EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1856961
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1856961_10-K_2022_0001140361-22-011686.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1.
Business.
General
Blue Ocean Acquisition Corp is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to throughout this report as our initial business combination. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, we are a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
On December 7, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering (the “IPO”) of 16,500,000 units (the “Units”), each Unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A ordinary shares”) and one-half of one redeemable warrant of the Company (each, a “Warrant”), each whole Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share for $11.50 per share (subject to adjustment). The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per Unit, and the IPO generated gross proceeds of $165,000,000. Substantially concurrent with the closing of the IPO, we consummated a private placement (the “Private Placement”) with our sponsor and Apollo SPAC Fund I, L.P., a fund managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc (“Apollo”), of an aggregate of 8,235,000 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $8,235,000. On December 7, 2021, a total of $168,300,000 of the net proceeds from the IPO and the Private Placement were deposited in a trust account established for the benefit of the Company’s public shareholders at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the “Trust Account”), with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
On December 7, 2021, the Underwriter exercised in full the option granted to them by the Company to purchase up to 2,475,000 additional Units (the “Over-Allotment Option Units”) solely to cover over-allotments, which option was granted to them under the underwriting agreement for the IPO. The sale of these 2,475,000 Over-Allotment Option Units closed on December 9, 2021, generating gross proceeds of $24,750,000. Substantially concurrent with the closing of the over-allotment option, we consummated a private placement (the “Additional Private Placement” and, together with the Private Placement, the “Private Placements”) with our sponsor of an additional 990,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $990,000. On December 9, 2021, a total of $25,245,000 of the proceeds from the closing of the Over-Allotment Option Units and the Additional Private Placement were deposited into the Trust Account, resulting in a total deposit of $193,545,000 in the Trust Account since the Trust Account was established. The net proceeds deposited into the Trust Account remain on deposit in the Trust Account earning interest and are available for a business combination, assuming no redemptions, after payment of up to $6,641,250 of deferred underwriting fees, before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination.
On January 21, 2022 we announced that, commencing January 24, 2022, holders of the 18,975,000 Units sold in our initial public offering may elect to separately trade Class A ordinary shares and the Warrants included in the Units. Those Units not separated continued to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “BOCNU” and Class A ordinary shares and warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “BOCN” and “BOCNW,” respectively.
Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations (less up to $100,000 interest to pay dissolution expenses), the proceeds deposited in the Trust Account will not be released from the Trust Account until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by June 7, 2023 (or by September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), subject to applicable law, or (iii) the redemption of our public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by June 7, 2023 (or by September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. The proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, (the “Investment Company Act) which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify and complete a business combination that can create value for shareholders over time. We believe our experience and deep network of relationships will help us identify a significant number of appealing business combination opportunities and enable us to evaluate these opportunities. Our management team has significant experience in multiple business models, across geographies and markets. Moreover, we believe that our management team’s backgrounds will make us attractive, long-term partners to business combination targets and help the post-business combination company to thrive in the public markets.
Our approach to sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities will draw on our management team’s experience and what we consider to be best practices for value creation. We plan to leverage our management team’s extensive experience and expertise in a methodical process to identify best-in-class initial business combination targets.
Acquisition Criteria
We intend to pursue opportunities with exceptional growth companies addressing large market opportunities in highly differentiated ways. We are not limited by geography-either by focusing only on the U.S. or developed markets or by exploring only large emerging markets. We draw on our management team’s decades of global experience in sourcing transactions, understanding and conducting due diligence on new breakthrough technologies and leadership teams in order to identify and then negotiate a corporate combination. Our management team has experience in a number of areas related to business information and data, new products, digital video and audio platforms, including podcasting, sports and gaming media, and events platforms. We intend to find a target company that defines, is capable of significant and sustained growth, and relies on a disruptive and highly defensible strategy.
Valuation: We intend to target companies whose enterprise value is between $750 million and $2.0 billion. Companies of this size offer the potential for significant long-term shareholder return.
High growth sectors: We intend to seek companies within the consumer Internet sector and adjacent industry segments, including, but not limited to, online marketplaces, education technology, advertising technology and direct-to-consumer e-Commerce businesses.
Differentiation and scale: We intend to seek to invest in a business with a clearly differentiated market strategy and a clear vision for how it will scale the business and deploy a capital infusion effectively to accelerate growth, maintain or improve margins and outlast competition.
Geography: We intend to seek opportunities globally, with a particular emphasis on large-population, high-growth emerging regions in Asia and the Americas, including the United States.
Large market opportunities: We intend to seek opportunities that have traction and the potential to scale significantly into leaders in their markets. The addressable size of the market has to justify not only the valuation at the time of our initial business combination but also leave considerable runway for future upside. We intend to prioritize companies that take a “winner takes most” or “first mover advantage” approach.
Growth: We intend to seek companies that are on a sustainable growth trajectory, benefitting from the tailwinds of global Internet adoption.
Management excellence: We intend to look for teams that are creative, ambitious, visionary and data-driven. A consistent record of growth, experience overcoming challenges, and strategic vision are essential attributes.
Operational maturity: We intend to seek companies which have the requisite compliance, financial controls and reporting processes in place and are ready for the regulatory requirements of a public entity.
Best-in-class technology: Proprietary technology, or skillful deployment of technology and data, is essential to long-term success. So, too, is early-to-market deployment: Speed is a competitive advantage in the use of technology and data.
Opportunistic Strategy: The ability to effect business transformation and achieve growth requires an adaptable, market-tested, data-driven decision-making process and an experienced team. Where a target company’s leadership may lack this experience, our team, including our board members and advisors, can bring great depth in adaptive leadership.
Benefit from being public: We intend to work with management and stakeholders who aspire to have their company become a public entity and generate substantial growth. The benefits of transitioning from a private to a public entity may include broader access to debt and equity providers, liquidity for employees and potential acquisitions, and expanded branding in the marketplace.
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 and criteria that our management team may deem relevant. In the event that 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 proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we would file with the SEC.
We will have until 18 months from the closing of our IPO, or June 7, 2023, to consummate an initial business combination, with an automatic three-month extension if we have signed a definitive agreement with respect to an initial business combination within such 18-month period. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within such 18-month period, we may extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by an additional three months (for a total of up to 21 months, or until September 7, 2023, to complete a business combination) without submitting such proposed extensions to our shareholders for approval or offering our public shareholders redemption rights in connection therewith. Pursuant to the terms of our memorandum and articles of association and the trust agreement entered into between us and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, in order to extend the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination, our sponsor or its affiliates or designees, upon ten days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, must deposit into the trust account $1,897,500 ($0.10 per unit) on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for such three-month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a loan. Any such loan will be non-interest bearing and payable upon the consummation of our initial business combination. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amount out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. If we do not complete our initial business combination, we will not repay such loan. Furthermore, the letter agreement with our initial shareholders and Apollo contains a provision pursuant to which our sponsor has agreed to waive its right to be repaid for such loan out of the funds held in the trust account in the event that we do not complete our initial business combination. Our sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the trust account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of the loans made by our sponsor, our officers and directors, or their affiliates to us prior to or in connection with our initial business combination (including any loan made to extend our time period for consummating our initial business combination) may be convertible into warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. We will issue a press release announcing the extension at least three days prior to the applicable deadline.
Acquisition Process
We intend to conduct thorough due diligence to determine a prospective target’s quality and intrinsic value. That would include reviewing financial statements, legal documents, patents and proprietary technology, and historical data. We intend to meet with members of management, consult with industry experts, clients and competitors, and seek information from analysts and others familiar with the prospective target company’s business and prospects.
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the Trust Account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make such independent determination of fair market value, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the target’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board of directors determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. As any such opinion, if obtained, would only state that the fair market value meets the 80% threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of the target or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required by Schedule 14A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, any proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with our initial business combination will include such opinion.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post- business combination company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of fair market value test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of fair market value 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 shareholder approval, as applicable.
In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor. 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.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities or not all of the funds released from the Trust Account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemption of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the Trust Account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our Trust Account or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.
Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (net of taxes paid or payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be $10.20 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriter. The redemption rights will include the requirement that any beneficial owner on whose behalf a redemption right is being exercised must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Further, subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we will not proceed with redeeming our public shares, even if a public shareholder has properly elected to redeem its shares, if a business combination does not close. Our initial shareholders and Apollo have entered into agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and, with the exception of Apollo and certain advisors to the Company party thereto, any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. The other members of our management team have entered into agreements similar to the one entered into by our sponsor with respect to any public shares held by them.
Limitations on Redemption
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, a greater net tangible asset or cash requirement may be contained in the 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. Furthermore, although we will not redeem shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to fall below $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination, we do not have a maximum redemption threshold based on the percentage of shares sold in our initial public offering. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. In the case of a general meeting, such election must be made, unless extended by us in our sole discretion, no later than two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval, while direct mergers with our company and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. If we structure a business combination transaction with a target company in a manner that requires shareholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a shareholder vote to approve the proposed business combination. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons.
If we hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will:
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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 tender offer rules; and
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file proxy materials with the SEC.
If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
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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.
Submission of Our Initial Business Combination to a Shareholder Vote
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our initial shareholders have agreed to vote their founder shares and, with the exception of Apollo and certain advisors to the Company, any public shares in favor of our initial business combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. In addition, our initial shareholders have entered into agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (i) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (a) that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination by June 7, 2023 (or by September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended) or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination if We Seek Shareholder Approval
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to Excess Shares (as defined below), without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the Class A ordinary shares that are part of the Units sold in the IPO 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 shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the Class A ordinary shares that are part of the Units sold in the IPO without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we will have only until June 7, 2023 (or until September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended) to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes paid or payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distribution with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023, if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended)
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at 2 Wisconsin Circle, 7th Floor, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, and our telephone number is (240) 235-5049. We maintain a corporate website at http://www.boacquisition.com. The information that may be contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not part of this report and is not incorporated herein by reference.
We are required to file Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q with the SEC on a regular basis, and are required to disclose certain material events in Current Reports on Form 8-K. These reports are available on our website. The SEC maintains an Internet website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The SEC’s Internet Website is located at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, the Company will provide copies of these documents without charge upon request at info@boacquisition.com or by telephone at (240) 235-5049.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to a traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than a typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriter’s ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes- Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Competition
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other special purpose acquisition 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, 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 shareholder 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.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 2 Wisconsin Circle, 7th Floor, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have four executive officers: Marcus Brauchli, our Chairman, Paul Bascobert, our Chief Executive Officer, Ankur Manglik, our Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and Sean Glodek, our Vice President. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any such person will devote in any time period to our company will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A.
Risk Factors.
You should carefully consider the following risk factors and all the other information contained in this report, including the financial statements. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risk factors described below are not necessarily exhaustive and you are encouraged to perform your own investigation with respect to us and our business.
Risks Related to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
We are a recently incorporated blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted 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 blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company with no operating results, and we did not commence operations until after the closing of our IPO in December 2021. 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. We do not yet have any plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would typically not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except for as required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.
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.
Because our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding our initial business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, Apollo (with respect to its founder shares) and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Our initial shareholders, Apollo and management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved only if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, including the founder shares. If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, Apollo (with respect to its founder shares) and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ and Apollo’s founder shares, we would need 6,940,626 or 36.58% (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) of the 18,975,000 public shares sold in our IPO to be voted in favor of a transaction, in order to have such initial business combination approved. Additionally, although none of our sponsor, officers or directors have expressed any current intention to purchase our public shares, they are not restricted from doing so and there is no ceiling on the number of our public shares they may purchase. If they purchase any of our public shares and retain such shares until any shareholders vote on our initial business combination, the approval of our initial business combination by our shareholders will be even more likely. In the event that Apollo purchases Units and votes its public shares in favor of our initial business combination, a smaller portion of affirmative votes from other public shareholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. However, Apollo is only required to vote its founder shares in favor of our initial business combination and is not obligated to vote its public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As there is no ceiling on the number of Units that may be purchased by Apollo or on the number of our Units, shares or warrants that Apollo may purchase, the extent of Apollo’s influence on such shareholders vote may be even more significant. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial shareholders, Apollo and management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares 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 third party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. In addition, the amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriter will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account until we liquidate the Trust Account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the Trust Account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended) 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, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended). 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 time frame described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other events, and the status of debt and equity markets.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” The COVID-19 pandemic and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 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 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases), 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.
Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. There can be no assurance that these trends will not continue.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended). Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the U.S. and global economies and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes paid or payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the Trust Account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law. In either such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.20 per public share, or less than $10.20 per public share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “- If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.20 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
Unlike other blank check companies, we may extend the time to complete a business combination by up to three months without a shareholder vote or your ability to redeem your shares.
We will have until June 7, 2023 to consummate an initial business combination, with an automatic three-month extension if we have signed a definitive agreement with respect to an initial business combination on or before June 7, 2023. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination before June 7, 2023, we may extend the period of time to consummate our initial business combination by an additional three months (for a total of 21 months from the date of our IPO to complete a business combination) without submitting such proposed extensions to our shareholders for approval or offering our public shareholders redemption rights in connection therewith. Pursuant to the terms of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and subject to deposit of additional funds by our sponsor or its affiliates or designees into our Trust Account as set forth thereunder, we may effectuate such extensions without submitting such proposed extensions to our shareholders for approval or offering our public shareholders redemption rights in connection with the proposed extensions.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or public warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public 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. Any such price per share may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates, are under no obligation to do so and they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions.
In the event that our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) 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 or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchase will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent the purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.
You 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 shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the Trust Account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholders properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (a) that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended) or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Holders of 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.
Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our Class A ordinary shares and warrants are listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “BOCN” and “BOCNW,” respectively. Although we currently meet the current listing standards set forth in the Nasdaq listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, based on Nasdaq’s current listing standards, we must maintain a minimum market value of listed securities of $75,000,000 and a minimum of 400 holders of our listed securities. 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 Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, based on Nasdaq’s current listing standards, our share price would be required to be at least $4.00 per share, the market value of listed securities would be required to be at least $75 million (or we would need to satisfy certain shareholders’ equity or total assets and total revenue requirements) and we would be required to have a minimum of 400 round lot holders (with at least 50% of such round lot holders holding securities with a market value of at least $2,500) of our securities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
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a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
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reduced liquidity for our securities;
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a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
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a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
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a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our Class A ordinary shares and warrants are listed on Nasdaq, our Units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants currently qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, 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 IPO and the Private Placements 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 and have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet of the company demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our IPO had been subject to Rule 419, that rule would have prohibited 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. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the Class A ordinary shares that are part of the Units sold in the IPO, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account 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 special purpose acquisition companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries.
Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of the IPO and the Private Placements, 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 shareholder 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 within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the proceeds not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least 18 months (or up to 21 months if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended) following the closing of our IPO, 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.
Of the proceeds of our IPO and the Private Placements, as of December 31, 2021, only approximately $1,050,670 was available to us initially outside the Trust Account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the Trust Account will be sufficient to allow us to operate at least until June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended); however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies 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 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, or invest in, us. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the Trust Account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. 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 do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the Trust Account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.20 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “- If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.20 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges or file for bankruptcy protection, which could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues 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 or file for bankruptcy protection, which could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.20 per public 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 (except our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the Trust Account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the Trust Account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to the company, and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. The underwriter of our IPO did not execute an agreement with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where 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 do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.20 per public share initially held in the Trust Account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, our sponsor has agreed that they will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.20 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 $10.20 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriter of our IPO 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 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. 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 $10.20 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 independent directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the Trust Account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.20 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 $10.20 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.20 per public share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public shareholders, 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 shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy and/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 shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith by paying public shareholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public shareholders, 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 shareholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or 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 shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the Trust Account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
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.
We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination. Our public shareholders do not have the right to appoint directors until after the consummation of our initial business combination.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to discuss company affairs with management. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. In addition, as holders of our Class A ordinary shares, our public shareholders do not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors until after the consummation of our initial business combination. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, including in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and holders of a majority of our Class B ordinary shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not meet some or all of these criteria and guidelines. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these criteria and guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account 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 shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination or transaction is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
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. In addition, 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 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.
In addition, the directors and officers of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may 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 Cayman Islands law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect 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 shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Certain of our officers and directors have or will have direct and indirect economic interests in us and/or our sponsor and such interests may potentially conflict with those of our public shareholders as we evaluate and decide whether to recommend a potential business combination to our public shareholders.
Certain of our officers and directors may own membership interests in our sponsor and indirect interests in our Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants which may result in interests that differ from the economic interests of the investors in our IPO, which includes making a determination of whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. There may be a potential conflict of interest between our officers and directors that hold membership interests in our sponsor and our public shareholders that may not be resolved in favor of our public shareholders.
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 is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us, including other blank check companies, 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 consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties.
Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.
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 or directors 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 or directors. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our 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. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or 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 or directors, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders 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), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
As of March 25, 2022, our initial shareholders, Apollo and members of our management team held an aggregate of 4,743,750 Class B ordinary shares. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, as of March 25, 2022 our sponsor and Apollo held an aggregate of 9,225,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share (subject to adjustment). 9,125,000 private placement warrants are held by our sponsor and 100,000 private placement warrants are held by Apollo. If we do not complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), the private placement warrants will expire worthless. In the event that our sponsor deems it necessary in order to facilitate our initial business combination for the sponsor to forfeit, transfer, exchange or amend the terms of all or any portion of the private placement warrants or to enter into any other arrangements with respect to the private placement warrants (including, without limitation, a transfer of the sponsor’s membership interests representing an interest in the private placement warrants) to facilitate the consummation of such business combination, such change shall apply pro rata to Apollo and our sponsor based on the relative number of private placement warrants held by each. By way of example, in the event 50% of the sponsor’s private placement warrants are forfeited or transferred by the sponsor as part of such business combination, Apollo shall forfeit or transfer 50% of its private placement warrants on substantially the same terms and conditions as the sponsor, in which case the reduction shall equal 50% of the private placement warrants held by Apollo at such time. 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 deadline for completing of an initial business combination nears.
Concentration of ownership among our sponsor and Apollo may prevent other investors from influencing significant corporate decisions or adversely affect the trading price of our public shares.
Our sponsor, Apollo and members of our management team own collectively 28.73% of our outstanding ordinary shares. As a result, our sponsor and Apollo could exercise significant influence over all matters requiring shareholder approval. This potential concentration of influence could be disadvantageous to other shareholders with interests different from those of our sponsor or Apollo. In addition, this potential significant concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of our public shares because investors often perceive disadvantages in owning shares in companies with principal shareholders. Furthermore, the Units (including the underlying public shares and warrants) Apollo may purchase in the open market will not be subject to any agreements restricting their transfer, and therefore sales of such securities on the open market may adversely affect the prevailing market prices for our units, Class A Ordinary Shares or warrants, as applicable.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our IPO and Private Placements, 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.
As of March 25, 2022, the Trust Account held $193,545,000 in funds available to complete our initial business combination (which includes $6,641,250 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the Trust Account).
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 investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our business combination strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-business combination company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders 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 Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding capital stock 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 Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account) may be amended with the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company (or 65% of our ordinary shares with respect to amendments to the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account), which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other special purpose acquisition companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions related to pre- business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of the IPO and the Private Placements into the Trust Account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account may be amended if approved by holders of not less than 65% of our ordinary shares; provided that the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association relating to the rights of holders of Class B ordinary shares to appoint or remove directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. Our initial shareholders, Apollo and members of our management team , who collectively beneficially own 28.73% of our ordinary shares, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other special purpose acquisition companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended) or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (net of taxes paid or payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officer or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Unlike some blank check companies, if:
(i)
we issue additional ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a newly issued price (such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any issuance to our sponsor, Apollo or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor, Apollo or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”) of less than $9.20 per ordinary share;
(ii)
the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions); and
(iii)
the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, 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, the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such 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.
Transactions in connection with or in anticipation of our initial business combination and our structure thereafter may not be tax-efficient to our shareholders and warrant-holders. As a result of our business combination, our tax obligations may be more complex, burdensome and uncertain.
Although we will attempt to structure transactions in connection with our initial business combination in a tax- efficient manner, tax structuring considerations are complex, the relevant facts and law are uncertain and may change, and we may prioritize commercial and other considerations over tax considerations. For example, in anticipation of or as a result of our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval, we may enter into one or more transactions that require shareholders and/or warrant-holders to recognize gain or income for tax purposes or otherwise increase their tax burden. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant- holders to pay taxes in connection with our business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, a shareholder or a warrant-holder may be required to satisfy any liability resulting from any such transactions with cash from its own funds or by selling all or a portion of such holder’s shares or warrants. In addition, we may effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction (including, but not limited to, the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located). As a result, shareholders and warrant-holders may be subject to additional income, withholding or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after our initial business combination.
Risks Associated With Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our 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;
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rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
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complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
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laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
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exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;
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tariffs and trade barriers;
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regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
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local or regional economic policies and market conditions;
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unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;
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challenges in managing and staffing international operations;
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longer payment cycles;
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tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
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currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
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rates of inflation;
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challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
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cultural and language differences;
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employment regulations;
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underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;
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corruption;
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protection of intellectual property;
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social unrest, crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances and wars;
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regime changes and political upheaval; and
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deterioration of political relations with the United States.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Relating to our Securities
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 $10.20 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 $10.20 per share.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
•
restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
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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 with the SEC;
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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 that we are currently not subject to.
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-business combination business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. Our securities are not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (a) that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), our return of the funds held in the Trust Account to our public shareholders 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 have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
If we do not consummate our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such applicable period before redemption from our Trust Account.
If we do not consummate our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), the proceeds then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes paid or payable), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the Trust Account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind-up, liquidate the Trust Account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond the applicable period before the redemption proceeds of our Trust Account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our Trust Account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the Trust Account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of approximately $18,000 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We have not registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We have not registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the issuance of such shares, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the registration statement to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the above requirements, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case, the number of Class A ordinary shares that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum amount of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who seek to exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Exercising the warrants on a cashless basis could 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 Class A ordinary shares upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of Units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants. In such an instance, our sponsor, Apollo and their permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the ordinary shares underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying ordinary shares. 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 Class A ordinary shares for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their warrants.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. 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 20 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
Certain of our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
We have accounted for the 18,712,500 warrants issued in our IPO (the 9,487,500 public warrants and the 9,225,000 private placement warrants) in accordance with the guidance contained in Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (ASC 815-40). Such guidance provides that because the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each warrant must be recorded as a liability. Accordingly, we classify each warrant as a liability at its fair value. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date. With each such re-measurement, the warrant liability will be adjusted to fair value, with the change in fair value recognized in our statement of operations and therefore our reported earnings. The warrants are also subject to re- evaluation of the proper classification and accounting treatment at each reporting period based on evolving regulatory guidance. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares. In addition, potential targets may seek a SPAC that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
We have entered into an agreement pursuant to which our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon 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 ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our securities that is expected when the securities owned by our initial shareholders, holders of our private placement warrants or their respective permitted transferees are registered for resale.
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 are not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. 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 shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s areas 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 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 shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 200,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. As of March 25, 2022, there were 181,025,000 and 15,875,000 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance, which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of issued and outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder thereof. As of March 25, 2022, there were no preference shares outstanding. We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redeeming the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide, among other things, that prior to 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 as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended). These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares:
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may significantly dilute the equity interest of public shareholders, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B ordinary shares resulted in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares;
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may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares;
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could cause a change in control if a substantial number of Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;
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may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;
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may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants; and
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may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial shareholders will receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder thereof, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share subdivisions, share dividends, rights issuances, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. However, if additional Class A ordinary shares or any other equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in our IPO and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares outstanding at our IPO plus (ii) the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, 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, provided that such conversion of Class B ordinary shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis. This is different than some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies in which the initial shareholders 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 within the required time period, our public shareholders may only receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
An investment in our securities, and certain subsequent transactions with respect to our securities, may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences for an investor
An investment in our securities, and certain subsequent transactions with respect to our securities, may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences for an investor. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address the U.S. federal income tax implications of instruments similar to our Units, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the Class A ordinary shares and the one-half of one warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share included in each unit could be challenged by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or the courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants is unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our Class A ordinary shares suspend the running of a U.S. Holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of Class A ordinary shares is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” eligible for favorable U.S. federal income tax treatment. See the section of this report captioned “Taxation-United States Federal Income Tax Considerations” for a summary of the U.S. federal income tax considerations of an investment in our securities. Prospective investors are urged to consult with and rely on their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.
We may be a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on, among other things, whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception, the timing of our business combination, the amount of our passive income and assets in the year of the business combination, and the amount of passive income and assets of the acquired business. Our actual PFIC status for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year (and in the case of our start-up year, possibly not until after the close of the second taxable year following our start-up year). Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will not be a PFIC in our current taxable year or in any future taxable year.
If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request by a U.S. Holder, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the IRS may require, including a PFIC annual information statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” (“QEF”) election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. The rules dealing with PFICs and with the QEF election are very complex and are affected by various factors in addition to those described in this report. Accordingly, U.S. investors are strongly urged to consult with and rely solely upon their own tax advisors regarding the application of the PFIC rules to them in their particular circumstances.
We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.
We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.
Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders or warrant holders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holder to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holder may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore, investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments 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 is payable on demand;
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our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting
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our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;
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our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares;
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using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;
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limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
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increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation or prevailing interest rates; and
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limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may 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.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, special purpose acquisition companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association requires at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, meaning the approval of holders of at least two- thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and amending our warrant agreement in a manner that would adversely impact the registered holders of public warrants will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, at least 50% of the then issued and outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023 if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ 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 our publicly offered securities, 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 amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
Our letter agreement with our initial shareholders, officers, directors and Apollo and registration rights agreement may be amended, and provisions therein may be waived, without shareholder approval.
Our letter agreement with our initial shareholders, officers, directors and Apollo contains provisions relating to transfer restrictions of our founder shares and private placement warrants, indemnification of the Trust Account, waiver of redemption rights and participation in liquidating distributions from the Trust Account. The letter agreement and the registration rights agreement may be amended, and provisions therein may be waived, without shareholder approval (although releasing the parties from the restriction contained in the letter agreement not to transfer any Units, warrants, Class A ordinary shares or any other securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, Class A ordinary shares for 180 days following the date of the prospectus for our IPO will require the prior written consent of Needham & Company, LLC). While we do not expect our board to approve any amendment to or waiver of the letter agreement or registration rights agreement prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to or waivers of such agreements. Any such amendments or waivers would not require approval from our shareholders and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our IPO and private placements will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction because we have not yet selected any prospective target business. If the net proceeds of our IPO and the Private Placements 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 repurchase for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination, the sale of the forward purchase securities does not close 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 have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, 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 shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.
Our initial shareholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
As of March 25, 2022, our initial shareholders, Apollo and members of our management team owned 28.7% of our outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. If our initial shareholders purchase any Units or any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our initial shareholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were appointed by our sponsor, is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being appointed in each year. We may not hold an annual general meeting to appoint new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual general meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for appointment and our initial shareholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome following our initial business combination. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, including in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and holders of a majority of our Class B ordinary shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. As a result, holders of Class A ordinary shares will not have the right to appoint any directors until after the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor. Accordingly, our initial shareholders will continue to exert substantial 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 50% 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 Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were 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 for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correcting any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in the prospectus for our IPO, or defective provision (ii) amending the provisions relating to cash dividends on ordinary shares as contemplated by and in accordance with the warrant agreement or (iii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the warrant agreement as the parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants, provided that the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is required to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, at least 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor, Apollo or their permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor, Apollo or their permitted transferees.
None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us on such terms so long as they are held by their initial purchasers or their permitted transferees.
Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 9,487,500 Class A ordinary shares as part of the Units offered in our IPO and an aggregate of 9,225,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. In addition, if the sponsor makes any working capital loans, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redemption of warrants. To the extent we issue ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
Because each unit contains one-half of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the Units may be worth less than Units of other special purpose acquisition companies.
Each Unit contains one-half 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 Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose Units include one ordinary share and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the Units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-half of the number of shares compared to Units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if a unit included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
General Risk Factors
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to “emerging growth companies” or “smaller reporting companies,” this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30th before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non- emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Past performance of our founders and the other members of our management team, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders.
Information regarding our founders and the other members of our management team, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance of our founders and the other members of our management team and the businesses with which they have been associated, including related to acquisitions and shareholder returns, is not a guarantee that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination, that we will be able to provide positive returns to our shareholders, or of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical experiences of our founders or the other members of our management team, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us, including whether we can provide an attractive return to our shareholders, or as indicative of every prior investment by each of our founders and the other members of our management team. The market price of our securities may be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, and our shareholders may experience losses on their investment in our securities.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our 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. 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 shareholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a 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.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or executive officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the U.S. courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a federal court of the United States.
We have been advised by Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a U.S. company.
Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors, advance notice procedures, inability of shareholders to call a general meeting, removal of directors only for cause (other than by holders of our Class B ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination) and only by the board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our Class B ordinary shares 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.
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.
Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, upon the listing of our shares on Nasdaq, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Prior to consummation of our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. As a result, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:
•
we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under Nasdaq rules;
•
we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and
•
we have independent director oversight of our director nominations.
We do not intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq, subject to applicable phase-in rules. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue may be derived from our operations in any such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and social conditions and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.
In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.

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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 or lease any real estate or other physical properties materially important to our operation. We currently maintain our executive offices at 2 Wisconsin Circle, 7th Floor, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. We consider our current office space 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 material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding 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 ordinary shares and warrants are each traded on The Nasdaq Global Market under the symbols “BOCNU,” “BOCN” and “BOCNW,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on December 3, 2021, and our Class A ordinary shares and warrants commenced separate public trading on January 24, 2022.
Holders
On March 25, 2022, there was 1 holder of record of our units, 1 holder of record of our Class A ordinary shares, 3 holders of record of our warrants, and 13 holders of record of our founder shares.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination and subject to the company having funds lawfully available for distribution under Cayman Islands law. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination is within the discretion of our board of directors at such time and subject to the company having funds lawfully available for distribution under Cayman Islands law. If we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
On April 7, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 4,312,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.006 per share. On December 2, 2021, we effected an ordinary share dividend resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 4,503,750 founder shares. The sale of the founder shares was made pursuant to an exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
On December 7, 2021, we consummated the Private Placement, with our sponsor and Apollo, of an aggregate of 8,235,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to us of $8,235,000. On December 7, 2021, a total of $168,300,000 of the net proceeds from the IPO and the Private Placement were deposited in the Trust Account. On December 9, 2021, the Underwriter purchased an additional 2,475,000 Units pursuant to the over-allotment option. On December 9, 2021 we consummated the Additional Private Placement with our sponsor and the Underwriter of an aggregate of an additional 990,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrants, generating gross proceeds to us of $990,000. On December 9, 2021, a total of $25,245,000 of the proceeds from the closing of the Over-Allotment Option Units and the Additional Private Placement were deposited into the Trust Account. The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in the IPO except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor, Apollo or their permitted transferees: (1) they will not be redeemable by us, except as otherwise set forth in the terms thereof; (2) they (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the initial purchasers, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) the holders thereof (including with respect to the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sale. The sale of the private placement warrants was made pursuant to an exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
Use of Proceeds from the Initial Public Offering
On December 7, 2021, we consummated our IPO of 16,500,000 Units. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per Unit, and the IPO generated gross proceeds of $165,500,000. Needham & Company, LLC. acted as the sale book-running manager of the IPO. The securities sold in the IPO were registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-1 (Nos. 333-260889 and 333-261473). The SEC declared the registration statement effective on December 2, 2021. On December 7, 2021, the Underwriter exercised in full the option granted to them by the Company to purchase up to 2,475,000 additional Units solely to cover over-allotments, which option was granted to them under the underwriting agreement for the IPO. The sale of these 2,475,000 additional Units closed on December 9, 2021, generating gross proceeds of $24,750,000.
We paid a total of $10,436,250 in underwriting fees related to the IPO, of which, the underwriter agreed to defer $6,641,250 until such time as our initial business combination is completed, if at all.
On December 7, 2021, a total of $168,300,000 of the net proceeds from the IPO and the Private Placements were deposited in the Trust Account. On December 9, 2021, a total of $25,245,000 of the proceeds from the closing of the Over-Allotment Option Units and the Additional Private Placement were deposited into the Trust Account, resulting in a total deposit of $193,545,000 in the Trust Account since the Trust Account was established. The net proceeds deposited into the Trust Account remain on deposit in the Trust Account and are available for a business combination, assuming no redemptions, after payment of up to $6,641,250 of deferred underwriting fees, before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination. The proceeds held in the Trust Account will be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
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.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. We have not identified any potential business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any potential business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the IPO and the Private Placements, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
On December 7, 2021, we completed our IPO of 16,500,000 Units and the Private Placement of an aggregate of 8,235,000 private placement warrants. On December 7, 2021, the Underwriter exercised in full the option granted to them by the Company to purchase up to 2,475,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, and we issued an additional 990,000 private placement warrants in the Additional Private Placement. An aggregate of $193,545,000 in proceeds from the IPO and the Private Placements has been placed in the Trust Account.
As of December 31, 2021, we had cash of approximately $1,050,670 and working capital of approximately $1,184,733. We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial business combination will be successful.
Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events
We did not commence operations until after the closing of our IPO in December 2021, and we have not engaged in any significant operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. We will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents. There has been no significant change in our financial or trading position and no material adverse change has occurred since the date of our audited financial statements. We have incurred and expect to continue to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On December 7, 2021, we completed our IPO of 16,500,000 Units and the Private Placement of an aggregate of 8,235,000 private placement warrants, generating gross proceeds of $173,235,000.
On December 9, 2021, the Underwriter exercised in full the option granted to them by the Company to purchase up to 2,475,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, and we issued an additional 990,000 private placement warrants in the Additional Private Placement, generating total gross proceeds of $25,245,000.
Following our IPO, the exercise of the over-allotment option and the sale of the private placement warrants, a total of $193,545,000 was placed in the Trust Accounts. We incurred $12,517,335 in transaction costs, including $3,795,000 in cash underwriting fees, $6,641,250 of deferred underwriting fees, $1,248,100 of offering costs related to the fair value of the Founder Shares sold to Anchor Investor, and $832,985 of other offering costs.
For the period from March 26, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $595,288. Net loss of $1,742,973 was impacted by interest earned on marketable securities held in the Trust Accounts of $4,933, change in fair value of warrant liability of $2,432,625, transaction costs allocable to warrants of $480,506, and changes in operating assets and liabilities, which used $381,209 of cash from operating activities.
As of December 31, 2021, we had investments of $193,549,932 held in the Trust Accounts. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Accounts, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Accounts (less taxes paid and deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our initial Business Combination. We may withdraw interest to pay taxes. During the period ended December 31, 2021, we did not withdraw any interest earned on the Trust Accounts. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Accounts 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 $1,050,670 outside of the Trust Accounts. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Accounts 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 our initial Business Combination.
In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination company at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender.
We do not currently believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating our initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our initial Business Combination. If we are unable to 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. In addition, following our initial business combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations
On December 2, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations.
Administrative Support Agreement
On December 2, 2021, the Company entered into an Administrative Support Agreement pursuant to which the Company’s initial business combination or liquidation, the Company may reimburse an affiliate of the Sponsor up to an amount of $10,000 per month for office space and secretarial and administrative support.
Registration Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and any warrants that may be issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans (and in each case holders of their component securities, as applicable) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement effective December 2, 2021, which requires the Company to register such securities for resale (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion to our Class A ordinary shares). The holders of the majority of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the consummation of a Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriter’s Agreement
The Company paid a cash underwriting discount of 2.00% of the gross proceeds of the IPO, or $3,795,000 due to the exercise of the over-allotment option in full. In addition, the underwriter will be entitled to a deferred fee of three and a half percent (3.50%) of the gross proceeds of the IPO, or $6,641,250. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement. The underwriter has reimbursed the Company for $550,000 for offering expenses. The reimbursement of these costs has been accounted for as a reduction to offering costs of the IPO.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
This management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of our financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to fair value of financial instruments and accrued expenses. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. The Company has identified the following as its critical accounting policies:
Warrant Liabilities
The Company accounts for the Warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the specific terms of the Warrants and the applicable authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC 480”), and ASC 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether they are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the Warrants are indexed to the Company’s own common shares and whether the holders of the Warrants could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of issuance of the Warrants and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the Warrants are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, such 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, such 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 liability-classified warrants are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares is classified as shareholders’ equity. Our Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2021, 18,975,000 shares of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ deficit section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Net Income Per Ordinary Share
Basic income per ordinary share is computed by dividing net income applicable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period. Consistent with FASB 480, ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, as well as their pro rata share of undistributed trust earnings consistent with the two-class method, have been excluded from the calculation of income per ordinary share for the period from March 26, 2021 (inception) to December 31, 2021. Such shares, if redeemed, only participate in their pro rata share of trust earnings. Diluted income per share includes the incremental number of ordinary shares to be issued to settle warrants, as calculated using the treasury method. For period from March 26, 2021 (inception) to December 31, 2021, the Company did not have any dilutive warrants, securities or other contracts that could potentially, be exercised or converted into ordinary shares. As a result, diluted income per ordinary share is the same as basic income per ordinary share for all periods presented.
Recently Issued Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 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) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. As a smaller reporting company, ASU 2020-06 is effective January 1, 2024 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted beginning on January 1, 2021. The Company is currently assessing the impact, if any, that ASU 2020-06 would have on its financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
JOBS Act
On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. 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 to irrevocably 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 will adopt the new or revised standard at the time public companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another emerging growth company that has not opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company”, we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our IPO or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Reference is made to Pages through comprising a portion of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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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
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form
10-K, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B.
Other Information.
Not applicable.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10.
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Directors and Executive Officers
Our directors and executive officers are as follows:
Name
Age
Title
Marcus Brauchli
Chairman
Paul Bascobert
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Ankur Manglik
Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Director
Sean Glodek
Vice President and Director
Norman Pearlstine
Independent Director
Joel Motley
Independent Director
Matt Goldberg
Independent Director
Priscilla Han
Independent Director
Dale Mathias
Independent Director
Marcus Brauchli, Blue Ocean’s Chairman, has been co-founder and managing partner of North Base Media Ltd. since January 2014. He previously was vice president of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHCO) and its predecessor, The Washington Post Co., from July 2008 until December 2013, where he developed digital opportunities for a group that included The Washington Post, the Post-Newsweek television stations, the Cable One group and Slate, a digital site. From September 2008 to December 2012, he was the executive editor of The Washington Post (the “Post”) and oversaw the Post’s budget and a newsroom of more than 700 journalists. He drove significant changes in the Post’s digital operation, which quadrupled its audience. Mr. Brauchli came to the Post from a 24-year career at Dow Jones & Co., where he was a vice president and the top editor of The Wall Street Journal at the time the company was acquired by News Corp. in a $5.6 billion transaction. He ran WSJ’s budget and oversaw a global staff, with operations in Asia, Europe and the U.S., as well as the Marketwatch, a digital site. He also was responsible for approving changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Early in his career, Mr. Brauchli lived 15 years in Asia and Europe as a Journal correspondent and editor. Since January 2018, he has served as a member of the supervisory board of Gremi Media, the publicly listed media group that publishes Poland’s leading business newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, and other publications and digital platforms. Since 2014, he has served as a director of The News Lens, Taiwan’s leading independent digital-media group, and is advisor to Datami Inc., a U.S. telecommunications technology company, and 5G Edge Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company that will be listed on Nasdaq. He has been a consultant to Univision Communications Inc., the HT Media Group in India, and the Economic Journal of Hong Kong, and is an Innovation Fellow at the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School. He has lived in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Stockholm and now resides in Bethesda, Maryland. We believe Mr. Brauchli’s extensive experience leading media and global businesses, investing in digital and technology growth companies, and his substantial management experience brings important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Paul Bascobert, Blue Ocean’s Chief Executive Officer, has been an operating executive, advisor and entrepreneur in media and SaaS marketplace businesses for over 25 years. He has led multiple public and private companies through business transformations and successful exits. From August 2019 until June 2020, he was the CEO of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) and led the company through the sale to New Media Investment Group (Gatehouse Media). Mr. Bascobert was President of XO Group (NASDAQ: XOXO) from September 2016 until April 2019 where he helped lead the transition from an advertising to marketplace model and doubled the stock price in two years prior to the sale of XO Group to Permira. From March 2014 to July 2016, Mr. Bascobert was President of Local for Yodle Inc, a provider of online marketing services to small businesses. He helped lead the launch and growth of the SaaS marketing platform and the eventual sale to Web.com. In December 2009, Mr. Bascobert joined Bloomberg as President of the newly acquired Businessweek. He returned the business to growth and helped launch the mobile business, conferences and built partnerships in Asia. In 2011 and 2012, Businessweek won multiple awards including Business Magazine of the Year from Ad Age and the General Excellence award from the ASME. In March 2011, he was named Head of Business Operations for the newly created Bloomberg Media Group which operates in over 70 countries around the world with hubs in New York, Hong Kong and London. Prior to Bloomberg Mr. Bascobert was Senior Vice President of Operations and then Chief Marketing Officer at Dow Jones, where he launched WSJ Wine, WSJ Mobile and transformed the subscription strategy which led to the doubling of consumer revenue and in 2009, moved The Wall Street Journal ahead of USA Today as the nation’s largest paid circulation newspaper. In February 1994, Mr. Bascobert co-founded Vertex Partners, a global strategy and analytics firm, and merged the company with Braun Technology Group in 1999 and helped take the company public (NASDAQ: BRNC). He led the media and telecommunications group up to the sale to Fair Isaac Corporation in 2004. He has a degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School Pennsylvania and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. We believe Mr. Bascobert’s extensive experience in the Internet & Digital Media Sector, as well as his substantial business, leadership and management experience, including at publicly-held companies and companies seeking to go public, brings important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Ankur Manglik, Blue Ocean’s Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has more than 20 years of experience in the media, communications and advertising industries across growth strategy development and execution; M&A and post-M&A integration; operational restructuring & divestitures; and equity & debt financings. From November 2014 to June 2021, he was Vice President of Strategy & Corporate Development at Omnicom Group Inc., where he was responsible for growing the geographic footprint and digital capabilities of the overall portfolio. He closed and integrated several acquisitions in South America, Europe and Asia, such as Grupo ABC in Brazil, Grupo Sancho in Colombia, DMW Consulting, Lucky Generals and Wednesday Group in the U.K., SmartDigital in Germany and Areteans in India. He also completed significant investments in the U.S. such as Credera Consulting, Snow Companies, BioPharm Communications and Archbow Consulting. Finally, he successfully exited non-strategic businesses such as SellbyTel in Europe, and MarketStar and Steiner Sports in the U.S. From September 2012 to July 2014, Mr. Manglik was at Sony Corporation of America, where he led several growth and restructuring initiatives across Sony’s film, television, music and gaming businesses, including the launch of PlayStation Music in partnership with Spotify, and the divestiture of Gracenote to Tribune Media. Mr. Manglik worked at JP Morgan Investment Bank from July 2004 to June 2006, and at Citi Investment Bank from July 2006 to February 2012, where he was a Director in the Media and Telecom Group. During his investment banking career, Mr. Manglik advised large-cap media and telecom clients such as Time Warner, Discovery Communications, NBC Universal and Charter Communications on international expansion and industry consolidation, and successfully closed several multi-billion dollar M&A and financing transactions on their behalf. Mr. Manglik worked at Deloitte Consulting from November 1998 to June 2002. Mr. Manglik received his M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2004 and Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1998. We believe Mr. Manglik’s extensive experience in the internet and digital media sectors, and his expertise in acquisitions and investments worldwide, brings important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Sean Glodek, Blue Ocean’s Vice President focused on business development, serves as a director of the company as well as a member of Blue Ocean’s leadership team in identifying possible business combinations for Blue Ocean. Since July 2019, he has served as a Vice Chairman of CT Bright Holdings, a wholly owned investment subsidiary of C.P. Group, where he coordinates investment activities and strategic partnerships for the Chairman’s office across C.P. Group companies. He has also served as a Senior Advisor to C.P. Group Chairman Soopakij Chearavanont since July 2018. From June 2017 to June 2018, he was managing partner of R3 Capital Partners. From September 2011 to May 2017, Mr. Glodek was a Deputy CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and a Director of the Russia China Investment Fund (RCIF), where he coordinated investment activity and a number of key strategic partnerships with Sovereign Wealth Funds and Pension Funds across the world to invest in Russia and selectively in China. The parent of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Vnesheconombank, and RDIF (as its subsidiary) were subject to sanctions imposed in 2014 and 2015 by the United States Treasury prohibiting U.S. persons from transacting in, providing financing for, or otherwise dealing in new debt of longer than certain maturities or new equity. RDIF is a sovereign wealth fund. Prior to RDIF, Mr. Glodek was based in Warsaw, Poland where he led a regional office of Darby Private Equity. Earlier in his career, Mr. Glodek worked as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, and Barclays Capital. Mr. Glodek started his career as a mergers & acquisitions analyst at Goldman Sachs. He received a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. We believe Mr. Glodek’s extensive experience in investing brings important and valuable skills to our board.
Norman Pearlstine, an independent director of the company, was Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Times from June 2018 through December 2020. Before that, Mr. Pearlstine was Time Inc.’s editor-in-chief from 1994 to 2005 and its Chief Content Officer from 2013 to July 2016 and its vice-chairman from July 2016 to July 2017. He served as the Carlyle Group’s senior advisor for telecommunications and media from June 2006 to June 2008, and a Forbes executive editor from June 1978 to June 1980. He was The Wall Street Journal’s managing and executive editor from September 1983 to June 1992, having begun his media career as a Journal staff reporter before becoming its North Asia bureau chief and a founding editor of its Asian and European editions. He serves on the boards of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Center for Communication, Leadership and Policy at USC Annenberg. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He previously served as President of the American Academy in Berlin. He is an advisor to North Base Media and lives in New York. We believe Mr. Pearlstine’s extensive experience leading global media organizations as well as his substantial leadership and management experience and extensive network of business leaders brings important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Joel Motley, an independent director of the company, has served since June 2019 as an independent director of Invesco Mutual Funds. He is an independent director of the Office of Finance of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, a role he began in September 2016. Mr. Motley is Chairman emeritus of Human Rights Watch, serving as chair from April 2012 to October 2016. He has served on the boards of The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting since December 2010 and The Greenwall Foundation since May 2013, and he has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since March 1989. He began his career in investment banking at Lazard Freres & Co. in May 1985, and went on to co-found Carmona Motley Inc., a private financial advisor, in April 1992. Prior to banking, Mr. Motley was an aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan from January 1983 until May 1985. He began work as a corporate lawyer for Simpson Thacher in September 1978 after receiving his J.D. from Harvard Law School. We believe Mr. Motley’s extensive experience in banking and service on boards brings important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Matt Goldberg serves as an independent director of the company. Mr. Goldberg’s career in media included extensive stints in corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy. Most recently, he ran global operations for the advertising-technology company, The Trade Desk, from July 2020 to March 2021 and the company’s business development from February 2020 to July 2020, and since April 2021, he has been the founding director of Dataphilanthropy, which applies data science to understand key moments where innovative interventions might remove obstacles to equal opportunity. From December 2016 to December 2019, he served as the Global Head of M&A for News Corp., joining from Liberty Interactive, where he was senior vice president and head of corporate development from October 2013 to November 2016. In that role, he led the $2.4 billion Zulily acquisition and was instrumental in the $2.1 billion acquisition of HSN. Before that, from February 2009 to September 2013, he was CEO of Lonely Planet, the Australian publisher. We believe Mr. Goldberg’s extensive experience in identifying, negotiating and closing significant transactions brings important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Priscilla Han serves as an independent director of the company. Since March 2019, Ms. Han has served as the Chief Investment Officer of Reapra Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based investment company with a portfolio that includes companies in a wide range of industries, including education, digital media, real estate, hospitality, healthcare and agriculture across Asia. Before joining Reapra, she worked from April 2014 to July 2017 as an investment manager covering China and Southeast Asia for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, which focuses on driving Foreign Direct Investment into New Zealand. From May 2014 to July 2017, Ms. Han was an Investment Committee Member for North Base Media and led financial analysis for the portfolio; a corporate finance manager for Deloitte & Touche from January 2013 to April 2014; and an associate in M&A and investment for Singapore-based investment companies. We believe Ms. Han’s extensive experience in finance, as well as analyzing and advising growth companies in Asia brings important and valuable skills to our board.
Dale Mathias serves as an independent director of the company. Ms. Mathias, a private investor and longtime executive in the financial industry, is leading a public-sector initiative to create the first national development bank corporation in the U.S., based on legislation she helped to champion in 2018 that established the first U.S. International Development Bank Corporation. She has previously worked in finance for J.P. Morgan, in venture capital at Alan Patricof & Associates, and in private equity at Lazard Frères. She has focused her investment activities on early-stage technologies in the U.S. and Africa. Earlier in her career, Ms. Mathias was an associate dean at the Columbia University Business School. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on several nonprofit boards. We believe Ms. Mathias’s extensive experience in investing and the financial industry brings important and valuable skills to our board.
Advisors
Gustavo Guzmán Favela serves as an advisor to the company, with a focus on Latin America. The founder and CEO of Yotta, a Mexico City-based holding company with interests in media, creative arts, data and technology companies, Mr. Guzmán is a serial entrepreneur with deep roots in media and technology and relationships across the region. He has founded a series of successful media companies in Mexico, the largest Spanish-language market in the Americas. Among them are Máspormás, the largest free commuter newspaper in Mexico City and Capital Digital, a group of Mexico’s leading independent digital sites, specialized in technology, culture, travel, entertainment, city- guide and visual explanations with brands including Pictoline, Chilango, Travesias, Unocero, Sopitas and Local.
Jae Kang serves as an advisor to the company, with a focus on Korea and international markets. Mr. Kang is a multidisciplinary senior executive with deep experience in strategy development; M&A & joint ventures; restructuring & divestitures; equity, debt & private placements; post-M&A integration; and risk & capital management. At Sallie Mae, he provided leadership in sourcing and executing acquisition opportunities, and headed the transformation of its enterprise risk management, including credit, capital, liquidity, and stress test. At CIT, as the head of bank strategy and M&A, he directed bank growth strategies and M&A transactions which enabled the bank to grow from approximately $10 billion to $21 billion, including the acquisition of OneWest Bank for $3.1 billion. At AIG, as the global head of M&A, strategy and restructuring for international P&C, he led teams on transactions in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America, including the acquisition of Fuji Fire & Marine and the creation of new businesses in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Spain and Turkey. Mr. Kang started his career in M&A at Lehman Brothers and was a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton.
Stuart Karle serves as an advisor and secretary to the company and as its general counsel. Mr. Karle is a partner and general counsel of North Base Media, the investment company that is also a sponsor of the company. Before coming to NBM, Mr. Karle was the Chief Operating Officer for Reuters News, one of the largest news operations in the world. Mr. Karle was involved in strategy and operational matters affecting financial, video, photo and text media at a time when the company’s business model was shifting sharply. Mr. Karle had extensive international experience prior to joining Reuters. As a lawyer, he helped to negotiate a series of content contracts with one of Russia’s largest professional publishers and distribution and rights agreements for video content. Mr. Karle previously was general counsel of The Wall Street Journal, where he oversaw legal teams responsible for matters related to First Amendment, media, commercial and international law. He lives in New York.
Saša Vučinič serves as an advisor to the company, with a focus on international markets. Mr. Vučinič is co- founder and managing partner of North Base Media, the investment company that is also a sponsor of Blue Ocean Acquisition Corp. Mr. Vučinič was the co-founder and the first chief executive of the Media Development Loan Fund (now the Media Development Investment Fund), one of the first impact investment funds. Over his 15-year tenure, the Fund created a portfolio of high-potential independent media companies operating in emerging markets countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, providing them with more than $100 million in low-cost debt and equity financing. He serves as a director of several media and media-technology companies, including IDN Media in Indonesia, Zaiko in Japan and SmartOcto in Netherlands. Prior to establishing the Media Development Loan Fund, he was co-founder and CEO of independent radio station B-92 in Serbia. Having lived for the last two decades in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul, he now lives in Mumbai, India.
Lauren Zalaznick serves as an advisor to the company, with a focus on North America. A Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group’s TMT practice, she also is a Director of The Nielsen Corporation, Europe’s The RTL Group, GoPro, LLC and other privately held companies. Ms. Zalaznick advises and invests in digital-media startups including Refinery29, Atlas Obscura, Realm, and Medium. Earlier in her career, she was an Executive Vice President at Comcast NBCUniversal, where she oversaw The Entertainment & Digital Networks, which managed a revenue portfolio that included: the highly valued cable properties of Bravo Media and Oxygen Media, home to genre- defining global cultural franchises; the Telemundo broadcast network which saw unprecedented growth and profitability; and a digital portfolio that included Fandango, at which she overhauled the business model to transform from a ticketing utility to a premier destination for moviegoers. She previously was at Viacom, where she helped to build the VH1 network into a marketing and programming powerhouse. She has produced a number of award-winning feature films and Emmy and Peabody Award winning television programs. She is a trustee emerita of Brown University.
Rohit Dube serves as an advisor to the company, with a focus on evaluating and structuring potential transactions. Mr. Dube has more than 14 years of mergers and acquisitions experience across several industries. He joined The Trade Desk in July 2021 as Vice President, Head of Corp Dev and TD7, after serving as a Senior Advocate at LionTree Advisors from February 2013 through May 2021. Previously, he worked at UBS Investment Bank from August 2007 until February 2013, where he was a director in the Tech, Media and Telecom Group. Over his career, Mr. Dube has advised on both domestic and cross-border transactions, including advising Charter Communications on the acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, advising Verizon Communications on its acquisitions of Yahoo!, AOL, Edgecast, Hughes Telematics and investment in AwesomenessTV, advising Arris on its acquisition of Ruckus Wireless, advising Essel on the sale of a 11% stake to Invesco, advising Saavn on its sale to Jio, and advising Viasat on the acquisition of Rignet. Mr. Dube was one of the early members of the LionTree team. Prior to banking, Mr. Dube worked at Microsoft in Seattle from March 2001 to January 2003, and was CTO and co- founder of KritiKal Solutions in India from January 2003 to September 2004 and at Intersolutions from 2004 to August 2005. Mr. Dube received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
We have nine directors. Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being appointed in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Dale Mathias, Norman Pearlstine and Sean Glodek, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Priscilla Han, Joel Motley and Matt Goldberg, will expire at our second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Marcus Brauchli, Paul Bascobert and Ankur Manglik, will expire at our third annual general meeting.
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.
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 are authorized to appoint persons to the offices as set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of one or more chairmen of the board, chief executive officers, a president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, Nasdaq rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and Nasdaq rules require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that was approved by our board of directors and has the composition and responsibilities described below.
Audit Committee
We have established a separately-designated standing audit committee of the board of directors. Joel Motley, Matt Goldberg and Priscilla Han serve as members of our audit committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Joel Motley, Matt Goldberg and Priscilla Han are independent.
Joel Motley 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 Joel Motley qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules. The primary purposes of our audit committee are to assist the board’s oversight of:
•
the integrity of our financial statements;
•
our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;
•
the qualifications, engagement, compensation, independence and performance of our independent registered public accounting firm;
•
our process relating to risk management and the conduct and systems of internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; and
•
the performance of our internal audit function.
The audit committee is governed by a charter that complies with Nasdaq rules.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Matt Goldberg and Dale Mathias, with Matt Goldberg serving as chairman of the compensation committee. Matt Goldberg and Dale Mathias are independent.
The primary purposes of our compensation committee are to assist the board in overseeing our management compensation policies and practices, including:
•
determining and approving the compensation of our executive officers; and
•
reviewing and approving incentive compensation and equity compensation policies and programs.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
The compensation committee is governed by a charter that complies with Nasdaq rules.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Norman Pearlstine, Joel Motley, Matt Goldberg, Priscilla Han and Dale Mathias. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
We have not formally established any specific minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom and the ability to represent the best interests of our shareholders.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a code of ethics and business conduct applicable to our directors, officers and employees.
Availability of Documents
We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics, our audit committee charter and our compensation committee charter as exhibits to the registration statement relating to our IPO and they are referred to in the exhibit index of this report. You will be able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of these documents 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. Please see “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11.
Executive Compensation.
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating, negotiating and completing an initial business combination. In the future, we, upon consultation with the compensation committee of our board of directors, may decide to compensate our executive officers and other employees. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the Trust Account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating, negotiating 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 shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may remain directors or 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 consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12.
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters.
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of March 25, 2022, based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares by:
•
each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued outstanding ordinary shares;
•
each of our executive officers and directors; 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 of our ordinary shares beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this report.
Name and address of beneficial owner(2)
Number of
shares of
ordinary
shares
beneficially
owned(4)
Approximate
percentage of
outstanding
ordinary
shares(1)
Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC(3)
4,328,750
18.6
%
Marcus Brauchli(3)
4,328,750
18.6
%
Paul Bascobert(3)
4,328,750
18.6
%
Ankur Manglik
-
*
Sean Glodek(5)
-
*
Norman Pearlstine
25,000
*
Joel Motley
30,000
*
Matt Goldberg
30,000
*
Priscilla Han
30,000
*
Dale Mathias
25,000
*
All directors and executive officers as a group (9 individuals)
4,468,750
18.9
%
Other 5% Stockholders(6)
Apollo SPAC Fund I, L.P.
2,070,602
(7)
8.9
%
Calamos Market Neutral Income Fund
1,250,000
(8)
6.6
%
Highbridge Capital Management, LLC
1,172,601
(9)
6.18
%
*
Less than one percent.
(1)
Based on 23,718,750 ordinary shares outstanding as of March 25, 2022, including 18,975,000 Class A ordinary shares (including those Class A ordinary shares comprising a portion of a Unit) and 4,743,750 Class B ordinary shares. Ordinary shareholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by shareholders. Only holders of Class B ordinary shares will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.
(2)
Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our shareholders is 2 Wisconsin Circle, 7th Floor, Chevy Chase, MD 20815.
(3)
Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B ordinary shares. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder thereof.
(4)
Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC is the record holder of the shares reported herein. Each of Marcus Brauchli and Paul Bascobert are the managers of Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC. As such, each of Marcus Brauchli and Paul Bascobert may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of the Class B ordinary shares held directly by Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC. Each of Marcus Brauchli and Paul Bascobert disclaim beneficial ownership over any securities owned by our sponsor in which he does not have any pecuniary interest.
(5)
Does not include any shares indirectly owned by this individual as a result of his or her partnership interest in our sponsor or its affiliates.
(6)
Interests shown consist of Class A ordinary shares.
(7)
Based upon its Schedule 13G filed December 17, 2021, with the SEC with respect to Class A ordinary shares held as of December 7, 2021, Apollo has shared voting and dispositive power as to 2,070,602 Class A ordinary shares and each of Apollo SPAC Management I GP, LLC, the general partner of Apollo SPAC Management I, L.P., Apollo Capital Management I, L.P., the investment manager for Apollo, Apollo Capital Management GP, LLC, the general partner of Apollo Capital Management, L.P. and Apollo Management Holdings, L.P., the sole member and manager of Apollo Capital Management GP, LLC., also have shared voting and dispositive power as to 2,070,602 Class A ordinary shares held by Apollo.
(8)
Based upon its Schedule 13G filed February 8,2022, with the SEC with respect to Class A ordinary shares held as of December 31, 2021, Calamos Market Neutral Income has sole voting and dispositive power as to 1,250,000 Class A ordinary shares.
(9)
Based upon its Schedule 13G filed December 17, 2021, with the SEC with respect to Class A ordinary shares held as of December 7, 2021, Highbridge Capital Management, LLC has shared voting and dispositive power as to 1,172,601 Class A ordinary shares and each of Highbridge Tactical Credit Master Fund, L.P. and Highbridge SPAC Opportunity Fund, L.P. also have shared voting and dispositive power as to 1,172,601 Class A ordinary shares held by Highbridge Capital Management, LLC.
Our initial shareholders, Apollo and members of our management team beneficially own 28.73% of the outstanding ordinary shares and will have the right to appoint all of our directors prior to our initial business combination. Holders of our public shares do not have the right to appoint any directors to our board of directors prior to our initial business combination. Because of this ownership block, our initial shareholders, Apollo and members of our management team may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination.
Our sponsor and Apollo have purchased an aggregate of 9,225,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,225,000 in aggregate), in private placements that closed substantially concurrent with the closing of our IPO (including the over-allotment). As of March 25, 2022, our sponsor holds 9,125,000 private placement warrants and Apollo holds 100,000 private placement warrants. If we do not complete our initial business combination before June 7, 2023 (or September 7, 2023, if the period of time to consummate a business combination is extended), the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are subject to the transfer restrictions described below. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. Our sponsor, Apollo or their permitted transferees, have the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units sold in our IPO. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants sold in our IPO.
In the event that our sponsor deems it necessary in order to facilitate our initial business combination for the sponsor to forfeit, transfer, exchange or amend the terms of all or any portion of the private placement warrants or to enter into any other arrangements with respect to the private placement warrants (including, without limitation, a transfer of the sponsor’s membership interests representing an interest in the private placement warrants) to facilitate the consummation of such business combination, such change shall apply pro rata to Apollo and our sponsor based on the relative number of private placement warrants held by each. By way of example, in the event 50% of the sponsor’s private placement warrants are forfeited or transferred by the sponsor as part of such business combination, Apollo shall forfeit or transfer 50% of its private placement warrants on substantially the same terms and conditions as the sponsor, in which case the reduction shall equal 50% of the private placement warrants held by Apollo at such time.
Our sponsor, and our officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
The founder shares, private placement warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in the letter agreement entered into by our initial shareholders, directors, officers and Apollo. Pursuant to such letter agreement, our initial shareholders, directors, officers and Apollo have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell (i) any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (a) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (b) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property or (y) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination and (ii) any of their private placement warrants and the respective Class A ordinary shares underlying such warrants until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The foregoing restrictions are not applicable to transfers (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, any members of our sponsor or their affiliates, or any affiliates of our sponsor or of Apollo, (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of one of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of that is a member of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization, (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual, (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order, (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with any forward purchase agreement or similar arrangement or in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the applicable securities were originally purchased, (f) by virtue of the laws of the Cayman Islands or the limited liability company agreement of our sponsor upon dissolution of the sponsor, (g) in the event of the company’s liquidation prior to the completion of a business combination, (h) to the company for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination, or (i) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (f) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreements.
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13.
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
On April 7, 2021, we issued to our sponsor an aggregate of 4,312,500 founder shares in exchange for a payment of $25,000 from our sponsor to cover certain expenses on behalf of us, or approximately $0.006 per share. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash the sponsor paid for the founder shares by the number of founder shares issued. Our sponsor transferred 30,000 founder shares to each of Joel Motley, Matt Goldberg, and Priscilla Han, and 25,000 founder shares to each of Norman Pearlstine and Dale Mathias, our independent directors, at the same price originally paid for such shares. In addition, our sponsor transferred an aggregate of 100,000 founder shares to six advisors at the same price as originally paid for such shares. Our sponsor also surrendered 618,750 founder shares to us for no consideration due to the underwriter’s exercise of the over-allotment option. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder thereof, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. On December 2, 2021, we effected an ordinary share dividend resulting in our sponsor receiving an additional 191,250 founders shares, in order to maintain the number of founder shares, on an as-converted basis, at 20% of the total number of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares outstanding at such time.
Our sponsor and Apollo purchased an aggregate of 9,225,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,2250,000 in the aggregate), in a private placement that closed substantially concurrent with our IPO. Our sponsor purchased 9,125,000 private placement warrants and Apollo purchased 100,000 private placement warrants. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor.
In the event that our sponsor deems it necessary in order to facilitate our initial business combination for the sponsor to forfeit, transfer, exchange or amend the terms of all or any portion of the private placement warrants or to enter into any other arrangements with respect to the private placement warrants (including, without limitation, a transfer of the sponsor’s membership interests representing an interest in the private placement warrants) to facilitate the consummation of such business combination, such change shall apply pro rata to Apollo and our sponsor based on the relative number of private placement warrants held by each. By way of example, in the event 50% of the sponsor’s private placement warrants are forfeited or transferred by the sponsor as part of such business combination, Apollo shall forfeit or transfer 50% of its private placement warrants on substantially the same terms and conditions as the sponsor, in which case the reduction shall equal 50% of the private placement warrants held by Apollo at such time.
If any of our founders, officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he, she or it has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he, she or it will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity.
Other than these fees, 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, 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 related to identifying, investigating, negotiating and completing an initial business combination. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates.
We pay an affiliate of our sponsor $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required on a non-interest basis. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds held in the Trust Account released to us. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. Except as set forth above, the terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, furnished to our shareholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a general meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
At the closing of our initial business combination, we will issue and sell an additional 125,000 founder shares to Apollo subject to a reduction in ownership (as described below). The purchase price for the founder shares in each case will be $0.0058 per share and our sponsor will automatically forfeit to the company for cancellation, for $0.0058 per share, a number of founder shares equal to the number of founder shares purchased by Apollo. However, if Apollo does not enter into a binding commitment to purchase an amount of Class A ordinary shares with a value of at least $25,000,000 (or equivalent securities of the target of the business combination or the successor registrant of the Company) in a private placement financing that will close concurrently with the closing of the initial business combination, the number of founder shares that Apollo will be entitled to purchase at the closing of our initial business combination will be reduced up to 125,000 founder shares on a pro rata basis. Additionally, if immediately following the closing of the initial business combination, (i) Apollo owns less than 100% but more than 50% of the 9.99% of the Class A ordinary shares sold in our IPO, then Apollo will forfeit its right to purchase up to 50,000 founder shares on a pro rata basis, or (ii) Apollo owns less than 50% of the 9.99% of the Class A ordinary shares sold in our IPO, then Apollo will forfeit its right to purchase up to 75,000 founder shares in addition to the forfeiture of 50,000 founder shares pursuant to (i) on a pro rata basis. In the event our sponsor deems it necessary in order to facilitate an initial business combination for the sponsor to forfeit, transfer, exchange or amend the terms of all or any portion of the founder shares or to enter into any other arrangements with respect to the founder shares (including, without limitation, a transfer of the sponsor’s membership interests representing an interest in any of the foregoing), such change in investment will apply pro rata to Apollo and our sponsor based on the relative number of founder shares to be held by each, and, accordingly, Apollo will forfeit its right to purchase up to 125,000 founder shares as necessary to facilitate the foregoing. In the event that a reduction of ownership in Apollo’s founder shares exceeds the 125,000 additional founder shares eligible for purchase by Apollo, effective on the closing of an initial business combination, Apollo will forfeit to us, for reissuance to our sponsor, an amount of its additional founder shares previously purchased equal to such excess, provided that Apollo will not be required to forfeit more than 125,000 of the additional founder shares purchased (such that Apollo will in all circumstances be allowed to retain at least 50,000 founder shares).
We have agreed to reissue to our sponsor, at a price of $0.0058 per share, a number of founder shares equal to any founder shares or rights to purchase founder shares forfeited by Apollo.
In the event that Apollo votes its public shares in favor of our initial business combination, a smaller portion of affirmative votes from other public shareholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. However, because Apollo is not obligated to continue owning any public shares, we cannot assure you that Apollo will be a shareholder at the time of our initial business combination.
In addition, the units (including the underlying public shares and warrants) Apollo may purchase will not be subject to any agreements restricting their transfer.
Refer to Note 4 of our financial statements for more information regarding our related party transactions.
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.
Management will present to the audit committee each proposed related party transaction, including all relevant facts and circumstances relating thereto. Under the policy, we may consummate related party transactions only if our audit committee approves or ratifies the transaction in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the policy. The policy will not permit any director or executive officer to participate in the discussion of, or decision concerning, a related person transaction in which he or she is the related party.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Norman Pearlstine, Joel Motley, Matt Goldberg, Priscilla Han, and Dale Mathias are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered in 2021:
Type of Fee
Year Ended
December 31, 2021
Audit Fees
$
83,730
Audit-Related Fees
Tax Fees
All Other Fees
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our IPO. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15.
Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a)
The following documents are filed as part of this report:
(1)
Financial Statements
(2)
Financial Statements Schedules
All financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the amounts are immaterial and not required, or the required information is presented in the financial statements and notes thereto in is Item 15 of Part IV below.
(3)
Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Copies of such material can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit
Description
1.1
Underwriting Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, by and between the Registrant and Needham & Company LLC (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 1.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
3.4
Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
4.1
Specimen Unit Certificate (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021)
4.2
Specimen Ordinary Share Certificate (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021)
4.3
Specimen Warrant Certificate (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021)
4.4
Warrant Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, among the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
4.5*
Description of Securities
10.1
Letter Agreement dated December 2, 2021, among the Registrant, Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC, Apollo SPAC Fund I, L.P., and the Registrant’s officers and directors (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
10.3
Investment Management Trust Agreement dated December 2, 2021, between the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
10.4
Registration Rights Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, among the Registrant, Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC and certain other security holders named therein (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
10.6
Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, between the Registrant and Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
10.7
Form of Indemnity Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, between the Company and each officer and/or director (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to the Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
10.8
Securities Subscription Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2021, between the Registrant and Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 9, 2021)
10.9
Securities Subscription Agreement, dated as of October 28, 2021, by and among the Registrant, Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC and Apollo SPAC Fund I, L.P. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.9 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 9, 2021)
10.10
Administrative Support Agreement, dated December 2, 2021, between the Registrant and Blue Ocean Sponsor LLC (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on December 8, 2021)
14.1
Form of Code of Ethics (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 14.1 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021)
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(a) 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 of the Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002
32.2**
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002
99.1
Form of Audit Committee Charter (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021)
99.2
Form of Compensation Committee Charter (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.2 to Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021)
101.INS*
Inline XBRL Instance Document.
101.SCH*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema.
101.CAL*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase.
101.LAB*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Label Document.
101.PRE*
Inline XBRL Definition Linkbase Document.
101.DEF*
Inline XBRL Definition Linkbase Document.
104*
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101).
* Filed herewith
** Furnished Herewith