EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1818221
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1818221_10-K_2022_0001193125-22-052440.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1.
Business.
Overview
Equity Distribution Acquisition Corp. (the “Company,” “we,” “our” and “us”) was incorporated in Delaware on July 7, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar Business Combination with one or more businesses (a “Business Combination”).
Although we are not limited to a particular industry or geographic region for purposes of consummating a Business Combination, we intend to focus on prospective target businesses in North America within the industrial sector with an enterprise valuation in the range of $1 billion to $1.5 billion. In particular, we intend to focus on companies providing technology-enabled solutions in industrial and industrial distribution markets. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
We were originally formed in Delaware under the name Equity Distribution Acquisition Corp. in July 2020. Our executive offices are located at Two North Riverside Plaza, Suite 600, Chicago, IL, and our telephone number is (312) 466-4296.
Our corporate website address is www.equitydac.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 Report. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
Founders
Our Chairman is Sam Zell, investor, entrepreneur, and founder of the private investment firm, Equity Group Investments (“EGI”). Mr. Zell has a 50-year
track record of founding multi-billion-dollar companies and growing many others, turning around troubled assets, leading industry consolidations, and bringing companies to the public markets. He has had an overarching impact on numerous industries.
While his investments span industries across the globe, Mr. Zell is most widely recognized as a founding father of the $1 trillion real estate investment trust (“REIT”). In the 1990s, he created three of the largest REITs and rallied the nascent industry to focus on providing shareholders with transparency, predictability, and accountability. In 2007, he sold Equity Office Properties Trust, the office building REIT, which he founded in 1997, for $39 billion in the largest leveraged buyout transaction at the time. He continues to chair the other two REITs he founded, Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), a multi-family REIT, and Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE: ELS), a manufactured housing REIT. Mr. Zell also chairs Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC), an office REIT he assumed leadership of in 2014.
In addition to real estate, Mr. Zell’s investment activity spans industrials, manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure, energy, waste services, consumer products, communications and healthcare. To date, Mr. Zell has sponsored 12 IPOs, successfully raising capital across various industries in all types of economic environments. In the 1990s, he raised $1 billion for the Zell/Chillmark Fund, one of the first and largest funds to focus on good companies with bad balance sheets. Concurrently, Mr. Zell raised $2.1 billion for the Zell/Merrill Funds, the largest distressed real estate offering at the time. In the late 2000s, Mr. Zell also sponsored the Zell Credit Opportunities Fund, which invested more than $1 billion in oil and gas, manufacturing, consumer products, and other sectors.
In addition, Mr. Zell served as Chair of Covanta Holding Corporation (
formerly
NYSE: CVA), an international energy-from-waste company from 2005 to November 2021, when it was acquired by EQT Infrastructure. He previously served as Chair of Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, the creator of Mucinex, and Jacor, which led the U.S. radio industry’s consolidation in the 1990s.
Within the Industrials sector, Mr. Zell also served as Chair of Anixter International (formerly NYSE: AXE), a global provider of wire and cable products, for 34 years until the company’s sale in 2020 for $4.5 billion. EGI acquired Anixter in 1986 through the holding company Itel Corporation. Mr. Zell was drawn to Anixter because of its unique distribution pipeline, which enabled vendors to reach small buyers. By 1991, Mr. Zell had sold off Itel’s other investments to focus the company solely on Anixter. He set an aggressive growth strategy, quickly establishing Anixter as a global industry leader. Between 1986 and 2019, Anixter increased its revenues from $650 million to $8.8 billion, and expanded its presence from three to 50 countries.
Anixter’s long-standing success reflects one of Mr. Zell’s fundamental principles - to establish and maintain the alignment of interests among the board, management, and shareholders. He is an active owner and Chair who builds strong relationships with senior management. That includes Bill Galvin, who served as Anixter’s President and Chief Executive Officer until the company’s recent sale. Mr. Galvin has joined Mr. Zell to found our Company. Their complementary working relationship, respective areas of expertise, and vast collective network positions us well.
Mr. Galvin, our Company’s Chief Executive Officer, served as Anixter’s President and Chief Executive Officer from July 2018 through June 2020, after having led various functions and businesses within the company during his 36-year
tenure. He joined Anixter in 1984 and served as: President and Chief Operating Officer (2017 - 2018), Executive Vice President - Network and Security Solutions (2007 - 2017), and Senior Vice President - North America Enterprise Cabling Solutions Sales (2006 - 2007). In addition, Mr. Galvin served on Anixter’s Board of Directors.
Prior to its acquisition, Anixter was a leading global distributor of Network & Security Solutions, Electrical & Electronic Solutions and Utility Power Solutions. Anixter’s offerings included enterprise networks, industrial MRO (maintenance, repairs, operations) supply, video surveillance applications, and electric power distribution. The company provided customers across industrial and other end-markets
with full-line solutions and intelligence, resulting in reliable, resilient systems that sustained businesses and communities. Anixter’s solutions helped lower the cost, risk, and complexity of customers’ supply chains through the company’s unmatched global distribution network, and supply chain and technical expertise.
Operationally, Mr. Galvin developed and implemented a gross margin expansion strategy, resulting in six consecutive quarters of year-over-year gross margin improvement, while investing in technology and innovation to position Anixter favorably for future growth. Strategically, Mr. Galvin shifted Anixter’s portfolio toward technology and service-centric markets through entry into new applications including cellular wireless solutions and expansion of existing businesses such as commercial security. Mr. Galvin also spearheaded multiple strategic acquisitions and subsequent integrations, including the acquisition of Tri-Ed
in 2014 for $420 million and the 2018 acquisitions of CSD, Inner Range and Atlas Gentech.
Collectively, Messrs. Zell and Galvin successfully set and delivered on a strategic vision to shift Anixter toward technology-centric growth, while driving operational improvements - a rare combination within the industrial distribution sector that drove value for Anixter’s shareholders.
In June 2020, Anixter closed on its merger with WESCO International, which included a 55% premium to Anixter’s share price of $63.30 immediately prior to Mr. Galvin assuming the role of President and Chief Executive Officer in July 2018. Anixter’s enterprise value in the transaction was approximately $4.5 billion.
We believe that Messrs. Zell and Galvin’s respective and complementary expertise position our Company well to identify attractive business combination opportunities, execute strategic transactions and have a transformative impact on target businesses.
Market Opportunity
The industrial distribution market alone is in excess of $2.5 trillion in the United States, based on a publication by McKinsey & Company. Therefore, the total industrial market including manufacturers and service providers is even larger. The industrial market is broad, diverse and fragmented, with participants differentiating their individual offerings through a combination of technology, innovation, technical know-how,
customer relationships and value-added services. Players within this market support and enable both the manufacturing supply chain as well as aftermarket activities including repair, replacement, service and maintenance across a range of end markets.
The industrial industry is highly fragmented across multiple dimensions, including end market, geographic region and supplier alignment, amongst others. As an example, the top ten industrial distribution companies in the United States collectively accounted for approximately 5% of the overall market based on 2019 revenue. Within this fragmented market, leading players must consistently differentiate themselves to capture and maintain wallet share and grow, including through acquisitions.
We believe the rapid pace of change, accelerated by increasing proliferation of technology, will drive a wave of consolidation within the industry. Furthermore, in order to keep pace with larger competitors, smaller players are under pressure to make material investments in technology, requiring significant financial resources and management expertise. The global supply chain volatility in recent years has also challenged many companies’ ability to predict and meet demand while managing through dynamic market pressures. This volatility and inflationary environment is challenging organizations to consider alternative long-term strategies. We intend to focus on companies that have the ability to competitively differentiate themselves based on a combination of service, technology, innovation and / or market position.
Customers are increasingly seeking digital experiences in the way they engage with industrial companies, and competitive customer solutions require a technology-first mentality. These solutions include optimized supply chain management, real-time vendor-managed inventory, just-in-time
delivery, private label products, kitting, and customization. We believe customers are willing to pay a premium for these solutions due to the operational efficiencies that the solutions provide. The combination of robust service capabilities and innovative technology advancements provide sustainable competitive advantages for leading industrial companies. We believe the favorable relative positioning of leading players within a highly fragmented market creates a unique need for industry consolidation.
The industrial market segment offers many attractive attributes for growth opportunities, including significant fragmentation, new disruptive technology advancements in manufacturing and enhancements to the global supply chain models. Despite these attractive attributes, we believe strong leadership and operational excellence will be required for industrial companies to capitalize on future growth opportunities amid the industry’s technology-driven evolution. Our founders are uniquely qualified to advise and grow such businesses and will be able to drive immediate value through margin improvement initiatives such as pricing enhancements and operational efficiencies, expanding value-added service capabilities, increasing market access and improving cash flow characteristics.
Board of Directors
In addition to our founders, our Board of Directors is comprised of a distinguished group of individuals with significant experience and expertise in the industrial sector.
Mr. Robert W. Grubbs was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Grubbs served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Anixter from 1998 to 2008, following a successful 30-year
career with the company. From 1994 to 2008 Mr. Grubbs was also the President and Chief Executive Officer of Anixter Inc., a subsidiary of Anixter. During Mr. Grubbs’ tenure, Anixter saw tremendous growth in sales, profitability and shareholder returns. Mr. Grubbs continued to serve on the board of Anixter until May 2018. Mr. Grubbs currently serves on the board of Schneider National, a truckload, intermodal and logistics services provider, and is the Executive Chairman of Harrington Industrial Plastics, a process-solutions provider for corrosive and high-purity water systems. Previously, Mr. Grubbs served as the Chairman of GNAP, a leading specialty abrasives distributor, from 2016 until 2018 when Frontenac sold it to CenterOak Partners. Mr. Grubbs also has significant experience working with private equity firms, both through GNAP and Ohio Transmission Corporation, a leading technical distributor previously held by Irving Place Capital and currently held by Genstar Capital. Mr. Grubbs served as Chairman of Ohio Transmission Corporation from 2013 to 2019. Mr. Grubbs holds a BBA in business administration and marketing from the University of Missouri.
Ms. Ellen Havdala was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Ms. Havdala is a Managing Director with EGI and has worked in a variety of capacities for Mr. Zell’s affiliated companies since 1990. Ms. Havdala serves on the board of Ardent Health Services, a provider of hospital and healthcare services. Ms. Havdala focuses on sourcing potential investment transactions and meeting new capital sources. In addition, Ms. Havdala is responsible for establishing and overseeing the Zell Global Entrepreneurship Network, an organization designed to provide continuing education and mentorship for students and alumni of Mr. Zell’s three entrepreneurship education programs. During Ms. Havdala’s tenure with EGI, she has served on several boards, including SIRVA Worldwide, Inc., a provider of moving and relocation services; Rewards Network, Inc., a dining rewards company; and WRS Holding Company, an environmental construction and remediation company; Mrs. Havdala has also held the roles of Acting Chief Executive Officer at Rewards Network, Executive Vice President at Equity International, and Vice President of Scott Sports Group, Inc. Prior to joining Mr. Zell’s organization, Ms. Havdala was a financial analyst with The First Boston Corporation in New York City. Ms. Havdala graduated magna cum laude with a BA from Harvard College, and earned her Master of Divinity from the University of Chicago in 2016.
Mr. Bill Simon was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Simon most recently served as Executive Vice President of Walmart and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart U.S. from 2010 to 2014, and he remained a consultant to the firm through February 2015. As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Simon was responsible for over $280 billion in revenue and 1.2 million associates. During his tenure at Walmart, Mr. Simon also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Walmart U.S. and Executive Vice President of Professional Services and New Business Development. He also led the team that created and launched Walmart’s $4 prescription drug program. Mr. Simon is also a passionate supporter of veterans and was instrumental in Walmart’s pledge to hire any returning veteran. Prior to joining Walmart, Mr. Simon held several senior positions: Brinker International, Diageo, CadburySchweppes, PepsiCo and RJR-Nabisco. Mr. Simon served on the boards of Anixter, Agrium, Academy Sports and Outdoors Inc., Drizly, GameStop, and Chico’s and currently serves on the boards of Darden Restaurants, an American multi-brand restaurant operator of several recognizable brands in full-service dining; and Hanesbrands Inc., a multinational clothing company. Mr. Simon also serves as an advisor to KKR, an investment firm. He is also the Founder and President of the investment and consulting firm WSS Venture Holdings. Mr. Simon also served as a Member of the Baylor University Board of Regents as well as Executive in Residence and a member of the Faculty of the Baylor School of Business from 2015-2020.
Mr. Simon also served in the public sector as Secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services appointed by Governor Jeb Bush. In this role, Mr. Simon was responsible for the state’s operations and administrative functions, including health care benefits, human resources, the Florida retirement system, facilities management and real estate.
Mr. Simon served 25 years in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserves. While on active duty, he received commendations for combat service in the Grenada conflict as well as for service as part of a Multi-National Peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon. As a reservist, he was the Commanding Officer of a Mobile Mine Assembly Group and Executive Officer aboard a Minesweeper.
Mr. Simon received his BA and MBA from the University of Connecticut.
Mr. Charles Swoboda was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Swoboda is currently the president and CEO of Vast Therapeutics, president of Cape Point Advisors and has served as the innovator-in-resident
at Marquette University since 2019. Mr. Swoboda retired as Chairman and CEO of Cree in October of 2017, having led the company through an LED lighting revolution, a period of tremendous technological change within the lighting industry. During Mr. Swoboda’s tenure, Cree grew from just over $6 million in annual revenue in 1993 to more than $1.6 billion in 2016. In 2017, Mr. Swoboda founded Cape Point Advisors, a consulting company focused on innovation and technology disruption. Mr. Swoboda served on the board of Anixter and currently serves on the boards of Lonerider Brewing Company, a craft brewery; Vesper, a provider of MEMS microphones; and KNOW Bio, a life sciences company focused on a wide array of therapeutic applications. Ernst & Young named Mr. Swoboda Entrepreneur of the Year for the Carolinas in 2010, MIT Technology Review named Cree one of their 50 Smartest Companies for 2014, and Fast Company named Cree one of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2015. Mr. Swoboda is the author of “The Innovator’s Spirit: Discover the Mindset to Pursue the Impossible,” a book on innovation. Mr. Swoboda graduated from Marquette University with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify and complete our initial Business Combination with a company or companies that can benefit from our founders’ operational and investment expertise. Our selection process will leverage Messrs. Zell and Galvin’s broad and deep relationship network, unique industry experiences and deal sourcing capabilities to access a broad spectrum of differentiated opportunities. This network has been developed through our founders’ demonstrated success both investing in and operating businesses across a variety of industries, developing a distinctive combination of capabilities including:
•
a track record of growing multi-billion dollar platforms in the public and private markets;
•
identifying potential market dislocations, including counter-intuitive investment opportunities;
•
partnering with management teams and business owners to drive sustainable, long-term value;
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driving innovation and increasing technology adoption throughout organizations;
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implementing operational improvement initiatives and executing turnarounds;
•
executing transformational and smaller M&A transactions;
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driving strategic capital allocation decisions at the corporate level;
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understanding public market performance and requirements;
•
cultivating deep relationships with sellers, financing providers and target management teams; and
•
an extensive history of accessing the capital markets across various business cycles, including financing businesses and assisting companies with transition to public ownership.
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but given the right opportunity, we may decide to enter into our initial Business Combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that we believe:
•
have a strong competitive position, in an industry where technology plays an increasingly important role;
•
have potential for attractive free cash flow characteristics and a desirable return on capital;
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have a strong management team that would benefit from our network or capabilities, such as additional management expertise, operational changes to drive improved financial performance, capital structure optimization or acquisition expertise;
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are fundamentally sound companies with a proven track record;
•
will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders; and
•
can benefit from being a publicly traded company, are prepared to be a publicly traded company and can utilize access to broader capital markets.
These criteria and guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial Business Combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, criteria and guidelines our management may deem relevant. In the event we decide to enter into our initial Business Combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria and guidelines in our shareholder communications related to our initial Business Combination, which would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials we would file with the SEC.
In addition to any potential business candidates we may identify on our own, we anticipate other target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core
assets or divisions. Our management also sees significant opportunity to pursue acquisitions across a broader set of industries, capabilities and product scope than the activities of our affiliates today.
Initial Business Combination
In accordance with the rules of the NYSE, our initial Business Combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting discounts held in trust and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial Business Combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial Business Combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial Business Combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
We anticipate structuring our initial Business Combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial Business Combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the prior owners of the target business, the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the Business Combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the Business Combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial Business Combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our initial Business Combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the Business Combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial Business Combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
To the extent we effect our initial Business Combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial Business Combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial Business Combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another Business Combination.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that commonly renders fairness opinions that our initial Business Combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view.
Our founders and directors directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial Business Combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular Business Combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial Business Combination.
Mr. Bill Galvin, our Chief Executive Officer and a director, is currently restricted by non-compete
arrangements with WESCO (as successor-in-interest
to Anixter, a distributor of network and security solutions, electrical and electronic solutions and utility power solutions), which arrangements will be in effect until June 22, 2022, and which prohibit him from competing with the business of Anixter, its subsidiaries and affiliates. Our Chief Executive Officer is party to non-compete
arrangements that will limit the types of companies that we can target for an initial Business Combination, among other restrictions, which could limit our prospects for an initial Business Combination or make us a less attractive buyer to certain target companies.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a Business Combination opportunity to such entities, including as described above. Accordingly, if any of our founders, officers or directors becomes aware of a Business Combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such Business Combination opportunity to such other entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law.
For more information, see “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance-Conflicts of Interest.”
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our initial Business Combination
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial Business Combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial Business Combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial Business Combination.
Limitations on Redemptions
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 are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A 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 Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking stockholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically
require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our Company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our shares of outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires stockholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote unless stockholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with the NYSE rules.
If we held a stockholder vote to approve our initial Business Combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
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conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and
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file proxy materials with the SEC.
In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial Business Combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial Business Combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial Business Combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holder 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 will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering, in favor of our initial Business Combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes
will have no effect on the approval of our initial Business Combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 15,525,001, or 37.5%, of the 41,400,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial Business Combination in order to have our initial Business Combination approved. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will complete our initial Business Combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or whether they were a stockholder on the record date for the stockholder meeting held to approve the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor, directors and each member of our management team, have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
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conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4
and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and
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file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial Business Combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial Business Combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our initial Business Combination, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1
to purchase Class A common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5
under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a)
under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial Business Combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial 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 are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial Business Combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of our 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 our Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our initial Business Combination If We Seek Stockholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 the Excess Shares (as defined below). We believe this restriction discourages stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, 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 Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
Public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the Business Combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial Business Combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in
order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the initial vote on the Business Combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial Business Combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise 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 shares 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 general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming stockholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no initial Business Combination
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we will have only 24 months from our initial public offering to complete an initial Business Combination. If we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in 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 do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Our sponsor, directors and each member of our management team have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. However, if our sponsor, director or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share
redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share
redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other
consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. Credit Suisse will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy their indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share
redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants 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, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such stockholder. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day
notice
period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day
period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day
waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), 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 do not complete our initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 24th month 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 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, 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 (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. 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.
If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency 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 or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A common stock, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial Business Combination. Public stockholders who redeem their shares of our Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial Business Combination or liquidation if we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such shares of our Class A common stock so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial Business Combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial Business Combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial Business Combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial Business Combination.
Employees
We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs and intend to continue doing so until we have completed our initial Business Combination. The amount of time they devote in any time period may vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial Business Combination and the stage of the initial Business Combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial Business Combination.
Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date of this prospectus.
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. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, this Report contains audited financial statements and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IFRS”), depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential targets we may conduct an initial Business Combination with because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame. There is no assurance that any particular target business identified by us as a potential Business Combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential Business Combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such Business Combination. We have filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A
with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial Business Combination.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding
advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following September 18, 2025 (the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering), (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our shares of Class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates
exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible
debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

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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 Report, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risk Factor Summary
An investment in or ownership of our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
Risks Relating to a Special Purpose Acquisition Company and our Securities
•
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
•
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential Business Combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
•
The requirement that we complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a Business Combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential Business Combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial Business Combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
•
We may not be able to complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
•
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Risks Relating to our Securities
•
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
•
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class
A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class
A common stock.
•
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for Business Combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial Business Combination.
•
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial Business Combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial Business Combination.
•
The recent coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic and the impact on business and debt and equity markets could have a material adverse effect on our search for a Business Combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a Business Combination.
•
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the completion of our initial Business Combination.
•
We are not registering the 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.
•
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor may make it more difficult to complete our initial Business Combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of the shares of our Class
A common stock.
•
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial Business Combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
Risks Relating to EGI, our sponsor and our management team
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Past performance by EGI, or its affiliates, Anixter or our management team, including the businesses referred to herein, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us or in the future performance of any business that we may acquire.
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We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
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Our ability to successfully effect our initial Business Combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial Business Combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
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Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
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We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a Business Combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
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We may attempt to complete our initial Business Combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a Business Combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial Business Combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial Business Combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
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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.
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Our sponsor controls a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
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Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of the shares of our Class
A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial Business Combination.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $0.6 million in its operating bank account and working capital deficit of approximately $1.1 million. Further, the Company has incurred, and expects to continue to incur, significant costs in pursuit of the Company’s acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need are discussed under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, we intend to borrow additional amounts under the Second Promissory Note, under which $1,750,000 remained available to be drawn as of December 31, 2021. The Second Promissory Note is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) September 18, 2022 or (ii) the consummation of our initial Business Combination.
If the Company fully draws down on the Second Promissory Note and requires additional funds for working capital purposes, the sponsor, an affiliate of the sponsor, or the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company such additional funds as may be required. Management believes that the sponsor or an affiliate of the sponsor will provide such additional working capital loans if necessary for the Company to maintain sufficient liquidity to meet the Company’s working capital needs through the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or September 18, 2022 (the “Liquidation Date”). However, if the Company needs to raise additional capital and is unable to do so, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily include or 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 or if at all. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern through one year from the date of the financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report if a Business Combination is not consummated. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report 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.
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a recently incorporated company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until completing an initial Business Combination. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial Business Combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete our initial Business Combination. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential Business Combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a Business Combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the Business Combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential Business Combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial Business Combination.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial Business Combination, which means we may complete our initial Business Combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote before we complete our initial Business Combination if the Business Combination would not require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would not be required to seek stockholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except as required by law or stock exchange, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed Business Combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial Business Combination even if a majority of our public stockholders do not approve of the Business Combination we complete.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial Business Combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders own, on an as-converted
basis, 20% of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock. Our sponsor and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A common stock prior to our initial Business Combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, if we seek stockholder approval of an initial Business Combination, such initial Business Combination will be approved if we receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares voted at such meeting, including the founder shares. If we submit our initial Business Combination to our public stockholders for a vote, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and any shares purchased during or after the offering, in favor of our initial Business Combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would only need 15,525,001, or 37.5%, of the 41,400,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial Business Combination in order to have our initial Business Combination approved (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted). Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination, the agreement by our sponsor and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial Business Combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial Business Combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential Business Combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a Business Combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a Business Combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the Business Combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) 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. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a Business Combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable Business Combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial Business Combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our Business Combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable Business Combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial Business Combination. The per-share
amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public 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 shares.
If our initial Business Combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial Business Combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial Business Combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a Business Combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential Business Combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial Business Combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a Business Combination will be aware that we must complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a Business Combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial Business Combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial Business Combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial Business Combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering. Our ability to complete our initial Business Combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. If we have not completed an initial Business Combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing and the coronavirus pandemic and other related events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise adequate financing.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed Business Combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial Business Combination, where otherwise permissible under applicable laws, rules and regulations, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgment that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees to vote in favor of the initial Business Combination or abstain and in any event not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the Business Combination, or abstain, and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the Business Combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial Business Combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial Business Combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial Business Combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial Business Combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial Business Combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or for 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. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other 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. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, 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: (i) our completion of an initial Business Combination, and then only in connection with those shares of our Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of our Class A common stock, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public stockholders who redeem their Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial Business Combination or liquidation if we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A common stock so redeemed. In addition, if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering is not completed 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Although we met, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial Business Combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial Business Combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 400 public holders).
Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial Business Combination and, in connection with our initial Business Combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $4.0 million. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter
market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
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a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
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reduced liquidity for our securities;
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a determination that our Class A common stock are 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;
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a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
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a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A common stock and warrants will qualify as covered securities under the 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 the NYSE, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute, and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial Business Combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units 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 our initial public were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial Business Combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 our initial public offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial Business Combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial Business Combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial Business Combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for Business Combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial Business Combination. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial Business Combination in conjunction with a stockholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial Business Combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a Business Combination. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial Business Combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial Business Combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account to fund our working capital requirements may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, assuming that our initial Business Combination is not completed during that time. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop”
provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies 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 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 do not complete our initial Business Combination, 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 upon our liquidation.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial Business Combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of
the post-Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial Business Combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial Business Combination. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, 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.
The recent coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic and the impact on business and debt and equity markets could have a material adverse effect on our search for a Business Combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a Business Combination.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19)
was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States and Europe. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to the coronavirus, and on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” Outbreaks of COVID-19
and its variants have adversely affected, and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, significant outbreak of other infectious diseases or other COVID-19
variants) could adversely affect, the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate an Business Combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a Business Combination if concerns relating to COVID-19
and its variants continue to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19
and its variants impact our search for a Business Combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the COVID-19
pandemic and the actions to contain COVID-19
and its variants or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19,
its variants or other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, significant outbreak of other infectious diseases or other COVID-19
variants) continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a Business Combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a Business Combination, may be materially adversely affected. Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19
and its variants may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risks Factors” section.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19,
its variants and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, significant outbreak of other infectious diseases or COVID-19
variants), including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
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 our share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues 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 who choose to remain stockholders following the Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the Business Combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share
redemption amount received by 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 auditors), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to 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 management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any
negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial Business Combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share
redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which was filed as an exhibit to the registration statement for our initial public offering, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our 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 or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, and our sponsor assert that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share
redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7
under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata
share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share
redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we complete an initial Business Combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover 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, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the 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 or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency 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 stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial Business Combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
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restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
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restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial Business Combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
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registration as an investment company;
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adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
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reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a Business Combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7
promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (a) the completion of our initial Business Combination; (b) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (ii) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A common stock; or (c) absent our completing an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a Business Combination. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination, and results of operations.
If we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of the interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind-up,
liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”). In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we complete our initial Business Combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A common stock. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial Business Combination.
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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day
notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day
period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day
waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 24th month from the closing of our initial public offering in the event we do not complete our initial Business Combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
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 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, 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the completion of our initial Business Combination.
In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our amended and restated bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial Business Combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial Business Combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
Holders of our Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on any appointment of directors we hold prior to our initial Business Combination.
Prior to our initial Business Combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial Business Combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our Company prior to the completion of an initial Business Combination.
We are not registering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the 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 to use our commercially reasonable efforts to file a registration statement under the Securities Act covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order.
If the shares of our Class A common stock 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, in which case the number of shares of our Class A common stock that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum number of shares equal to 0.361 shares of our Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment).
However, no such 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, unless an exemption from state registration is available.
Notwithstanding the above, if the shares of our Class A common stock are 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 be required to use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws and there is no exemption 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 will 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 our Class A common stock included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to sell the common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying common stock. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to sell the shares of common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying shares of common stock. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
Our ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis after we call the warrants for redemption or if there is no effective registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants will cause holders to receive fewer shares of our Class A common stock upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to pay the exercise price of their warrants in cash.
If we call the warrants for redemption, we will have the option, in our sole discretion, to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a cashless basis. If we choose to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis or if holders elect to do so when there is no effective registration statement, the number of shares of our Class A common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his or her warrant for cash. For example, if the holder is exercising 875 public warrants at $11.50 per share through a cashless exercise when the Class A common stock have a fair market value of $17.50 per share when there is no effective registration statement, then upon the cashless exercise, the holder will receive 300 shares of our Class A common stock. The holder would have received 875 shares of our Class A common stock if the exercise price was paid in cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our Company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of our Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A common stock, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial Business Combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A common stock. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within twenty business days of the closing of an initial Business Combination.
Our Chief Executive Officer is party to non-compete
arrangements that will limit the types of companies that we can target for an initial Business Combination, among other restrictions, which could limit our prospects for an initial Business Combination or make us a less attractive buyer to certain target companies
Mr. Galvin, our Chief Executive Officer and a director, is bound by non-compete
and non-solicitation
arrangements with WESCO (as successor-in-interest
to Anixter, a distributor of network and security solutions, electrical and electronic solutions and utility power solutions). These arrangements are in effect until June 22, 2022, and prohibit Mr. Galvin from (i) competing with the business of Anixter, its subsidiaries and affiliates in any U.S. state or any nation in which any of Anixter, its subsidiaries and affiliates conducted business immediately prior to June 22, 2020, and (ii) soliciting any of the employees, agents, consultants or representatives of such entities to leave such entities or become employees, agents, representatives or consultants of any other person or entity.
In light of these arrangements, we will not seek an initial Business Combination with any company with operations in Anixter’s businesses during the restricted period without the prior written consent of WESCO. In addition, if our initial Business Combination does not cause Mr. Galvin to violate the non-compete
arrangements, no assurance can be given that the combined company would not in the future engage in competitive activities that would cause him to be in breach of the non-compete
arrangements. If a court were to conclude that a violation of these arrangements had occurred, it could extend the term of the restrictions and/or enjoin Mr. Galvin from participating in our Company, or enjoin us from engaging in aspects of the business that compete with Anixter, as applicable. The court could also impose monetary damages against Mr. Galvin or us. This could materially harm our business and the trading prices of our securities.
Even if ultimately resolved in our favor, any litigation associated with the non-compete
arrangements could be time consuming, costly and distract management’s focus from locating suitable acquisition candidates and operating our business.
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor may make it more difficult to complete our initial Business Combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of the shares of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the shares of our Class A common stock into which founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder shares and the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial Business Combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the securities owned by our sponsor or its permitted transferees are registered.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial Business Combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We may pursue Business Combination opportunities in any sector, except that we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial Business Combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a Business Combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial Business Combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a Business Combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the Business Combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results.
On April 12, 2021, the Acting Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Acting Chief Accountant of the SEC together issued a statement regarding the accounting and reporting considerations for warrants issued by special purpose acquisition companies entitled “Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”)” (the “SEC Statement”). Specifically, the SEC Statement focused on certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers following a business combination, which terms are similar to those contained in the warrant agreement governing our warrants. As a result of the SEC Statement, we reevaluated the accounting treatment of our public warrants and private placement warrants, and determined to classify the warrants as derivative liabilities measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings.
As a result, included on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2020 contained elsewhere in this Annual Report are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within our warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash
gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors, which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash
gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation in those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the accounting for complex financial instruments. As a result of this material weakness, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021. This material weakness resulted in a material misstatement of our warrant liabilities, change in fair value of warrant liabilities, additional paid-in
capital, accumulated deficit and related financial disclosures for the affected periods. For a discussion of management’s consideration of the material weakness identified related to our accounting for a significant and unusual transaction related to the warrants we issued in connection with our initial public offering, see “Note 2” of the financial statements on Form 10K-A,
as filed on December 22, 2021, as well as Part II, Item 9A: Controls and Procedures included in this Annual Report..
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A
to its accounting classification of the Public Shares. As a result of this material weakness, our management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021. Historically, a portion of the Public Shares were classified as permanent equity to maintain stockholders’ equity greater than $5,000,000 on the basis that the Company will not redeem its Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001, as described in the Charter. Pursuant to the Company’s re-evaluation
of the Company’s application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A
to its accounting classification of the Public Shares, the Company’s management has determined that the Public Shares include certain provisions that require classification of all of the Public Shares as temporary equity regardless of the net tangible assets redemption limitation contained in the Charter. For a discussion of management’s consideration of the material weakness identified related to the Company’s application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A
to its accounting classification of the Public Shares, see “Note 2” to the accompanying financial statements, as well as Part II, Item 9A: Controls and Procedures included in this Annual Report.
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. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
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.
The restatement of our financial statements in May 2021 and December 2021 has subjected us to additional risks and uncertainties, including increased professional costs and the increased possibility of legal proceedings.
As a result of the restatement of our financial statements, we have become subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including, among others, increased professional fees and expenses and time commitment that may be required to address matters related to the restatements, and scrutiny of the SEC and other regulatory bodies which could cause investors to lose confidence in the Company’s reported financial information and could subject the Company to civil or criminal penalties or shareholder litigation. The Company could face monetary judgments, penalties or other sanctions that could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations and could cause its stock price to decline.
We may face litigation and other risks as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
Following the issuance of the SEC Statement, management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and for the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. See “-Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results.” As part of the restatement, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting.
As a result of such material weakness, the restatement and the change in accounting for complex financial instruments we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the Restatement and material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Annual Report, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or our ability to complete a Business Combination.
Past performance by EGI, or its affiliates, Anixter or our management team, including the businesses referred to herein, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us or in the future performance of any business that we may acquire.
Information regarding past performance of EGI, or its affiliates, Anixter or our management team is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance of EGI, its affiliates, Anixter, our founders, our management team or the other companies referred to herein is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial Business Combination or (2) of any results with respect to any initial Business Combination we may complete. You should not rely on the historical record of EGI, its affiliates, Anixter, our founders, our management team’s performance or the performance of the other companies referred to herein 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 EGI or its affiliates nor the other companies referred to in this Report.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
We will consider a Business Combination outside of our management’s area of expertise if a Business Combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our Company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular Business Combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our initial public offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a Business Combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholder who choose to remain stockholders following our Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses and our strategy will be to identify, acquire and build a company in our target investment area, we may enter into our initial Business Combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial Business Combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses and our strategy will be to identify, acquire and build a company in our target investment area, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial Business Combination will not have attributes consistent with our general criteria and guidelines. If we complete our initial Business Combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective Business Combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial Business Combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial Business Combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or independent accounting firm that the price we are paying is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial Business Combination.
We may issue additional shares of our 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 our Class A common stock upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one
at the time of our initial Business Combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. 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 our Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 50,000,000 shares of our Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 458,600,000 and 39,650,000 authorized but unissued shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B common stock, if any. The Class B common stock is automatically convertible into Class A common stock at the time of our initial Business Combination as described herein and in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. As of the date of this Report, no shares of preferred stock are issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of our Class A common stock or shares of 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 Class A common stock to redeem the warrants or 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 contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial Business Combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial Business Combination or on any other proposal presented to stockholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial Business Combination. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock:
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may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors;
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may subordinate the rights of holders of our Class A common stock if share of preferred stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A common stock;
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could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;
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may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants; and
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will not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
Unlike most other similarly structured blank check companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of our Class A common stock if we issue shares to complete an initial Business Combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock on the first business day following the completion of our initial Business Combination at a ratio such that the number of shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted
basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding, plus (ii) the total number of shares of our Class A common stock issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the completion of the initial Business Combination, excluding any shares of our Class A common stock or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into shares of our Class A common stock issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial Business Combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor upon conversion of working capital loans. In no event will the shares of our Class B common stock convert into shares of our Class A common stock at a rate of less than one to one. This is different than most other similarly structured blank check companies in which our sponsor will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial Business Combination.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial Business Combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial Business Combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial Business Combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential Business Combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Moreover, certain of our directors and executive officers have time and attention requirements for private investment funds of which affiliates of EGI are the investment managers. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man
insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial Business Combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial Business Combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial Business Combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial Business Combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial Business Combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular Business Combination, and a particular Business Combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial Business Combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular Business Combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our Company after the completion of our initial Business Combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the Business Combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the Business Combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the Business Combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Delaware law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our Business Combination will not be the determining factor in
our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential Business Combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our Business Combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial Business Combination. In addition, pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon completion of an initial Business Combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and stockholders rights agreement.
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 who choose to remain stockholders following the Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the Business Combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial Business Combination. The loss 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.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial Business Combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a Business Combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial Business Combination. Each of our executive officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he and or she may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors are employed by affiliates of EGI. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial Business Combination.
Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we complete our initial Business Combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a Business Combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Delaware law. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial Business Combination.
In addition, our founders, our directors and officers, EGI or its affiliates may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to such other blank check companies prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Delaware law. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any Business Combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the Company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a Business Combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us, including the formation or participation in one or more other blank check companies. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a Business Combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular Business Combination are appropriate and in our stockholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Delaware law and we or our stockholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our stockholders’ rights.
We may engage in a Business Combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Our founders, our directors and officers, EGI or its affiliates may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial Business Combination. 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 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, or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our Company from a financial point of view of a Business Combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the Business Combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial Business Combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular Business Combination target is appropriate for our initial Business Combination.
On July 14, 2020, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 10,350,000 shares of our Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 (after giving effect to a 5-for-3
reverse stock split, effected July 21, 2020, and a 1-for-1.2
forward stock split, effective September 17, 2020). In September 2020, our sponsor transferred 30,000 shares of Class B common stock to each of Messrs. Grubbs, Simon and Swoboda (36,000 shares, after giving effect to a 1-for-1.2
forward stock split, effective September 17, 2020). Prior to the initial investment in the Company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the Company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial Business Combination. In addition, concurrent with the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 6,853,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable for one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of $1.50 per whole warrant, generating gross proceeds of $10,280,000. The private placement warrants will also be worthless if we do not complete a Business Combination. Holders of founder shares have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed Business Combination and (B) not to redeem any founder shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial Business Combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director, and we may pay our sponsor, officers, directors and any of their respective affiliates fees and expenses in connection with identifying, investigating and completing an initial Business Combination.
The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target Business Combination, completing an initial Business Combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial Business Combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month
anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial Business Combination.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a Business Combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial Business Combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share
amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
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default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial Business Combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
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acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
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our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;
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our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;
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our inability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock;
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using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions and fund other general corporate purposes;
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limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
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increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and
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limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements and execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may only be able to complete one Business Combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
Of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $414,000,000 will be available to complete our Business Combination and pay related fees and expenses (which excludes up to $14,490,000, after taking into account the deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account and the expense of our initial public offering).
We may effectuate our initial Business Combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial Business Combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial Business Combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several Business Combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
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solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or
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dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial Business Combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete Business Combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial Business Combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other Business Combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial Business Combination. With multiple Business Combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial Business Combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a Business Combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial Business Combination with a privately held company. By definition, very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial Business Combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a Business Combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial Business Combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial Business Combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial Business Combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post Business Combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the Business Combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of our Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of our Class A common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding Class A common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the Company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
We may seek Business Combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek Business Combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the Business Combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial Business Combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our Business Combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete 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 are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net
tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our 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 Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of our 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, all shares of our Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate Business Combination.
In order to effectuate an initial Business Combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial Business Combination that our stockholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a Business Combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of Business Combination, increased redemption thresholds, changed industry focus and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 65% of the public warrants. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires us to provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or with respect to any other provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial
Business Combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial Business Combination in order to effectuate our initial Business Combination.
The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-Business
Combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of at least 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to facilitate the completion of an initial Business Combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-Business
Combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the Company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by 90% of the Company’s stockholders attending and voting at an annual meeting. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-Business
Combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants into 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 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. Our initial stockholders and their permitted
transferees, if any, who collectively beneficially own, on an as converted basis, 20% of our Class A common stock, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which govern our pre-Business
Combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a Business Combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in letter agreements that we have entered into with our sponsor and each member of our management team. 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, executive 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. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial Business Combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective target business, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial Business Combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial Business Combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed Business Combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our 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. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders and not previously released to us to pay our taxes on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. 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 are required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial Business Combination. If we do not complete our initial Business Combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor controls a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our sponsor owns, on an as-converted
basis, approximately 20% of our issued and outstanding Class A common stock. Accordingly, our sponsor may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If our sponsor purchases any additional shares of our Class A common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a terms for three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial Business Combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the Business Combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our sponsor, because of its ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial Business Combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial Business Combination.
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 65% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% 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 65% 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 65% 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, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
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 the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). 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 as described above could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the Market Value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us (except as otherwise set forth herein) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption for a number of shares of our Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of common stock received is capped at 0.361 shares of our Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of the shares of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial Business Combination.
Our initial stockholders currently own an aggregate of 10,350,000 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into Class A common stock on a one-for-one
basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor makes any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. Our public warrants are also redeemable by us for shares of our Class A common stock.
To the extent we issue Class A common stock for any reason, including to effectuate a Business Combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of our Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants when exercised will increase the number of issued and outstanding 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 transaction 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 our initial public offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, except as otherwise set forth herein, (ii) they (including the shares of our 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, and (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis.
Because each unit contains one-third
of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-third
of one warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of shares of our Class A common stock to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a Business Combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one third of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if it included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to complete an initial Business Combination.
If (i) we issue additional common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial Business Combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per common stock, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial Business Combination on the date of the completion of our initial Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 and $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively. This may make it more difficult for us to complete an initial Business Combination with a target business.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial Business Combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a Business Combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame.
We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the Market Value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates
equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of any June 30th before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging
growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a Business Combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2021. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial Business Combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
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 shares of 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 a classified board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, advance notice provisions for any stockholder proposals or director nominations, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial Business Combination only holders of shares of our Class B common stock, which have been issued to our initial stockholders, are entitled to vote on the appointment of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
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, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee to us or our stockholders, (iii) 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 amended and restated bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum 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. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act against us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or agents. However, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce the exclusive forum provisions relating to causes of action arising under the Securities Act.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
We would be subject to a second level of U.S. federal income tax on a portion of our income if we are determined to be a personal holding company (a “PHC”), for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
A U.S. corporation generally will be classified as a PHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a given taxable year if (i) at any time during the last half of such taxable year, five or fewer individuals (without regard to their citizenship or residency and including as individuals for this purpose certain entities such as certain tax exempt organizations, pension funds and charitable trusts) own or are deemed to own (pursuant to certain constructive ownership rules) more than 50% of the stock of the corporation by value and (ii) at least 60% of the corporation’s adjusted ordinary gross income, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for such taxable year consists of PHC income (which includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain royalties, annuities and, under certain circumstances, rents).
Depending on the date and size of our initial Business Combination, it is possible that at least 60% of our adjusted ordinary gross income may consist of PHC income as discussed above. In addition, depending on the concentration of our stock in the hands of individuals, including the members of our sponsor and certain tax exempt organizations, pension funds and charitable trusts, it is possible that more than 50% of our stock may be owned or deemed owned (pursuant to the constructive ownership rules) by such persons during the last half of a taxable year. Thus, no assurance can be given that we will not become a PHC in the future. If we are or were to become a PHC in a given taxable year, we would be subject to an additional PHC tax, currently 20%, on our undistributed PHC income, which generally includes our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments.
If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial Business Combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial Business Combination, and if we effect such initial Business Combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial Business Combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border Business Combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial Business Combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial Business Combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
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costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
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rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
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complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
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laws governing the manner in which future Business Combinations may be effected;
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exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;
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tariffs and trade barriers;
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regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
•
local or regional economic policies and market conditions;
•
unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;
•
longer payment cycles;
•
tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
•
currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
•
rates of inflation;
•
challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
•
cultural and language differences;
•
employment regulations;
•
underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;
•
corruption;
•
protection of intellectual property;
•
social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances;
•
regime changes and political upheaval;
•
terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;
•
deterioration of political relations with the United States; 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 combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact 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 do not own any real estate or other physical properties materially important to our operation. We currently maintain our principal executive offices at Two North Riverside Plaza, Suite 600, Chicago, Illinois 60606. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per-month
aggregate fee an affiliate of our sponsor charges us for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3.
Legal Proceedings.
To the knowledge of our management, there is no litigation currently pending against us, any of our officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of our property.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4.
Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
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
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are each traded on New York Stock Exchange under the symbols “EQD.U,” “EQD” and “EQD WS,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on September 16, 2020, and our Class A common stock and warrants commenced separate public trading on November 6, 2020.
Holders
On February 22, 2022, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our Class A common stock, four holders of record of our Class B common stock and two holders of record of our warrants.
Dividends
None.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.

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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 our 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 “Cautionary 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 on July 7, 2020, 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. 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.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021, were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the initial public offering, described below, and the search for a target company for a Business Combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our Business Combination. We generate non-operating
income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held after the initial public offering. 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, 2021, we had net income of $19,597,699, which consists of the change in fair value of warrant liability of $21,686,000, interest earned on marketable securities held in our trust account of $141,952 and an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in our trust account of $4,753 offset by operating and formation costs of $2,235,006, which are comprised primarily of fees for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance, due diligence, consulting and franchise taxes.
For the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $2,700,955, which consists of formation and operating costs of $2,993,724, change in fair value of warrant liability of $1,652,267 and transaction costs associated with initial public offering of $1,477,685 offset by interest income on marketable securities held in our trust account of $103,994 and an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in our trust account of $14,193.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Until the consummation of our initial public offering, our only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of Class B common stock by our sponsor and loans from our sponsor, as described in Note 5. Related Party Transactions to our financial statements.
On September 18, 2020, we consummated the initial public offering of 41,400,000 units at a price of $10.00 per units, which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 5,400,000 units , generating gross proceeds of $414,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 6,853,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant in a private placement to our sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $10,280,000.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $1,186,212. Net income of $19,597,699 was attributable to the change in fair value of warrant liability of $21,686,000 and interest earned on marketable securities held in our trust account of $141,952 and an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in our trust account of $4,753 offset by changes in operating assets and liabilities, which provided $1,048,794 in cash from operating activities.
For the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $501,235. Net loss of $2,700,955 was affected by interest earned on marketable securities held in our trust account of $103,994, an unrealized gain on marketable securities held in our trust account $14,193, change in fair value of warrant liability of $1,652,267, transaction costs associated with initial public offering of $1,477,685, warrant liability in excess of purchase price of private warrants of $2,535,733, and changes in operating assets and liabilities, which used $43,244 of cash from operating activities.
As of December 31, 2021, we had cash and marketable securities held in our trust account of $414,127,265. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in our trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on our trust account to complete our Business Combination. We may withdraw interest to pay franchise and income taxes. During the year ended December 31, 2021, cash withdrawn from our trust account to pay franchise and income taxes totaled $137,627. 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, 2021, we had cash of $584,117 outside of our trust account. We intend to use the funds held outside our trust account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, we intend to borrow additional amounts under the Second Promissory Note, under which $1,750,000 remained available to be drawn as of December 31, 2021. The Second Promissory Note is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) September 18, 2022 or (ii) the consummation of our initial Business Combination.
If we fully draw down on the Second Promissory Note and require additional funds for working capital purposes, the sponsor, an affiliate of the sponsor, or our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us such additional funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we would repay such additional loaned amounts, without interest, upon consummation of the Business Combination. 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 additional loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such additional loans (if any) may be convertible into warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such additional loans (if any) have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if we do need to raise additional capital and are unable to, then we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily include or be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to us on commercially acceptable terms, if at all.
Going Concern
In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with the authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standard Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution, should the we be unable to complete a business combination, raises substantial doubt about the our ability to continue as a going concern. We have until September 18, 2022 to consummate a Business Combination. It is uncertain that we will be able to consummate a Business Combination by this time. If a Business Combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after September 18, 2022.
Off-Balance
Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance
sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021. 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
On June 29, 2021, we issued an unsecured promissory note to our sponsor (the “Second Promissory Note”), pursuant to which we may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $2,500,000. The Second Promissory Note is non-interest
bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) September 18, 2022, or (ii) the consummation of the Initial Business Combination. As of December 31, 2021, the outstanding balance under the Second Promissory Note was $750,000 and the remaining amount available to be drawn was $1,750,000.
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than the Second Promissory Note and an agreement to pay an affiliate of the sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for office space and administrative support to the Company. We began incurring these fees on September 15, 2020, and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of the Business Combination and the Company’s liquidation.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per units, or $14,490,000 in the aggregate. Subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement, (i) the deferred fee will be placed in the trust account and released to the underwriters only upon the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the deferred fee will be waived by the underwriters in the event that we do not complete a Business Combination. Up to 50% of the deferred underwriting commissions may be paid at the sole discretion of our management team to the underwriters in the allocations determined by our management team and/or to third parties not participating in the initial public offering (but who are members of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) that assist us in consummating its initial Business Combination.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of our financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our Class A common stock subject to possible conversion in accordance with the authoritative guidance in FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC Topic 480”). 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 common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheets.
Warrant Liabilities
We account for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in FASB ASC Topic 480, and ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC Topic 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC Topic 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC Topic 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to our own common shares and whether the warrant holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of our control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent balance sheet date thereafter while the warrants are outstanding.
For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in
capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants are recognized as a non-cash
gain or loss within change in fair value of warrant liability on the statements of operations. The fair value of the warrants was initially estimated using a Monte Carlo Simulation approach. Subsequent measurement of the fair value of the warrants was estimated using the publicly traded price of our warrants.
Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share
Net income (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. We apply the two-class
method in calculating earnings per share. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06,
Debt-Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20)
and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40):
Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”),
which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06
on January 1, 2021. Adoption of ASU 2020-06
did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.

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

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

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

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
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, 2021. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective, due solely to the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments. As a result, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented.
Management has identified a material weakness in internal controls related to the accounting for complex financial instruments. While we have processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, we plan to continue to enhance our system of evaluating and implementing the accounting standards that apply to our financial statements, including through enhanced analyses by our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
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 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) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company,
(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 financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our 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, 2021. 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 not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021.
Management has implemented steps to remediate the material weakness identified. Specifically, we expanded and improved our review process for complex securities and related accounting standards. We plan to further improve this process by enhancing access to accounting literature, identification of third-party professionals with whom to consult regarding complex accounting applications and consideration of additional staff with the requisite experience and training to supplement existing accounting professionals.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting 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.
Directors and Executive Officers
As of the date of this Report, our directors and executive officers are as follows:
Name
Age
Position
Sam Zell
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Bill Galvin
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Philip Tinkler
Chief Financial Officer
Joseph Miron
Secretary
Robert W. Grubbs
Director
Ellen Havdala
Director
Bill Simon
Director
Charles Swoboda
Director
Sam Zell
is a founder and has served as Chairman of the Board of the Company since July 2020. Mr. Zell is the founder of Equity Group Investments, the private investment firm in Chicago he started more than 50 years ago. EGI invests opportunistically across industries and geographies throughout the capital structure. EGI’s current portfolio investments are in energy, waste and infrastructure, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, communications, healthcare, agribusiness, and real estate. EGI provides flexible capital and employs an engaged ownership approach to maximize the potential of its investments. In addition to his role as Chairman of the Company and EGI, Mr. Zell chairs three additional companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange: Equity Residential, a leading apartment REIT; Equity LifeStyle Properties, a manufactured home community and resort REIT; and Equity Commonwealth, an office REIT. Mr. Zell previously served as the Chairman of Covanta Holding Corporation, an international owner/operator of energy-from-waste and power generation facilities, from 2005 to November 2021. Mr. Zell also previously served as the Chairman of Anixter, a leading global provider of communications, security, and wire and cable products from 1986 through June 2020. Mr. Zell holds a JD degree and a BA degree from the University of Michigan. In 2017, Forbes recognized Mr. Zell as one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds.
Mr. Zell’s qualifications to serve on our Board include his experience of over 40 years as a chairman, director and executive of various companies, his management of billions of dollars in global investments and his strong track record of stewarding companies towards the maximization of their potential.
William (Bill)
Galvin
is a founder and has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company since July 2020. In addition, Mr. Galvin was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Galvin is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Anixter, a role that he held from July 2018 through June 2020. Prior to its acquisition, Anixter was a leading global distributor of Network & Security Solutions, Electrical & Electronic Solutions and Utility Power Solutions. Mr. Galvin joined Anixter in 1984 and held a variety of roles prior to his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer, including President and Chief Operating Officer (2017 - 2018), Executive Vice President-Network and Security Solutions (2007 - 2017) and Senior Vice President-North America Enterprise Cabling Solutions Sales (2006 - 2007). In addition, Mr. Galvin served on Anixter’s Board of Directors. Mr. Galvin holds a BS from Manhattan College.
Mr. Galvin’s qualifications to serve on our Board include his extensive executive, leadership and director experience with a global distributor of commercial and industrial products and supply chain services and solutions for a wide variety of industries, including, networking, security, cabling and utility power.
Philip Tinkler
has served as Chief Financial Officer of the Company since July 2020. Mr. Tinkler is also the Chief Financial Officer of EGI and the Chief Financial Officer of Chai Trust Company, LLC (corporate trustee for the Zell family trusts). He serves as the chairman of the board of Veridiam, Inc., a specialty alloy manufacturer serving the nuclear power, medical, aerospace and industrial markets. He also serves on the board of EGI portfolio company Ardent Health Services, a provider of hospital and healthcare services. Since 1990, Mr. Tinkler has served in various leadership capacities for EGI and its affiliates. Among those roles was Chief Financial Officer of Danielson Holding Corporation, the predecessor of Covanta Holding Corporation, an international owner/operator of energy-from-waste and power generation facilities. Earlier in his career, Mr. Tinkler served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of First Capital Financial, LLC, and as the Managing General Partner of the First Capital real estate funds. He began his career at Ernst & Young. Philip holds an MST from DePaul University and a BS from Northern Illinois University.
Joseph Miron
has served as Secretary of the Company since July 2020. Mr. Miron is Chief Legal Officer and a Managing Director of EGI where he oversees all of EGI’s legal activities. He is also Chief Legal Officer of Chai Trust Company, LLC (corporate trustee for the Zell family trusts). Prior to joining EGI in 2017, Mr. Miron worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in the corporate practice group from 1999. Earlier in his career, he was a manager in the consulting division of Arthur Andersen and in the legal and regulatory division of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He holds a JD summa cum laude from Chicago-Kent College of Law, an MBA with distinction in finance from DePaul University and a BA in financial administration from Michigan State University. Joe is a CPA, and a long-standing volunteer and advisor to the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee and the Community Law Project.
Robert W. Grubbs
was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Grubbs served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Anixter from 1998 to 2008, following a successful 30-year
career with the company. From 1994 to 2008 Mr. Grubbs was also the President and Chief Executive Officer of Anixter Inc., a subsidiary of Anixter. During Mr. Grubbs’ tenure, Anixter saw tremendous growth in sales, profitability and shareholder returns. Mr. Grubbs continued to serve on the board of Anixter until May 2018. Mr. Grubbs currently serves on the board of Schneider National, a truckload, intermodal and logistics services provider, and is the Executive Chairman of Harrington Industrial Plastics, a process-solutions provider for corrosive and high-purity water systems. Previously, Mr. Grubbs served as the Chairman of GNAP, a leading specialty abrasives distributor, from 2016 until 2018 when Frontenac sold it to CenterOak Partners. Mr. Grubbs also has significant experience working with private equity firms, both through GNAP and Ohio Transmission Corporation, a leading technical distributor previously held by Irving Place Capital and currently held by Genstar Capital. Mr. Grubbs served as Chairman of Ohio Transmission Corporation from 2013 to 2019. Mr. Grubbs holds a BBA in business administration and marketing from the University of Missouri.
Mr. Grubbs qualifications to serve on our Board include his extensive executive, leadership and director experience, his experience as an executive and director of a publicly traded company and because of his expertise in the area of supply chain services and logistics.
Ellen Havdala
was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Ms. Havdala is a Managing Director with EGI and has worked in a variety of capacities for Mr. Zell’s affiliated companies since 1990. Ms. Havdala serves on the board of Ardent Health Services, a provider of hospital and healthcare services. Ms. Havdala focuses on sourcing potential investment transactions and meeting new capital sources. In addition, Ms. Havdala is responsible for establishing and overseeing the Zell Global Entrepreneurship Network, an organization designed to provide continuing education and mentorship for students and alumni of Mr. Zell’s three entrepreneurship education programs. During Ms. Havdala’s tenure with EGI, she has served on several boards, including SIRVA Worldwide, Inc., a provider of moving and relocation services; Rewards Network, Inc., a dining rewards company; and WRS Holding Company, an environmental construction and remediation company; Mrs. Havdala has also held the roles of Acting Chief Executive Officer at Rewards Network, Executive Vice President at Equity International, and Vice President of Scott Sports Group, Inc. Prior to joining Mr. Zell’s organization, Ms. Havdala was a financial analyst with The First Boston Corporation in New York City. Ms. Havdala graduated magna cum laude with a BA from Harvard College, and earned her Master of Divinity from the University of Chicago in 2016.
Ms. Havdala’s qualifications to serve on our Board include her extensive executive, leadership and director experience, her experience in sourcing potential investment transactions and her experience in finance.
Bill Simon
was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Simon most recently served as Executive Vice President of Walmart and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart U.S. from 2010 to 2014, and he remained a consultant to the firm through February 2015. As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Simon was responsible for over $280 billion in revenue and 1.2 million associates. During his tenure at Walmart, Mr. Simon also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Walmart U.S. and Executive Vice President of Professional Services and New Business Development. He also led the team that created and launched Walmart’s $4 prescription drug program. Mr. Simon is also a passionate supporter of veterans and was instrumental in Walmart’s pledge to hire any returning veteran. Prior to joining Walmart, Mr. Simon held several senior positions: Brinker International, Diageo, CadburySchweppes, PepsiCo and RJR-Nabisco. Mr. Simon served on the boards of Anixter, Agrium, Academy Sports and Outdoors Inc., Drizly, GameStop, and Chico’s and currently serves on the boards of Darden Restaurants, an American multi-brand restaurant operator of several recognizable brands in full-service dining; and Hanesbrands Inc., a multinational clothing company. Mr. Simon also serves as an advisor to KKR, an investment firm. He is also the Founder and President of the investment and consulting firm WSS Venture Holdings. Mr. Simon also served as a Member of the Baylor University Board of Regents as well as Executive in Residence and a member of the Faculty of the Baylor School of Business from 2015-2020.
Mr. Simon also served in the public sector as Secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services appointed by Governor Jeb Bush. In this role, Mr. Simon was responsible for the state’s operations and administrative functions, including health care benefits, human resources, the Florida retirement system, facilities management and real estate.
Mr. Simon served 25 years in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserves. While on active duty, he received commendations for combat service in the Grenada conflict as well as for service as part of a Multi-National Peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon. As a reservist, he was the Commanding Officer of a Mobile Mine Assembly Group and Executive Officer aboard a Minesweeper.
Mr. Simon received his BA and MBA from the University of Connecticut.
Mr. Simon’s qualifications to serve on our Board include his extensive executive and operating experience in large, complex, retailing and global brand management companies.
Charles Swoboda
was appointed to our Board of Directors in connection with our initial public offering. Mr. Swoboda is currently the president and CEO of Vast Therapeutics, president of Cape Point Advisors and has served as the innovator-in-resident
at Marquette University since 2019. Mr. Swoboda retired as Chairman and CEO of Cree in October of 2017, having led the company through an LED lighting revolution, a period of tremendous technological change within the lighting industry. During Mr. Swoboda’s tenure, Cree grew from just over $6 million in annual revenue in 1993 to more than $1.6 billion in 2016. In 2017, Mr. Swoboda founded Cape Point Advisors, a consulting company focused on innovation and technology disruption. Mr. Swoboda served on the board of Anixter and currently serves on the boards of Lonerider Brewing Company, a craft brewery; Vesper, a provider of MEMS microphones; and KNOW Bio, a life sciences company focused on a wide array of therapeutic applications. Ernst & Young named Mr. Swoboda Entrepreneur of the Year for the Carolinas in 2010, MIT Technology Review named Cree one of their 50 Smartest Companies for 2014, and Fast Company named Cree one of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2015. Mr. Swoboda is the author of “The Innovator’s Spirit: Discover the Mindset to Pursue the Impossible,” a book on innovation. Mr. Swoboda graduated from Marquette University with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
Mr. Swoboda’s qualifications to serve on our Board include his extensive executive and director experience in innovative technology companies. He brings to the Board extensive experience in technology and strategic planning.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors are divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Bill Simon and Robert W. Grubbs, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Ellen Havdala and Chuck Swoboda, will expire at our second annual meeting of the stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Sam Zell and Bill Galvin, will expire at our third annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we complete our initial Business Combination.
Prior to the completion of an initial Business Combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial Business Combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.
Pursuant to an agreement an entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon completion of an initial Business Combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and stockholders rights agreement.
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 nominate persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board of directors, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the Company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the Company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Robert W. Grubbs, Ellen Havdala, Bill Simon, and Chuck Swoboda are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a corporate governance and nominating committee. The charter of each committee will be available on our website. Subject to phase-in
rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in
rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
Chuck Swoboda, Robert W. Grubbs and Bill Simon serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Chuck Swoboda, Robert W. Grubbs and Bill Simon are independent under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Chuck Swoboda serves as the chairman of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Chuck Swoboda and Bill Simon each qualify as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
The primary functions of the audit committee include:
•
appointing, compensating and overseeing our independent registered public accounting firm;
•
reviewing and approving the annual audit plan for the Company;
•
overseeing the integrity of our financial statements and our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;
•
discussing the annual audited financial statements and unaudited quarterly financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm;
•
pre-approving
all audit services and permitted non-audit
services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed;
•
appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm;
•
establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints (including anonymous complaints) we receive concerning accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters or potential violations of law;
•
monitoring our environmental sustainability and governance practices;
•
establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies;
•
approving audit and non-audit
services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm;
•
discussing earnings press releases and financial information provided to analysts and rating agencies;
•
discussing with management our policies and practices with respect to risk assessment and risk management;
•
reviewing any material transaction between our Chief Financial Officer that has been approved in accordance with our Code of Ethics for our officers, and providing prior written approval of any material transaction between us and our President; and
•
producing an annual report for inclusion in our proxy statement, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.
The audit committee is a separately designated standing committee established in accordance with Section 3 (a)(58)(A) of the Exchange Act.
Compensation Committee
The members of our compensation committee are Bill Simon, Chuck Swoboda, Robert W. Grubbs and Ellen Havdala, and Bill Simon serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Bill Simon, Chuck Swoboda, Robert W. Grubbs and Ellen Havdala are independent. We will adopt a compensation committee charter, which will detail the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
•
reviewing and approving corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation (if any), evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of those goals and objectives, and setting our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation level (if any) based on this evaluation;
•
setting salaries and approving incentive compensation and equity awards, as well as compensation policies, for all other officers who file reports of their ownership, and changes in ownership, of the Company’s common stock under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act (the “Section 16 Officers”), as designated by our board of directors;
•
making recommendations to the board with respect to incentive compensation programs and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval;
•
approving any employment or severance agreements with our Section 16 Officers;
•
granting any awards under equity compensation plans and annual bonus plans to the Section 16 Officers;
•
approving the compensation of our directors; and
•
producing an annual report on executive compensation for inclusion in our proxy statement, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.
The charter provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the NYSE and the SEC.
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
The members of our corporate governance and nominating committee are Ellen Havdala, Bill Simon, Chuck Swoboda and Robert W. Grubbs, and Ellen Havdala serves as chairwoman of the corporate governance and nominating committee. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a corporate governance and nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Ellen Havdala, Bill Simon, Chuck Swoboda and Robert W. Grubbs are independent.
The primary function of the corporate governance and nominating committee include:
•
identifying individuals qualified to become members of the board of directors and making recommendations to the board of directors regarding nominees for election;
•
reviewing the independence of each director and making a recommendation to the board of directors with respect to each director’s independence;
•
developing and recommending to the board of directors the corporate governance principles applicable to us and reviewing our corporate governance guidelines at least annually;
•
making recommendations to the board of directors with respect to the membership of the audit, compensation and corporate governance and nominating committees;
•
overseeing the evaluation of the performance of the board of directors and its committees on a continuing basis, including an annual self-evaluation of the performance of the corporate governance and nominating committee;
•
considering the adequacy of our governance structures and policies, including as they relate to our environmental sustainability and governance practices;
•
considering director nominees recommended by stockholders; and
•
reviewing our overall corporate governance and reporting to the board of directors on its findings and any recommendations.
Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees
The guidelines for selecting nominees generally provide that persons to be nominated:
•
should possess personal qualities and characteristics, accomplishments and reputation in the business community;
•
should have current knowledge and contacts in the communities in which we do business and in our industry or other industries relevant to our business;
•
should have the ability and willingness to commit adequate time to the board of directors and committee matters;
•
should demonstrate ability and willingness to commit adequate time to the board of directors and committee matters;
•
should possess the fit of the individual’s skills and personality with those of other directors and potential directors in building a board of directors that is effective, collegial and responsive to our needs; and
•
should demonstrate diversity of viewpoints, background, experience, and other demographics, and all aspects of diversity in order to enable the board to perform its duties and responsibilities effectively, including candidates with a diversity of age, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Each year in connection with the nomination of candidates for election to the board of directors, the corporate governance and nominating committee will evaluate the background of each candidate, including candidates that may be submitted by our stockholders
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.
Compliance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our executive officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of our common stock and other equity securities. These executive officers, directors, and greater than 10% beneficial owners are required by SEC regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms filed by such reporting persons. Based solely on our review of such forms furnished to us and written representations from certain reporting persons, we believe that all reports applicable to our executive officers, directors and greater than 10% beneficial owners were filed in a timely manner in accordance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics and our audit and compensation committee charters as exhibits to the registration statement filed in connection with our initial public offering. You may review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov
. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Conflicts of Interest
In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:
•
the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity;
•
the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and
•
it would not be fair to our Company and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation.
Mr. Galvin, our Chief Executive Officer and a director, is bound by non-compete
arrangements with WESCO (as successor-in-interest
to Anixter, a distributor of network and security solutions, electrical and electronic solutions and utility power solutions), which arrangements will be in effect until June 22, 2022, and which prohibit Mr. Galvin from competing with the business of Anixter, its subsidiaries and affiliates. In light of such arrangements, we will not seek an initial Business Combination with any company with operations in Anixter’s businesses during the restricted period without the prior written consent of WESCO. In addition, if our initial Business Combination does not cause Mr. Galvin to violate the non-compete
arrangements, no assurance can be given that the combined company would not in the future engage in competitive activities that would cause him to be in breach of the non-compete
arrangements. If a court were to conclude that a violation of the non-compete
arrangements had occurred, it could extend the term of any or all of the restrictions and/or enjoin Mr. Galvin from participating in our Company, or enjoin us from engaging in aspects of the business that competes with Anixter, as applicable. The court could also impose monetary damages against Mr. Galvin or us. This could materially harm our business and the trading prices of our securities.
Even if ultimately resolved in our favor, any litigation associated with Mr. Galvin’s non-compete
arrangements could be time consuming, costly and distract management’s focus from locating suitable acquisition candidates and operating our business.
Furthermore, if Mr. Galvin becomes aware of a Business Combination opportunity that is subject to his non-compete
arrangements with Anixter, he will honor his contractual obligation and not present such opportunity to us. Our Chief Executive Officer is party to non-compete
arrangements that will limit the types of companies that we can target for an initial Business Combination, among other restrictions, which could limit our prospects for an initial Business Combination or make us a less attractive buyer to certain target companies.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a Business Combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our founders, officers or directors becomes aware of a Business Combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such Business Combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial Business Combination.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial Business Combination with a Business Combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial Business Combination with a Business Combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm 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. Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid by the Company any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial Business Combination. Further, commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of completion of our initial Business Combination and our liquidation, we reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for office space and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month.
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
In the event that we submit our initial Business Combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares, and our sponsor and the members of our management team have agreed to vote any shares purchased during or after the offering, in favor of our initial Business Combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 our stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.
We have 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 amended and restated bylaws also permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification.
We have purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors. Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we complete an initial Business Combination.
Our indemnification obligations may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Availability of Documents
We have filed a copy of our form of Code of Ethics, our audit committee charter, our nominating committee charter and compensation committee charter as exhibits to our registration statement filed with the SEC in connection with our initial public offering. You may review these documents free of charge by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov
or by accessing our corporate website at www.equitydac.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 Report. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11.
Executive Compensation.
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of completion of our initial Business Combination and our liquidation, we reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for office space and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket
expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial Business Combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket
expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and completing an initial Business Combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the Company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial Business Combination.
After the completion of our initial Business Combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed Business Combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed Business Combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the completion of our initial Business Combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial Business Combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the completion of our initial Business Combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential Business Combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

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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.
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of February 22, 2022 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock, by:
•
each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock;
•
each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and
•
all our executive officers and directors as a group.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.
Class A Common Stock
Class B Common Stock
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner (1)(2)
Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
Percentage
of Class A
Common
Stock
Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
Percentage
of Class B
Common
Stock
Falcon Edge Capital, LP(3)
5,340,000
12.9 %
-
-
Anson Funds Management LP(4)
2,969,179
7.2 %
Bank of Montreal(5)
2,328,500
5.6 %
-
-
Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC(6)
1,227,334
3.0 %
-
-
Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC(7)
-
-
10,242,000
99.0 %
Sam Zell(7)
-
-
10,242,000
99.0 %
Bill Galvin
-
-
-
- %
Philip Tinkler
-
-
-
- %
Joseph Miron
-
-
-
- %
Robert W. Grubbs
-
-
36,000
* %
Ellen Havdala
-
-
-
- %
Bill Simon
-
-
36,000
* %
Charles Swoboda
-
-
36,000
* %
All officers and directors as a group (eight individuals)
-
-
10,350,000
%
* Less than one percent.
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our stockholders is Two North Riverside Plaza, Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60606.
(2) Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B common stock. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A common stock at the time of our initial Business Combination.
(3) According to a Schedule 13G filed on October 13, 2020 on behalf of Falcon Edge Capital, LP. Falcon Edge Capital, LP is the investment manager of certain affiliate funds shares held by such funds. Mr. Richard Gerson serves as the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Falcon Edge Capital, LP. Accordingly, Falcon Edge Capital, LP and Richard Gerson have the right or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds from the sale of the shares. The business address of such holders is 660 Madison Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10065.
(4) According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 11, 2022 on behalf of Anson Funds Management LP (d/b/a Anson Funds), a Texas limited partnership, Anson Management GP LLC, a Texas limited liability company, Mr. Bruce R. Winson, the principal of Anson Funds Management LP and Anson Management GP LLC, Anson Advisors Inc., an Ontario, Canada corporation, Mr. Amin Nathoo, a director of Anson Advisors Inc., and Mr. Moez Kassam, a director of Anson Advisors Inc. Anson Funds Management LP and Anson Advisors Inc. serve as co-investment advisors (the “Fund”). Anson Funds Management LP and Anson Advisors Inc. serve as co-investment advisors to the Fund and may direct the vote and disposition of the 2,969,179 shares of Common Stock held by the Fund. As the general partner of Anson Funds Management LP, Anson Management GP LLC may direct the vote and disposition of the 2,969,179 shares of Common Stock held by the Fund. As the principal of Anson Fund Management LP and Anson Management GP LLC, Mr. Winson may direct the vote and disposition of the 2,969,179 shares of Common Stock held by the Fund. As directors of Anson Advisors Inc., Mr. Nathoo and Mr. Kassam may each direct the vote and disposition of the 2,969,179 shares of Common Stock held by the Fund. The business address of the Fund, Anson Management GP LLC and Mr. Winson is 16000 Dallas Parkway, Suite 800 Dallas, Texas 75248. The business address of Anson Advisors Inc., Mr. Nathoo and Mr. Kassam is 155 University Ave, Suite 207 Toronto, M5H 3B7, Ontario, Canada.
(5) According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 15, 2022 on behalf of Bank of Montreal and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. Bank of Montreal and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. are the record holders of the shares reported herein. Each of Bank of Montreal and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. may be deemed to have sole voting power and sole dispositive power over all of the securities owned. The business address of such holders is 100 King Street West, 21st Floor, Toronto, M5X 1A1, Ontario, Canada.
(6) According to a Schedule 13G/A filed on February 2, 2022 on behalf of Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC. Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 157,914 shares, Riverview Group LLC may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 925,000 shares, ICS Opportunities, Ltd. may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 140,000 shares, ICS Opportunities II LLC may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 4,420 shares, Millennium International Management LP may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 144,420 shares, Millenium Management LLC may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 1,227,334 shares, Millennium Group Management LLC may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 1,227,334 shares and Israel A. Englander may be deemed to have shared voting power and shared dispositive power with respect to 1,227,334 shares. The securities disclosed herein as potentially beneficially owned by Millennium Management LLC, Millennium Group Management LLC and Mr. Englander are held by entities subject to voting control and investment discretion by Millennium Management LLC and/or other investment managers that may be controlled by Millennium Group Management LLC (the managing member of Millennium Management LLC) and Mr. Englander (the sole voting trustee of the managing member of Millennium Group Management LLC). The foregoing should not be construed in and of itself as an admission by Millennium Management LLC, Millennium Group Management LLC or Mr. Englander as to beneficial ownership of the securities held by such entities. The business address of such holders is 399 Park Avenue, New York, New York, 10022.
(7) Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC is the record holder of the shares reported herein. Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC is majority-owned by EGI-Fund C, L.L.C. Chai Trust Company, LLC is the managing member of EGI-Fund C, L.L.C. Accordingly, each of EGI-Fund C, L.L.C. and Chai Trust Company, LLC may be deemed to beneficially own the reported shares held directly by Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC. Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC is managed by a board of managers, which is controlled by the manager designated by EGI-Fund C, L.L.C., which is Sam Zell. Accordingly, Sam Zell may also be deemed to beneficially own the reported shares held directly by Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC. Sam Zell disclaims beneficial ownership of such shares except to the extent, if any, of his pecuniary interest therein. The business address of such holders is Two North Riverside Plaza, Suite 600, Chicago Illinois, 60606.
Changes in Control
Not applicable.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13.
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
During the period ended July 14, 2020, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 10,350,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 (after giving effect to a 5-for-3
reverse stock split, effected July 21, 2020, and a 1-for-1.2
forward stock split, effected September 17, 2020). In September 2020, our sponsor transferred 30,000 shares of Class B common stock to each of Messrs. Grubbs, Simon and Swoboda (36,000 shares, after giving effect to a 1-for-1.2
forward stock split, effective September 17, 2020). The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. The founder shares (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
Concurrent with the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 6,853,333 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.50 per whole warrant in a private placement, generating gross proceeds of $10,280,000. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
As more fully discussed in Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance under “Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a Business Combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Pursuant to a letter agreement with our sponsor, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding a Business Combination without the prior written consent of our sponsor.
We currently maintain our executive offices at Two North Riverside Plaza, Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60606. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space and administrative support services, commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE. Upon completion of our initial Business Combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial Business Combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket
expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential 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, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket
expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
On July 14, 2020, we issued an unsecured promissory note to our sponsor, pursuant to which the Company could borrow up to $300,000 to pay for certain initial public offering expenses. The promissory note was non-interest
bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) January 31, 2021 or (ii) the consummation of our initial public offering. The outstanding balance under such promissory note of $157,250 was repaid at the closing of our initial public offering on September 18, 2020.
On June 29, 2021, we issued an unsecured promissory note to our sponsor (the “Second Promissory Note”), pursuant to which the Company may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $2,500,000. The Second Promissory Note was non-interest
bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) September 18, 2022 or (ii) the consummation of the initial Business Combination. As of December 31, 2021, the outstanding balance under the Second Promissory Note was $750,000 and the remaining amount available to be drawn was $1,750,000.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial Business Combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at
the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
After our initial Business Combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial Business Combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration and stockholders rights agreement pursuant to which our initial stockholders are entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the private placement warrants, the warrants issuable upon conversion of working capital loans (if any) and the shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares. In addition, upon completion of our initial Business Combination, our sponsor will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and stockholders rights agreement.
Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions
The audit committee of our board of directors will adopt a charter, providing for the review, approval and/or ratification of “related party transactions,” which are those transactions required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K
as promulgated by the SEC, by the audit committee. At its meetings, the audit committee shall be provided with the details of each new, existing or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, any contractual restrictions that the Company has already committed to, the business purpose of the transaction and the benefits of the transaction to the Company and to the relevant related party. Any member of the committee who has an interest in the related party transaction under review by the committee shall abstain from voting on the approval of the related party transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the committee, participate in some or all of the committee’s discussions of the related party transaction. Upon completion of its review of the related party transaction, the committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the related party transaction.
Director Independence
NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the Company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the Company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Robert W. Grubbs, Ellen Havdala, Bill Simon, and Chuck Swoboda are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14.
Principal Accounting Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees
. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end
financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q
for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 totaled $99,910 and $38,213, 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, 2021, and for the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Tax Fees
. For the year ended December 31, 2021, fees for tax planning and advice totaled $11,330. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
All Other Fees
. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the year ended December 31, 2021, and for the period from July 7, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Pre-Approval
Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our initial public offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve
all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve
all auditing services and permitted non-audit
services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit
services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15.
Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K:
(1) Financial Statements:
Page
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
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
No.
Description
1.1
Underwriting Agreement, dated September 15, 2020, between the Company and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC(1)
3.1
Amendment to Certificate of Incorporation(1)
3.2
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation(1)
3.3
Amended and Restated Bylaws(1)
4.1
Warrant Agreement, dated September 18, 2020, between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company(1)
4.2
Description of Securities(3)
10.1
Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated September 18, 2020, between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company(1)
10.2
Registration and Stockholder Rights Agreement, dated September 18, 2020, between the Company and Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC(1)
10.3
Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, dated September 15, 2020, between the Company and Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC(1)
10.4
Administrative Services Agreement between the Company and Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC(1)
10.5
Letter Agreement, dated September 18, 2020, between the Company and Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC(1)
10.6
Letter Agreement between the Company and each of the Company’s directors and officers(1)
10.7
Securities Subscription Agreement, dated July 14, 2020, between the Company and Equity Distribution Sponsor LLC(2)
31.1*
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
31.2*
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(g) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
32.1**
Certification Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
32.2**
Certification Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.
101.INS*
Inline XBRL Instance Document - the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.
101.SCH*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEF*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
101.LAB*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
The cover page for the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, has been formatted in Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101
* Filed herewith.
** Furnished herewith.
(1) Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K
filed on September 21, 2020 and incorporated by reference herein.
(2) Previously filed as an exhibit to our Registration Statement on Form S-1
filed on August 28, 2020 and incorporated by reference herein.
(3) Previously filed as an exhibit to our Annual Report on Form 10-K
filed on March 17, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein.