Following the closing of the IPO, an amount of $175,950,000 from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) located in the United States at Bank of America, N.A., and will be invested only in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of paragraphs (d)(2), (d)(3) and (d)(4) of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company.
We paid an underwriting discount at the closing of the IPO of $3.45 million. An additional fee of $6.04 million was deferred and would become payable upon our completion of an initial business combination. The deferred portion of the discount would become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event we complete our initial business combination subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement. However, on September 28, 2022, the underwriters waived their right to receive the deferred fee, resulting in a gain from settlement of deferred underwriting commissions of approximately $6.04 million.
On February 27, 2023, we held an extraordinary general meeting (the “EGM”) and our shareholders approved an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and to the investment management trust agreement, to change the payment required to extend the Combination Period by two three-month periods. In connection with such vote, the holders of 10,693,417 public shares properly exercised their right to redeem their shares (and did not withdraw their request for redemption) for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $111,346,281. Following such redemptions, approximately $68,271,081 remained in the trust account and 6,556,583 public shares remained issued and outstanding. Such remaining amount in the trust account will be distributed either to (i) all holders of public shares upon our liquidation or (ii) holders of public shares who elect to have their shares redeemed in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination.
On February 28, 2023, we issued an unsecured promissory note (the “Promissory Note”) in an amount of $875,000 in order to economically facilitate our ability to effect the Extension (as defined below). The Promissory Note is payable in full on the earlier of (a) our consummation of an initial business combination (as defined in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as it may be amended from time to time) and (b) December 31, 2023 (the earlier of such dates, the “Due Date”). On the Due Date, the Company shall (i) pay to the Payee (as defined in the Promissory Note) the outstanding principal amount of the Promissory Note in immediately available funds (the “Principal Balance”) and (ii) deliver to the Payee, as interest-in-kind, a number of newly issued Warrants equal to the Principal Balance divided by (y) $1.00, rounded up to the nearest whole number of warrants. The terms of the Warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants we issued in connection with our IPO. The Payee shall be entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the Warrants and the shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants.
On March 1, 2023, we deposited $750,000 into the Trust Account in order to effect the extension of the termination date, from March 9, 2023 to June 9, 2023 (the “Extension”), and may deposit an additional $750,000 into the Trust Account for a subsequent extension, from June 9, 2023 to September 9, 2023, that we may need to complete an initial business combination.
Results of Operations
Our entire activity from inception up to March 31, 2023, was related to our formation and the IPO. Since the IPO, our activity has been limited to the evaluation of business combination candidates, and we will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial business combination. We expect to generate small amounts of non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and investments. We expect 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. We expect our expenses to increase substantially after this period.
For the three months ended March 31, 2023, we had a net income of $120,845, which was comprised of operating costs of $920,696 interest income of $1,769,011 from investments in our Trust Account offset by interest expense of $12,414 and $715,056 of unrealized gain on fair value changes of warrants. The operating expenses were primarily due to fees to professionals such as the auditors, legal counsel and consultants, and insurance expenses.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022, we had a net income of $7,660,967, which was comprised of operating costs of $366,948, interest income of $13,715 from investments in our Trust Account and $8,014,200 of unrealized gain on fair value changes of warrants. The operating expenses were primarily due to fees to professionals such as the auditors, legal counsel and consultants, and insurance expenses.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of March 31, 2023, the Company had $312,548 in its operating bank account, and a working capital deficit of $1,843,498.
The Company’s liquidity needs up to March 31, 2023, had been satisfied through a payment from the Sponsor of $25,000 (Note 5) for the Founder Shares and the remaining net proceeds from our IPO, the Private Placement Warrants and proceeds from the Promissory Note. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Company’s Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, provide the Company Working Capital Loans, as defined below (Note 5). As of March 31, 2023, there were no amounts outstanding under any Working Capital Loans.
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