. Klein was also the founder, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Churchill Capital Corp IV, a blank check company formed in 2020. Churchill Capital Corp IV merged with Lucid Group, Inc. in July 2021. Mr. Klein was also previously the Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Churchill Capital Corp V, a blank check company whose sponsor is an affiliate of MKA, from its initial public offering until November 2023, and Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Churchill Capital Corp VI, a blank check company whose sponsor is an affiliate of MKA, from its initial public offering until December 2023. Mr. Klein is the founder and managing partner of M. Klein and Company, which he founded in 2012. M. Klein and Company is a global strategic advisory firm that provides its clients a variety of advice tailored to their objectives. Mr. Klein is a strategic advisor to global companies, boards of directors, senior executives, governments and institutional investors. Mr. Klein’s background in strategic advisory work was built during his 30-year career, including more than two decades at Citi and its predecessors, during which he initiated and executed strategic advisory transactions. He began his career as an investment banker in the M&A Advisory Group at Salomon Smith Barney and subsequently became Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Citi Markets and Banking, with responsibilities for global corporate and investment banking and Global Transaction Services across Citi. Mr. Klein is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his Bachelors of Science in Economics with concentrations in finance and accounting. Mr. Klein was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant investment banking and advisory experience.
Jay Taragin is our Chief Financial Officer since December 2020. Mr. Taragin is also the Chief Financial Officer of AltC Acquisition Corp. since February 2021, Chief Financial Officer of Churchill Capital Corp IX since December 2023 and Chief Financial Officer of MKA, which he joined in May 2019. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Churchill Capital Corp III and Churchill Capital Corp IV, until they completed their respective business combinations. He was also previously the Chief Financial Officer of Churchill Capital Corp V from its initial public offering until November 2023 and the Chief Financial Officer of Churchill Capital Corp VI from its initial public offering until December 2023. Prior to joining MKA, Mr. Taragin served as the US
Scotiabank Chief Financial Officer from 2013 to 2017. Prior to Scotiabank, Mr. Taragin held a Chief Operating and Financial Officer role from 2009 to 2012 at Fundcore Finance Group LLC and held a variety of senior finance and audit roles at Merrill Lynch & Company from 1993 to 2009. In addition, Mr. Taragin worked at Credit Suisse and PricewaterhouseCoopers as a senior auditor and accountant. Mr. Taragin is a CPA and holds a master’s degree in business administration from New York University Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University.
Andrew Frankle is a Director since May 2021. He was also a Director of Churchill Capital Corp VI from May 2021 until December 2023. Mr. Frankle is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Rhodium Analytics Inc., a business services company providing financial analytics and research to financial institutions, investors and growing companies. In addition, he is the Founder and Managing Director of Eleven Capital Advisors LLC, a strategic advisor to professionally managed family offices, successful entrepreneurs and family-sponsored pools of capital. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Frankle served as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse, providing investment banking and capital markets coverage for family offices. Previously, he was a Managing Director and Group Head of ICG Business Development at Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., where he focused on expanding financial products and services delivered to institutional clients. Mr. Frankle previously served as a Managing Director in Citigroup’s Media & Entertainment Group. Prior to Citigroup, Mr. Frankle was a Managing Director and the Head of US Media & Communications Investment Banking at Schroder & Co, Inc. Mr. Frankle began his career as a financial analyst and associate in the Corporate Finance Department at Wertheim Schroder & Co Incorporated. Mr. Frankle earned his M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School and received his B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude with the Robert J. Schweich Prize in Security Analysis. Mr. Frankle was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant financial and leadership experience.
Bonnie Jonas is a Director since our IPO. Ms. Jonas was previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp III and Churchill Capital Corp IV, until they completed their respective business combinations, and was previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp VI from its initial public offering until December 2023. Ms. Jonas also serves on the board of directors for Turo Inc., a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace. Ms. Jonas is a partner with the law firm Jonas & Moller LLP. She is the cofounder of Pallas Global Group, LLC (“Pallas Global”), a company that provides independent monitoring and consulting services to corporations and organizations. Prior to co-founding Pallas Global, Ms. Jonas served for 18 years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY”). Ms. Jonas’s most recent position with the SDNY was as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, from 2013 to 2016. She also served as the SDNY’s Financial Fraud Coordinator for President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and as Co-Chief of the General Crimes Unit. Ms. Jonas was an attorney with the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and a law clerk for the Honorable Reena Raggi of the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. Earlier in her career, Ms. Jonas worked as a consultant at Peterson Consulting, where she evaluated settlement amounts in connection with pending asbestos litigation. Ms. Jonas is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Law School. Ms. Jonas also serves as a member of the Wharton Board of Advisors and the Board of Advisors of the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement at NYU School of Law. Ms. Jonas was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to her significant leadership and legal experience.
Mark Klein is a Director since our IPO. He was previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp II, Churchill Capital Corp III and Churchill Capital Corp IV, until they completed their respective business combinations, and was also previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp V and Churchill Capital Corp VI from their initial public offerings until December 2023. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SuRo Capital Corp. (formerly Sutter Rock Capital, Corp.) since December 2020, its President since May 2018, its Chief Executive Officer since August 2017 and a Director since 2011. In addition, he served as a consultant to GSV Asset Management, LLC from 2012 to March 2019. Mr. Klein has also served as a Managing Member of MKA, an investment banking firm, since 2010. Additionally, he has been on the Board of Directors of Learneo (formerly Course Hero), an education technology company, since 2020. Mr. Klein has served as an investment adviser at B. Riley Wealth Management (formerly MK Capital Advisors, LLC), a wealth management firm and registered investment adviser and broker-dealer, from April 2012 to June 2019. Mr. Klein was a Director of National Holdings Corporation, an investment banking and asset management firm, from 2011 to 2014, where he served as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chairman from March 2013 to December 2014. Mr. Klein is the brother of Michael Klein, our Chief Executive Officer, President and the Chairman of our Board of Directors. Mr. Klein received a bachelor’s degree, with high distinction, in Business Administration from Emory University and an M.B.A. from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate
School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Klein was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant financial and leadership experience.
Malcolm S. McDermid is a Director since our IPO. He was previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp, Churchill Capital Corp II, Churchill Capital Corp III and Churchill Capital Corp IV, until they completed their respective business combinations, and was also previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp VI from its initial public offering until December 2023. Mr. McDermid is also a Managing Director with Emerson Collective, where he has led Emerson Collective’s venture capital investing efforts since August 2017. He was previously a Partner with Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California from March 2013 to July 2017. Prior to Andreessen Horowitz, Mr. McDermid was a Director with Stifel Nicolaus, formerly Thomas Weisel Partners, a technology focused investment bank in San Francisco. He began his career at Citigroup as a financial analyst. Mr. McDermid received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and Quantitative Economics from Tufts University and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Mr. McDermid was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant financial and leadership experience.
Karen G. Mills is a Director since our IPO. Ms. Mills was previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp, Churchill Capital Corp II, Churchill Capital Corp III and Churchill Capital Corp IV, until they completed their respective business combinations, and was also previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp V from its initial public offering until November 2023 and Churchill Capital Corp VI from its initial public offering until December 2023. Ms. Mills currently serves on the board of directors of Skillsoft Corp. and served on the board of Clarivate Plc from May 2019 to January 2021. She is the Vice Chair of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Ms. Mills is also a member of the Harvard Corporation and a Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School since January 2014, focusing on economic policy, U.S. competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation. Ms. Mills was a member of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, serving as the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from April 2009 to August 2013. Ms. Mills was also Vice Chair of the immigration services company Envoy Global from 2014 to 2021 and Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Private Capital Research Institute from 2017 to 2021. Ms. Mills has served as the President of MMP Group since October 1993, which invests in financial services, consumer products and technology-enabled solutions businesses. Ms. Mills holds an A.B. degree in Economics from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude, and earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Ms. Mills was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to her significant financial and leadership experience.
Stephen Murphy is a Director since May 2021. He is also a director nominee of Churchill Capital Corp IX and was a Director of Churchill Capital Corp VI from May 2021 until December 2023. Mr. Murphy is also the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Authentic Bespoke Limited, a boutique investment group, and serves on the boards of all of its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Mr. Murphy has significant past investment banking, principal investing, and direct entrepreneurial experience across a wide range of industries and is actively involved in a number of international businesses at board levels. Mr. Murphy most recently formed a new UK partnership, Merivel Capital Partners LLP, focused on capital advisory and fund raising for growth companies. Mr. Murphy is an angel investor in various technology companies which are pursuing “green” or sustainable solutions. Mr. Murphy serves as a director of various companies related to Qalaa Holdings SAE, which is involved in infrastructure investment in Egypt, including a US$4.7 billion oil refining complex (Orient Investment Properties). Mr. Murphy has also served principally as either a company director or chairman of various luxury goods companies in the UK and Ireland. Mr. Murphy was trained as a financial analyst in New York starting in 1985 and ultimately was made head of Salomon Brothers International’s M&A Group in London. As a Managing Director of Citigroup International, Mr. Murphy was involved in the evaluation and execution of private and public financings and capital raising. Mr. Murphy received an M.A. from University of Dublin Trinity College. Mr. Murphy was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant financial and leadership experience.
Alan M. Schrager is a Director since January 2022. He was also previously a Director of Churchill Capital Corp V from January 2022 until November 2023 and Churchill Capital Corp VI from January 2022 until December 2023. He is Portfolio Manager & Senior Partner with Oak Hill Advisors, L.P. (“OHA”) where he shares responsibility for leading OHA’s private credit business and has portfolio management responsibilities for a number of OHA’s portfolios. Mr. Schrager serves on various OHA committees including the compliance, investment strategy, valuation and several fund investment committees. Previously, he had senior research responsibility for investments in private credit companies, software, industrials and gaming. Prior to joining OHA in early 2003, Mr. Schrager was a Managing Director of USBancorp Libra, where he was responsible for originating, evaluating and structuring private
equity, mezzanine and debt transactions and also held several positions at Primary Network, a data CLEC, including Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer. He previously worked in the Leveraged Finance and High Yield Capital Markets group at UBS Securities, LLC. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for T. Rowe Price OHA Select Private Credit Fund and OHA Senior Private Lending Fund (U) LLC and serves on the Board of Directors of Expro Group Holdings N.V., Smile Brands and New Heights Youth, Inc. Mr. Schrager earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors consists of eight members. Holders of our founder shares have the right to elect all of our directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination and holders of our public shares do not have the right to vote on the election of directors during such time; provided, however, that with respect to the election of directors in connection with a meeting of the stockholders of the Company in which a business combination is submitted to the stockholders of the Company for approval, holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock, voting together as a single class, shall have the exclusive right to vote for the election of directors. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by a majority of the Class B common stock then outstanding. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Malcolm S. McDermid and Karen G. Mills, will expire at our annual meeting of stockholders in 2026. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mark Klein, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager, will expire at our annual meeting of stockholders in 2024. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas and Michael Klein, will expire at our annual meeting of stockholders in 2025. We will not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, any vacancies on our board of directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our board that includes any directors representing our sponsor then on our board, or by a majority of the holders of our founder shares.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer, Assistant Treasurers and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
The rules of the Nasdaq require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board has determined that each of Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas, Malcolm S. McDermid, Karen G. Mills, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager is an independent director under applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules.
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our officers or directors have received any compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, officers, directors and their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the combined company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, because the directors of the post-
combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. Both our audit committee and our compensation committee are composed solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules, 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, and the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that was approved by our board and has the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available on our website.
Audit Committee
The members of our audit committee are Andrew Frankle, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager, and Andrew Frankle serves as chairman of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Andrew Frankle qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise. We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and principal functions 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 non-audit services to be provided by the independent auditors or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
● reviewing and discussing with the independent auditors all relationships the auditors have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence;
● setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent auditors;
● setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
● obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent auditors describing (1) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues;
● meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent auditor, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”;
● reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and
● reviewing with management, the independent auditors, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.
The audit committee is governed by a charter that complies with the rules of the Nasdaq.
Compensation Committee
The members of our Compensation Committee are Andrew Frankle and Stephen Murphy, and Andrew Frankle serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibility of the compensation committee, including:
● reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;
● reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to (or approving, if such authority is so delegated by our board of directors) the compensation, and any incentive-compensation and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers;
● reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;
● implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;
● assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;
● approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees;
● producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and
● reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. The charter complies with the rules of the Nasdaq.
However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the Nasdaq and the SEC.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The members of our nominating and corporate governance committee are Andrew Frankle and Stephen Murphy, and Stephen Murphy serves as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee.
We adopted a nominating and corporate governance committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:
● identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by the board, and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of stockholders or to fill vacancies on the board of directors;
● developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines;
● coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the Company; and
● reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary.
The charter also provides that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms. The charter complies with the rules of the Nasdaq.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires our officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of our common stock to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. These reporting persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely upon a review of such forms, we believe that during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, there were no delinquent filers.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees.
You are able to review these documents on our website at https://vii.churchillcapitalcorp.com/. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics on such website promptly following the date of such amendment or waiver.
Corporate Governance Guidelines
Our board of directors adopted corporate governance guidelines that serve as a flexible framework within which our board of directors and its committees operate. These guidelines cover a number of areas including board membership criteria and director qualifications, director responsibilities, board agenda, roles of the chairman of the board, chief executive officer and presiding director, meetings of independent directors, committee responsibilities and assignments, board member access to management and independent advisors, director communications with third parties, director compensation, director orientation and continuing education, evaluation of senior management and management succession planning. A copy of our corporate governance guidelines is posted on our website.
Conflicts of Interest
Our management team is responsible for the management of our affairs. As described above and below, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us.
Our Strategic and Operating Partners and their personnel, if any, may have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to clients or other parties. Such persons will have no duty to offer acquisition opportunities to the Company unless presented to them solely in their capacity as a director of the Company and after they have satisfied any contractual and fiduciary obligations to other parties.
As a result, such persons may compete with us for acquisition opportunities in the same industries and sectors as we may target for our initial business combination. Consequently, we may be precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas may be suitable both for us and for a Strategic Partner or Operating Partner or any of its clients, and will be directed initially to such persons rather than to us.
In addition, any of our Strategic and Operating Partners or their personnel may have sponsored or formed other blank check companies similar to ours, including during the period in which we were seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may have presented additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. In particular, M. Klein and Company, Mr. Klein and the Strategic and Operating Partners are actively engaged in AltC Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition corporation that completed its initial public offering in July 2021, and Churchill Capital Corp IX, a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this report. AltC Acquisition Corp., like us, is able to pursue initial business combination targets in any businesses or industries and has until July 12, 2024 to do so (absent an extension in accordance with its charter). Any such companies, including AltC Acquisition Corp. and Churchill Capital Corp IX, may have presented or may present, as applicable, additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target and may present additional conflicts of interest in completing our initial business combination.
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties of our officers or directors, or M. Klein and Company, or policies applicable to M. Klein and Company, will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, another blank check company prior to completion of our initial 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 (including the activities of M. Klein and Company).
● 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.
● Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within the completion window. However, if our initial stockholders or any of our officers, directors or affiliates acquire public shares in or after the IPO, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within the completion window. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such applicable time period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. With certain limited exceptions, and except as agreed in connection our initial business combination, the founder shares will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our initial stockholders until the earlier of: (1) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (2) the date on which we consummate a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction after our initial business combination that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, the founder shares will be released from the lock-up. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the shares of common stock underlying such warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Since our sponsor owns common stock and warrants and each of Michael Klein, Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas, Mark Klein, Karen G. Mills, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager, all of whom are directors of the Company, currently have an economic interest in our sponsor, our sponsor, officers and directors that have an economic interest in our sponsor may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination.
● Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination.
● Our key personnel may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such key personnel was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
● The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.
● In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:
● the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity;
● the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and
● it would not be fair to the corporation and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation.
Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors have similar legal obligations and duties relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Furthermore, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the doctrine of corporate opportunity will not apply with respect to any of our officers or directors in circumstances where the application of the doctrine would conflict with any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations they may have, and there will not be any expectancy that any of our directors or officers will offer any such corporate opportunity of which he or she may become aware to us. Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may present a conflict of interest:
Name of Individual
Entity Name
Entity’s Business
Affiliation
Michael Klein
M. Klein and Company
Strategic advice
Founder and Managing Member
Skillsoft Corp.
Digital learning and talent solutions
Director
MultiPlan, Inc.
Healthcare cost management solutions
Director
AltC Acquisition Corp.
Blank check company
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Churchill Capital Corp IX
Blank check company
Chief Executive Officer
Jay Taragin
M. Klein and Company
Strategic advice
Chief Financial Officer
AltC Acquisition Corp.
Blank check company
Chief Financial Officer
Churchill Capital Corp IX
Blank check company
Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Frankle
Rhodium Analytics Inc.
Business Services Outsourcing
Co-founder and Managing Director
Eleven Capital Advisors LLC
Strategic Advisory
Founder and Managing Director
Bonnie Jonas
Pallas Global Group
Monitoring and consulting
Co-Founder
Jonas & Moller LLP
Legal Services
Partner
Turo, Inc.
Car-sharing services
Director
Mark Klein
M. Klein and Company
Strategic advice
Managing Member and Majority Partner
SuRo Capital Corp.
Investment
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Learno
Education technology company
Director
Malcolm S. McDermid
Emerson Collective
Investment
Managing Director
Karen G. Mills
MMP Group
Venture capital
President
Skillsoft Corp.
Digital learning and talent solutions
Director
Stephen Murphy
Authentic Bespoke Limited
Investment
Co-Founder and Executive Chairman
Merivel Capital Partners LLP
Financial services
Co - Founding Partner
Qalaa Holdings SAE
Investment
Special Advisor
Orient Investment Properties
Oil refinement/energy
Director
Churchill Capital Corp IX
Blank check company
Director Nominee
Alan M. Schrager
Oak Hill Advisors, L.P.
Investment
Portfolio Manager and Senior Partner
Expro Group Holdings N.V.
Energy services provider
Director
OHA Senior Private Lending Fund (U) LLC
Investment
Director
T. Rowe Price OHA Select Private Credit Fund
Investment
Director
Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us.
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties of our officers or directors, or M. Klein and Company, or policies applicable to M. Klein and Company, will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with M. Klein and Company, any of our Strategic and Operating Partners, our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with M. Klein and Company, any of our Strategic and Operating Partners, our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates (including M. Klein and Company) may make additional investments in the Company in connection with the initial business combination, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our sponsor or any of its affiliates elects to make additional investments, such proposed investments could influence our sponsor’s motivation to complete an initial business combination.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination, and our officers and directors have also agreed to vote public shares purchased by them (if any) during or after the IPO in favor of our initial business combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our officers and directors will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us or stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, except to the extent such exemption from liability or limitation thereof is not permitted by the DGCL.
We entered into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our bylaws also permit us to maintain insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification.
We obtained 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.
These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
In connection with the IPO, we have undertaken that insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

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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. We pay monthly recurring expenses of $50,000 to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of the initial business combination or our liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2023, an affiliate of the sponsor has been paid a total of approximately $1.7 million ($50,000 per month) for office space, administrative and support services and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.
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 audit committee 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 stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, 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 may not take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after the initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our 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 regarding the beneficial ownership of our Class A common stock as of the date of this Annual Report, by:
● each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock;
● each of our executive officers and directors; and
● all our executive officers and directors as a group.
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 57,064,261 shares of Class A common stock outstanding and 34,500,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of April 1, 2024. All of the shares of Class B common stock are held by our sponsor. Shares of Class A common stock that may be obtained upon conversion of shares of Class B common stock are deemed to be outstanding for the purpose of computing the beneficial ownership of that person and any group of which that person is a member, but are not deemed outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage of beneficial ownership for any other person. Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this Annual Report.
Number of
Class A Shares
Beneficially
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1)
Owned
Percentage
Churchill Sponsor VII LLC(2)(3)
34,500,000
37.7
%
Michael Klein(2)(3)
34,500,000
37.7
%
Jay Taragin
-
-
Andrew Frankle(4)
-
-
Bonnie Jonas(4)
-
-
Mark Klein(4)(5)
-
-
Malcolm S. McDermid
-
-
Karen G. Mills(4)
-
-
Stephen Murphy(4)
-
-
Alan M. Schrager(4)
-
-
Magnetar Financial(6)
8,306,005
14.6
%
Atlas Merchant Capital LLC(7)
6,257,718
11.0
%
Empyrean Capital(8)
6,099,622
10.7
%
Meteora Capital, LLC(9)
5,558,905
9.7
%
Millennium Management LLC(10)
4,894,492
8.6
%
Westchester Capital Management, LLC(11)
4,100,543
7.2
%
Cowen & Company, LLC(12)
3,630,222
6.4
%
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o Churchill Capital Corp VII, 640 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019.
(2) Interests shown consist solely of shares of Class B common stock which are referred to herein as founder shares. Such shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at any time and from time to time at the election of the holder and at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis.
(3) Michael Klein is the controlling stockholder of M. Klein Associates, Inc., which is the managing member of Churchill Sponsor VII LLC. The shares beneficially owned by Churchill Sponsor VII LLC may also be deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Klein.
(4)
Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas, Mark Klein, Karen G. Mills, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager, (each of whom are directors of the Company) and Jay Taragin (Chief Financial Officer), each has an economic interest in the founder shares and private placement warrants purchased by our sponsor as a result of his or her membership interest in our sponsor, but does not beneficially own any of our founder shares or private placement warrants. In addition, Mark Klein, a director of Churchill, may be deemed to have an indirect economic interest in the founder shares and private placement warrants as a result of SuRo Capital Corp. having a membership interest in our sponsor. Mark Klein is the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of SuRo Capital Corp.
(5)
Mark Klein is a non-controlling stockholder of M. Klein Associates, Inc., which is the managing member of Churchill Sponsor VII LLC.
(6)
According to a Form 4, filed on January 18, 2024 by Magnetar Financial LLC (“Magnetar Financial”), a Delaware limited liability company, Magnetar Capital Partners LP (“Magnetar Capital Partners”), a Delaware limited partnership, Supernova Management LLC (“Supernova Management”), a Delaware limited liability company, and Mr. David J. Snyderman (“Mr. Snyderman”), a United States citizen who serves as the manager of Supernova Management (collectively, the “Magnetar Parties”), the business address of such parties is 1603 Orrington Avenue, 13th Floor, Evanston, Illinois 60201. The Magnetar Parties hold 8,306,206 shares of Class A common stock. The amount consists of (i) 4,370,467 shares of Class A common stock held for the account of Magnetar Constellation Master Fund, Ltd, a Cayman Islands exempted company; (ii) 668,301 shares of Class A common stock held for the account of Magnetar Lake Credit Fund LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; (iii) 1,750,306 shares of Class A common stock held for the account of Magnetar Structured Credit Fund, LP, a Delaware limited partnership; and (iv) 1,516,931 shares of Class A common stock held for the account of Magnetar Xing He Master Fund Ltd, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the holding entities referred to as, collectively, the “Magnetar Funds” hereafter). Magnetar Financial serves as the investment adviser to the Magnetar Funds, and as such, Magnetar Financial exercises voting and investment power over the shares of Class A common stock held for the Magnetar Funds’ accounts. Magnetar Capital Partners serves as the sole member and parent holding company of Magnetar Financial. Supernova Management is the general partner of Magnetar Capital Partners. The manager of Supernova Management is Mr. Snyderman. Each of the Magnetar Fund, Magnetar Financial, Magnetar Capital Partners, Supernova Management and Mr. Snyderman disclaims such beneficial ownership of these shares of Class A common stock.
(7)
According to a Form 3 filed on June 8, 2023 by Atlas Merchant Capital LLC (“Atlas”), the business address of Atlas is 477 Madison Avenue, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10022. Atlas holds 6,257,718 shares of Class A common stock. The shares are held directly by Atlas Merchant Capital SPAC Fund I LP (the “Fund”). Atlas is a registered investment advisor and the investment manager of the Fund. Atlas Merchant Capital Holdings, Ltd. (“Holdings”) is the managing member of Atlas; Atlas Merchant Capital LP (“AMC Capital”) is the sole voting shareholder of Holdings; and Atlas Merchant Capital GP LLC (“AMC-GP”) is the general partner of AMC Capital. AMC SPAC Fund GP LP (the “General Partner”) is the general partner of the Fund and AMC SPAC Fund MGP LLC (“AMC SPAC MGP”) is the general partner of the General Partner. Robert E. Diamond and David I. Schamis are the sole members of AMC-GP and AMC SPAC MGP. Each of Atlas, Holdings, AMC Capital, AMC- GP, the General Partner, AMC SPAC MGP and Messrs. Diamond and Schamis may be deemed to indirectly beneficially own the shares directly held by the Fund, but each of such persons disclaims such beneficial ownership except to the extent of its or his pecuniary interest in the shares held by the Fund.
(8)
According to a Schedule 13G, filed on March 5, 2021 by Empyrean Capital Overseas Master Fund, Ltd., Empyrean Capital Partners, LP and Amos Meron (collectively, the “Empyrean Parties”), the business address of such parties is c/o Empyrean Capital Partners, LP, 10250 Constellation Boulevard, Suite 2950, Los Angeles, CA 90067. The Empyrean Parties hold 6,099,622 shares of Class A common stock. Such securities are held through Empyrean Capital Overseas Master Fund, Ltd. (“ECOMF”), a Cayman Islands exempted company, Empyrean Capital Partners, LP (“ECP”), a Delaware limited partnership, which serves as
investment manager to ECOMF with respect to the Class A common stock directly held by ECOMF; and Mr. Amos Meron, a United States citizen who serves as the managing member of Empyrean Capital, LLC, the general partner of ECP, with respect to the Class A common stock directly held by ECOMF.
(9)
According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 14, 2024 by Meteora Capital, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and Vik Mittal (collectively, the “Meteora Parties”), the business address of such parties is 1200 N Federal Hwy, #200, Boca Raton FL 33432. The Meteora Parties collectively hold 5,558,905 shares of Class A common stock.
(10)
According to a Schedule 13G/A filed on January 19, 2022 by Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC, ICS Opportunities II LLC, ICS Opportunities, Ltd., Millennium International Management LP, Millennium Management LLC, Millennium Group Management LLC and Israel A. Englander (collectively, the “Millennium Parties”), the business address of such parties is 399 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022. The Millennium Parties hold 4,894,492 shares of Class A common stock. Such securities are held by (i) Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Integrated Core Strategies”), which beneficially owned 2,818,415 shares of the Class A common stock; (ii) ICS Opportunities II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“ICS Opportunities II”), which beneficially holds 46,277 shares of the Class A common stock; and (iii) ICS Opportunities, Ltd., a Cayman Islands exempted company (“ICS Opportunities”), which beneficially owned 2,029,800 shares of the Class A common stock. Millennium International Management LP, a Delaware limited partnership, is the investment to ICS Opportunities II and ICS Opportunities and may be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICS Opportunities II and ICS Opportunities. Millennium Management LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Millennium Management”), is the general partner of the managing member of Integrated Core Strategies and may be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by Integrated Core Strategies. Millennium Management is also the general partner of the 100% owner of ICS Opportunities II and ICS Opportunities and may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICS Opportunities II and ICS Opportunities. Millennium Group Management LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Millennium Group Management”), is the managing member of Millennium Management and may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by Integrated Core Strategies. Millennium Group Management is also the general partner of Millennium International Management and may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICS Opportunities II and ICS Opportunities. The managing member of Millennium Group Management is a trust of which Israel A. Englander, a United States citizen (“Mr. Englander”), currently serves as the sole voting trustee. Therefore, Mr. Englander may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by Integrated Core Strategies, ICS Opportunities II and ICS Opportunities.
(11)
According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 14, 2024 by Westchester Capital Management, LLC, a New York limited liability company, Westchester Capital Partners, LLC, a New York limited liability company, Virtus Investment Advisors, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, and The Merger Fund, a Massachusetts business trust (collectively, the “Westchester Parties”), the business address of Westchester Capital Management, LLC and Westchester Capital Partners, LLC is 100 Summit Drive, Valhalla, New York 10595, the business address of Virtus Investment Advisors, Inc. is One Financial Plaza, Hartford, Connecticut 06103 and the business address of The Merger Fund is 101 Munson Street, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301-9683. The Westchester Parties collectively own 4,133,132 shares of Class A common stock. Such securities are held by (i) Westchester Capital Management, LLC (“Westchester”), which beneficially owned 4,100,543 shares of the Class A common stock, (ii) Westchester Capital Partners, LLC (“WCP”), which beneficially owned 32,589 shares of the Class A common stock, (iii) Virtus Investment Advisors, Inc. (“Virtus”), which beneficially owned 3,822,264 shares of the Class A common stock and (iv) The Merger Fund (“MF”), which beneficially owned 3,298,554 shares of the Class A common stock. Virtus acts as investment adviser to MF. Westchester acts as sub-advisor to each of MF and may be deemed to beneficially own shares of Common Stock held by MF. Messrs. Roy Behren and Michael T. Shannon each serve as Co-Presidents of Westchester and WCP. By virtue of these relationships, Westchester, WCP and Messrs. Behren and Shannon may be deemed to beneficially own the Class A common stock held by MF.
(12)
According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 5, 2024 by Cowen & Company, LLC, a New York limited liability company, the business address of such party is 599 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10022. Cowen & Company, LLC holds 3,630,222 shares of Class A common stock.
Our sponsor beneficially owns 37.7% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock. Our sponsor has the right to elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination as a result of holding all of the founder shares, provided, however, that with respect to the election of directors in connection with a meeting of the stockholders of the Company in which a business combination is submitted to the stockholders of the Company for approval, holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock, voting together as a single class, shall have the exclusive right to vote for the election of directors. In addition, because of this ownership block, our initial stockholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions.
In December 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,625,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On February 5, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 20,125,000 shares thereof. Additionally, on February 11, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 5,750,000 shares thereof, resulting in 34,500,000 founder shares outstanding. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of the IPO.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 32,600,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $32,600,000 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $1,380,000,000 was placed in a trust account at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
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.
In December 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On February 5, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 20,125,000 shares thereof. Additionally, on February 11, 2021, we effected a stock dividend with respect to our Class B common stock of 5,750,000 shares thereof, resulting in 34,500,000 founder shares outstanding. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of the IPO.
Our sponsor purchased 32,600,000 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of the IPO. As such, our sponsor’s interest in the IPO is valued at $32,600,000. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
Michael Klein, Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas, Mark Klein, Karen G. Mills, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager, all of whom are directors of the Company, each has an economic interest in the founder shares and private placement warrants purchased by our sponsor as a result of his or her membership interest in our sponsor.
As described in “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance - Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or
she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have other relevant fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties that may take priority over their duties to us.
In December 2020, our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $600,000 to cover expenses related to the IPO pursuant to a promissory note. The loan was non-interest bearing, unsecured and due on the earlier of December 31, 2021 or the closing of the IPO. We borrowed $375,000 under this promissory note and repaid the full outstanding balance of the promissory note on February 17, 2021.
On May 16, 2023, our sponsor agreed to make monthly deposits directly to the trust account of the Company in the amount of $1,000,000 following the approval and implementation of the initial extension proposal. Such contributions are made pursuant to the Extension Promissory Note issued by the Company to the Sponsor. On February 9, 2024, the sponsor amended the Extension Promissory Note to increase the principal borrowing amount payable under the promissory note from $9,000,000 to $15,000,000 to pay monthly extension payment in accordance with the extension. Contributions are paid monthly beginning on May 17, 2023 until the earliest to occur of (i) the consummation of the business combination, (ii) August 15, 2024 and (iii) if a business combination is not consummated, the date of liquidation of the trust account, as determined in the sole discretion of our board of directors. The Extension Promissory Note will mature on the earlier of (1) the date we consummate a business combination and (2) the date that the winding up of the Company is effective. As of December 31, 2023, the Extension Promissory Note had a balance of $8,000,000 with $1,000,000 available for withdrawal.
We entered into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will also pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $50,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2023, an affiliate of our sponsor has been paid a total of approximately $1.7 million ($50,000 per month) for office space, administrative and support services and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.
Our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors may, but none of them is obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans by our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or 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, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors, if any, as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us, if any, may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive officer and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans (if any). The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement, dated as of February 11, 2021, requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to shares of Class A common stock). The holders of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period, which occurs: (i) in the case of the founder shares, on the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property, and (2) in the case of the private placement warrants and the respective shares of Class A common stock underlying such warrants, 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Related Party Policy
We had not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions as of the completion of the IPO. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above (other than the engagement of the Klein Group) were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.
Since the completion of the IPO, we have adopted a code of ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our code of ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the Company.
In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to a written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present is required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee constitutes a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee are required to approve a related party transaction. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their affiliates.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors or our or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments will be, or have been, made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, and, if made prior to our initial business combination will be made from (i) funds held outside the trust account or (ii) permitted withdrawals:
● repayment of $375,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;
● at the closing of our initial business combination, a customary financial advisory fee to M. Klein and Company, or another affiliate of our sponsor, in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions;
● payment to an affiliate of our sponsor of a total of $50,000 per month, for up to 27 months, for office space, administrative and support services;
● reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and
● repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender.
These payments may be funded using the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.
Director Independence
Nasdaq rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person that, in the opinion of the Company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the Company). We have “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq rules and applicable SEC rules. Our board has determined that each of Andrew Frankle, Bonnie Jonas, Malcolm S. McDermid, Karen G. Mills, Stephen Murphy and Alan M. Schrager is an independent director under applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled sessions at which only independent directors are present.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14.Principal Accountant 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 years ended December 31, 2023
and 2022 totaled $281,538 and $85,600 ($25,750 billed in 2023), respectively. 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 year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our IPO. 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 Form 10-K:
(1)Financial Statements:
Page
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID #688)
Balance Sheets
Statements of Operations
Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Deficit
Statements of Cash Flows
Notes to Financial Statements
(2)Financial Statement Schedules:
None.
(3)Exhibits:
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Exhibit Number
Description
2.1
Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated August 1, 2023 by and between the Company, Polaris PubCo Plc., NorthSky Merger Sub, Inc. and CorpAcq Holdings Limited (filed with the Company’s registration statement on Form filed by Polaris PubCo Plc. on November 17, 2023).
2.2
Consent and Amendment to Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of December 26, 2023, by and among Churchill, the Company, Merger Sub, CorpAcq Holdco, BermudaCo and the Sellers party thereto (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 2.1 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on December 26, 2023).
3.1
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
3.2
Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 12, 2024).
3.3
Bylaws (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 3.3 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 2 to registration statement on Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on February 9, 2021).
4.1
Form of Specimen Unit Certificate (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 4.1 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 2 to registration statement on Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on February 9, 2021).
4.2
Form of Specimen Class A Common Stock Certificate (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 4.2 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 2 to registration statement on Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on February 9, 2021).
4.3
Form of Specimen Warrant Certificate (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 4.4 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
Exhibit Number
Description
4.4
Warrant Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 4.4 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
4.5
Description of Securities of the Company (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 4.5 filed with the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed by the Registrant on March 31, 2022).
10.1
Promissory Note, dated December 30, 2020, issued to Churchill Sponsor VII LLC (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 2 to registration statement on Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on February 9, 2021).
10.2
Form of Letter Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, among the Registrant and its officers, directors and Churchill Sponsor VII LLC (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.3
Amended and Restated Sponsor Agreement, dated August 1, 2023, among the Company, Polaris PubCo Plc., NorthSky Merger Sub, Inc. and CorpAcq Holdings Limited (filed with the Company’s registration statement on Form filed by Polaris PubCo Plc. on November 17, 2023).
10.4
Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.2 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.5
Amendment No. 1 to Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated May 4, 2023, by and between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Company (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.10 filed with the Company’s registration statement filed on From by the Polaris Pubco Plc. on November 17, 2023).
10.6
Registration Rights Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, among the Registrant and certain securityholders named therein (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.3 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.7
Securities Subscription Agreement, dated December 30, 2020, between the Registrant and Churchill Sponsor VII LLC (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.5 filed with the Company’s Amendment No. 2 to registration statement on Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on February 9, 2021).
10.8
Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Churchill Sponsor VII LLC (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.4 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.9
Amendment to Warrant Agreement, dated November 16, 2023, by and between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Company (filed with the Company’s registration statement filed on From by the Polaris Pubco Plc. on November 17, 2023).
10.10
Indemnity Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Michael Klein (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.5 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.11
Indemnity Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Jay Taragin (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.6 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.12
Indemnity Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Bonnie Jonas (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.8 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.13
Indemnity Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Malcolm S. McDermid (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.9 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.14
Indemnity Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Mark Klein (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.10 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.15
Indemnity Agreement, dated February 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Karen G. Mills (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.11 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
Exhibit Number
Description
10.16
Indemnity Agreement, dated May 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Andrew Frankle (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.13 filed with the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed by the Registrant on March 31, 2022).
10.17
Indemnity Agreement, dated May 11, 2021, between the Registrant and Stephen Murphy (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.14 filed with the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed by the Registrant on March 31, 2022).
10.18
Indemnity Agreement, dated January 5, 2022, between the Registrant and Alan M. Schrager (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.15 filed with the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed by the Registrant on March 31, 2022).
10.19
Administrative Services Agreement, dated February 11, 2021 by and between the Registrant and an affiliate of Churchill Sponsor VII LLC (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.12 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 17, 2021).
10.20
Promissory Note, dated May 16, 2023 by and between Churchill Sponsor VII LLC and the Company (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on May 16, 2023).
10.21
Amendment to the Promissory Note, dated February 9, 2023 by and between Churchill Sponsor VII LLC and the Company (incorporated by reference to the Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s current report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on February 12, 2024).
31.1*
Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
31.2*
Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32.1**
Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32.2**
Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
97.1*
Executive Compensation Clawback Policy, effective December 1, 2023.
101.INS
XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.
101.SCH
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 Labels Linkbase Document
101.PRE
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
Cover Page Interactive Data File - The cover page interactive data file does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document
* Filed herewith.
** These certifications are furnished to the SEC pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, and are deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, nor shall they be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.