As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2022.
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
![[MISSING IMAGE: lg_axios-4clr.jpg]](https://files.docoh.com/S-1/0001104659-22-007845/lg_axios-4clr.jpg)
AXIOS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH ACQUISITION CORPORATION
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Cayman Islands | | | 6770 | | | 98-1640650 | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | | | (Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) | | | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) | |
AXIOS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH ACQUISITION CORPORATION
Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004
Telephone: (770) 813-6500
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive
offices)
Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004
Telephone: (770) 813-6500
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive
offices)
Benedikt Förtig, Chief Executive Officer
c/o AXIOS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH ACQUISITION CORPORATION
Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004
Telephone: (770) 813-6500
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
c/o AXIOS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH ACQUISITION CORPORATION
Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road
Alpharetta, Georgia 30004
Telephone: (770) 813-6500
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
| Michael J. Schwartz, Esq. Kevin T. Hardy, Esq. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP One Manhattan West New York, New York 10001 Tel: (212) 735-3000 | | | Ralph De Martino, Esq. Cavas Pavri, Esq. Schiff Hardin LLP 901 K. St. NW Washington, DC 20001 Tel: (202) 778-6400 | |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) check the following box: ☒
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer ☐ | | | Accelerated filer ☐ | |
| Non-accelerated filer ☒ | | | Smaller reporting company ☒ | |
| | | | Emerging growth company ☒ | |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
| | ||||||||||||||||
Title of Each Class of Security Being Registered | | | | Amount Being Registered | | | | Proposed Maximum Offering Price per Security(1) | | | | Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1) | | | | Amount of Registration Fee | |
Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value per share, one right to acquire one-twentieth (1/20) of one Class A ordinary share, and one redeemable warrant(2) | | | | 14,375,000 | | | | $10.00 | | | | $143,750,000 | | | | $13,326.63 | |
Class A ordinary shares included as part of the Units(3)(4) | | | | 14,375,000 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | —(5) | |
Rights included as part of the Units(3)(4) | | | | 14,375,000 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | —(5) | |
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, underlying the rights included as part of the units(3)(4) | | | | 718,750 | | | | $10.00 | | | | $7,187,500 | | | | $666.28 | |
Redeemable warrants included as part of the Units(3)(4) | | | | 14,375,000 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | —(5) | |
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, issuable upon exercise of redeemable public warrants included as part of the units(3)(4) | | | | 14,375,000 | | | | $11.50 | | | | $165,312,500 | | | | $15,324.47 | |
Representative’s Shares | | | | 300,000 | | | | $10.00 | | | | $3,000,000 | | | | $278.10 | |
Representative’s Warrants | | | | 431,250 | | | | $12.00 | | | | $5,175,000 | | | | $480.72 | |
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, issuable upon exercise of Representative’s Warrants(3) | | | | 431,250 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | —(5) | |
Total | | | | | | | | | | | | $324,425,000 | | | | $30,074.20 | |
(1)
Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(a) under the Securities Act.
(2)
Includes 1,875,000 units, consisting of 1,875,000 Class A ordinary shares, 1,875,000 rights to acquire one twentieth (1/20) of a share and 1,875,000 redeemable warrants, which may be issued upon exercise of a 30-day option granted to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.
(3)
Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act, there are also being registered an indeterminable number of additional securities as may be issued to prevent dilution resulting from share splits, share dividends or similar transactions.
(4)
Number of Class A ordinary shares, rights and redeemable warrants, as applicable, included in the units described above, including those that may be issued upon exercise of a 30-day option granted to the underwriters.
(5)
No fee pursuant to Rule 457(g) under the Securities Act.
The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS (Subject to Completion)
Dated January 26, 2022
Dated January 26, 2022
$125,000,000
AXIOS
AXIOS
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
ACQUISITION CORPORATION
12,500,000 Units
AXIOS Sustainable Growth Acquisition Corporation (“AXIOS”) is a newly incorporated blank check company, incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry or geographic location (subject to certain limitations described in this prospectus), we intend to focus our search for a target business engaged in the agriculture, plant-based proteins and related technology (“AgTech”) industry and located in Eastern Europe, especially the Black Sea region. We intend to focus on finding one or more businesses that will: (1) operate a durable, sustainable, technology-savvy and profitable business that advances United Nations (“UN”), European Union, World Bank and other internationally-sanctioned environmental and development goals, policies and guidelines; (2) implement an active, participatory and effective corporate decision-making structure tasked with using natural resources (land, air and water) responsibly and with investor, environmental and societal long-term interests in mind; (3) support the advancement and modernization of agriculture in the markets where it operates by implementing and further developing new methods, procedures and technologies, and promoting an infusion of technology, best practices and access to financial and technical “know-how” to attract a new class of young, local, tech-savvy entrepreneurs to create a new cadre of farmers; and (4) support established international development goals as they relate to human achievement, security and dignity by engaging directly with local communities and institutions, and work for the general human good.
This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit that we are offering has a price of $10.00 and consists of one Class A ordinary share, one right and one redeemable warrant. Each right entitles the holder thereof to receive one-twentieth
(1/20) of one Class A ordinary share upon the consummation of an initial business combination, as described in more detail in this prospectus. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. We will not issue fractional shares. As a result, you must have 20 rights to receive a share of Class A ordinary shares at the closing of the initial business combination. The warrants will become exercisable 30 calendar days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation, as described in this prospectus. We have also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,875,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
(1/20) of one Class A ordinary share upon the consummation of an initial business combination, as described in more detail in this prospectus. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. We will not issue fractional shares. As a result, you must have 20 rights to receive a share of Class A ordinary shares at the closing of the initial business combination. The warrants will become exercisable 30 calendar days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation, as described in this prospectus. We have also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,875,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account described below calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares that were sold as part of the units in this offering, which we refer to collectively as our public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem 100% of the public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein.
Our sponsor, AXIOS Sponsor LP, a Delaware limited partnership (which we refer to as our “sponsor” throughout this prospectus), and I-Bankers Securities, Inc. (“I-Bankers”) have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,545,000 warrants (or 8,201,250 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $7,545,000 in the aggregate (or $8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. We refer to these warrants throughout this prospectus as the private placement warrants. Of such amount, 6,545,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by our sponsor and 1,000,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by I-Bankers, in each case assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised, our sponsor has agreed to purchase an additional 531,250 private placement warrants and I-Bankers has agreed to purchase an additional 125,000 private placement warrants in the private placement. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein.
Our initial shareholders currently hold 3,593,750 Class B ordinary shares (which we refer to as “founder shares” as further described herein), up to 468,750 of which are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional our Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities (as described herein), are issued or
deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares will convert into our Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of our Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the sum of all our Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering (not including the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers), plus all our Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of the Class B ordinary shares will have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of the board of directors for any reason. On any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, holders of the Class B ordinary shares and holders of the our Class A ordinary shares will vote together as a single class, except as required by law.
Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our units, our Class A ordinary shares, rights or warrants. We intend to apply to list our units on The New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “AXACU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on NYSE. The our Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants constituting the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd calendar day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless I-Bankers Securities, Inc., the representative of the underwriters, informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) containing an audited balance sheet of the company reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering and issuing a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. At the time that the Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants comprising the units begin separate trading, holders will hold the separate securities and no longer hold units (without any action needing to be taken by the holders), and the units will no longer trade. Once the securities constituting the units begin separate trading, we expect that the our Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants will be listed on NYSE under the symbols “AXAC,” “AXACR” and “AXACWS,” respectively.
We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 38. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.
| | | Price to Public | | | Underwriting Discounts and Commissions(1) | | | Proceeds, Before Expenses, to Us | | |||||||||
Per Unit | | | | $ | 10.00 | | | | | $ | 0.20 | | | | | $ | 9.80 | | |
Total | | | | $ | 125,000,000 | | | | | $ | 2,500,000 | | | | | $ | 122,500,000 | | |
(1)
Excludes $0.35 per unit, or $4,375,000 (or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in the aggregate, payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. In addition, we will pay I-Bankers a cash fee in an amount equal to 1.0% of the total consideration payable in the initial business combination if it introduces us to the target business with whom we complete our initial business combination. Does not include certain fees and expenses payable to the underwriters in connection with this offering. See also “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.
Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $126,875,000 or $145,906,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.15 per unit), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be used to pay our taxes, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public shareholders.
The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. Delivery of the units will be made on or about ,2022.
Neither the SEC nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. No invitation, whether directly or indirectly, may be made to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for our securities.
Sole Book-Running Manager
I-Bankers Securities, Inc.
The date of this prospectus is ,2022.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the units offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date.
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Trademarks
This prospectus contains references to trademarks and service marks belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the® or TM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that the applicable licensor will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.
i
SUMMARY
This summary only highlights the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the information under “Risk Factors” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before investing.
Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus or the context otherwise requires, references to:
•
“amended and restated memorandum and articles of association” are to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to be in effect upon completion of this offering;
•
“Celtic” are to Celtic Asset & Equity Partners, Ltd.;
•
“Companies Act” are to the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time;
•
“directors” are to our current directors and our director nominees named in this prospectus;
•
“founder shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering and our Class A ordinary shares that will be issued upon the conversion thereof as provided herein;
•
“I-Bankers” are to I-Bankers Securities, Inc., the representative of the underwriters in this offering;
•
“independent directors” are to Matthias Krön, Dr. Thomas Berger, Kristopher Lance Anderson and Matthijs Mondria;
•
“initial shareholders” are to our sponsor, Celtic and the other holders of our founder shares prior to this offering (if any);
•
“letter agreement” are to the letter agreement, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part;
•
“management” or our “management team” are to our directors and officers;
•
“ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares;
•
“private placement warrants” are to the warrants to purchase our Class A ordinary shares being purchased separately by our sponsor and I-Bankers in the private placement;
•
“public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor, directors and officers to the extent our sponsor, directors or officers purchase public shares, provided their status as a “public shareholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares;
•
“public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in a secondary transaction);
•
“public warrants” are to our redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in a secondary transaction);
•
“right” are to the rights sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in a secondary transaction);
•
“sponsor” or “AXIOS Sponsor” are to AXIOS Sponsor LP, a Delaware limited partnership;
•
“this offering” is to this public offering;
•
“unit” or “units” are to the bundle of securities that are offered for purchase under this prospectus, consisting of one Class A ordinary shares, one right and one public warrant;
•
“warrants” are, collectively, to the public warrants and the private placement warrants; and
•
“we,” “us,” “our” or our “company” are to AXIOS Sustainable Growth Acquisition Corporation, a Cayman Islands exempted company.
All references in this prospectus to shares of the company being forfeited shall take effect as surrenders for no consideration of such shares as a matter of Cayman Islands law. All references to the conversion of our
Class B ordinary shares shall take effect as a redemption of such Class B ordinary shares and issuance of the corresponding Class A ordinary shares as a matter of Cayman Islands law. Any share dividends described in this prospectus shall take effect as a share capitalization as a matter of Cayman Islands law. Unless we tell you otherwise, the information in this prospectus assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our initial shareholders of 468,750 founder shares.
Our Company
We are a blank check company newly incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities and activities related to this offering. At the time of preparing this prospectus, we have not identified or selected any specific target company for a business combination, and neither we nor anyone on our behalf has engaged, directly or indirectly, in any substantive discussions with any potential target company about entering into a business combination with us. Although there is no restriction or limitation on what industry our target operates in, it is our intention to pursue prospective targets that are engaged in AgTech, with our target search focused on agricultural companies in Eastern Europe, in particular the Black Sea region.
We intend to seek targets that adhere to the highest standards with respect to environmental and social matters, and focus on sustainable supply chains, operations, asset management and production methods, socially responsible employment opportunities, as well as active and transparent stakeholder engagement, supported by strong governance mechanisms. We believe these goals are highly aligned with benchmarking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formalized by the United Nations Member States in 2015, which call for a “global partnership” to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth, in addition to addressing climate change and preserving natural resources.
We intend to focus on finding one or more businesses that are focused on the following broad environmental and social policy goals:
(i)
operating a durable, sustainable and profitable business that advances United Nations, European Union, World Bank and other internationally-sanctioned environmental and development goals, policies and guidelines;
(ii)
implementing an active, participatory and effective corporate decision-making structure tasked with using natural resources (e.g., land, air and water) responsibly and with investor, environmental and societal long-term interests in mind;
(iii)
supporting the advancement and modernization of agriculture in the markets where we operate by looking at new methods, procedures and technologies, and promoting an infusion of technology, best practices and access to financial and technical “know-how” to attract a new class of young, local, tech-savvy entrepreneurs to create a new cadre of farmers; and
(iv)
supporting human development, security and dignity by engaging directly with local communities and institutions, and work for the general human good.
We will seek to capitalize on the significant experience and substantial network of our management team and affiliates of our sponsor. Although we may pursue our initial business combination target in any business sector, industry or geographic location, we intend to focus our search on targets in agri-business and plant-based proteins located in Eastern Europe.
Our management team believes that the intersection of agriculture, plant-based food production and technology represents a tremendous opportunity for investment. The protein transformation from animal derived proteins to plant-based proteins comes along with significant untapped or unnoticed potential across the agri-business and food value chain — in particular for vertically integrated platforms. The alternative protein market is expected to be worth $290 billion globally by 2035. With the world population projected to grow to 9.8 billion by 2050, the agriculture sector is being forced to do more with less. Rapidly increasing
2
global demand for food and protein sources comes together with decreases in productivity gains and shrinkage of resources. In addition, global initiatives towards carbon dioxide (“CO2”) neutrality and the growing need to reduce the dependency on conventional fossil fuels is propelling the demand for bio-based products where protein crops play an important role. Therefore, agriculture is one of the key industries of the present and future to meet ambitious climate targets and serve fast-growing markets, as well as to address critical food security issues and global food demand challenges.
We believe our management team’s collective background makes us well-positioned to identify attractive businesses that would further benefit from access to the public markets and the diverse skill set of our team. We intend to focus on evaluating established companies with leading competitive positions, experienced management teams, attractive financial profiles and robust long-term potential for growth and profitability. Our objective is to consummate our initial business combination with such a business and enhance stakeholder value by identifying and recruiting management, pursuing additional acquisitions, implementing operational improvements, increasing impact outcomes, and expanding its product offerings and geographic footprint. We intend to utilize our sponsor’s research capabilities, experience, reputation and relationships across the agri-business and food industry to achieve this objective.
We believe the fact that we have a management team that has an extensive track record in Eastern Europe will allow us to leverage their significant, diversified and well-rounded network of contacts (including relationships with business and market leaders), business insight and local knowledge for the benefit of a unique and proprietary pipeline of acquisition deals. In addition, we intend to leverage the deep relationships and longstanding experience of these teams with respect to industrial and technology venture capital and private equity sectors, as described in the “Competitive Advantages” section, below. We believe this combination of relationships and experience puts us in an excellent position to find potential targets.
Our Management Team
Our management team consists of experienced dealmakers, entrepreneurs, and seasoned executives with deep sector experience throughout the global farm supply chain. Leading our management team is Benedikt Förtig, our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy, our Chief Financial Officer, and Anthony V. Raftopol, our Chief Operating Officer. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen who has been serving as Chairman, President and CEO of AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) (“AGCO”) for decades is one of the most successful CEOs in the agri-business industry. Under his leadership, AGCO became one of the 500 largest U.S. corporations. In 16 years as CEO and (from 2006) Chairman of the Board, Martin Richenhagen forged a global giant with a stock market value of over $8.5 billion dollars (as of December 21, 2021) from a small holding company with a conglomerate of 40 different brands operating side by side.
Our management team has a strong track record in the European agriculture-food, energy and chemical industries, spanning all stages of the value chain. Particularly noteworthy is the expertise in building and managing companies and platforms, scaling and developing them from the startup phase to a publicly-listed company. The team has successfully executed two IPOs in the European agri-business and has been involved in numerous transactions as advisors, executives and investors. Our management team brings decades of experience in farming, finance and M&A transactions dedicated to the EMEA region, with a strong focus on the emerging markets in the region, such as Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Bulgaria.
We believe that our management team of operators possess vast and complementary industry expertise, operational experience, and networks. We believe these relationships and assets will enable us to source, identify and execute valued-added transactions for our shareholders.
Directors and Executive Officers
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen (Director Nominee)
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen has agreed to serve as Chairman of our Board of Directors. For 16 years, since 2004 he served as the President & Chief Executive Officer, and since 2006 also as Chairman of the Board of Directors of AGCO. AGCO is a global, manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and sells its products under the well-known brands Challenger®, Fendt®, Massey
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Ferguson®,Valtra® and GSI®. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen is a designated member of the supervisory board of Daimler Truck Holding AG (“Daimler Truck”), the spin-off of Daimler AG’s trucks division is a listed company at ‘Prime Standard’ of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Prime Standard sets the highest transparency requirements across all segments in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As an independent company, Daimler Truck is the world’s market leader employing approximately 100,000 people in more than 35 main sites. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen is a designated member of the supervisory board of Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG (“STIHL”). The family-owned company develops, manufactures, and sells power tools for forestry, gardening, landscaping and construction. He currently is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) in Washington, DC. He also is the Economic Ambassador in Cologne, Germany and a member of the North American Advisory Board of Directors (NAAAB) at Rabobank International. Dr. Richenhagen is also member of the board of directors for Linde PLC (NYSE: LIN) (“Linde”), a multinational chemical company with German-American roots. It is the largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue, serving customers in the healthcare, petroleum refining, manufacturing, food, beverage carbonation, fibre-optics, steel making, aerospace, chemicals, electronics and water treatment industries. From 2015 to 2018, Prof. Dr. Richenhagen also served as a director of Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), from 2015 until the business combination of Praxair, Inc. and Linde in 2018. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen is also a member of the board of directors of PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG), a leading American coatings and specialty products and services company. He was the Chairman of the German American Chambers of Commerce of the United States and member of the board of directors for Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the board of directors of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern US, Inc. He was Member of the U.S. “President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.” Prof. Dr. Richenhagen has served as Chairman of the board of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (“AEM”) and is a ‘Lifetime Honorary Director’ at AEM. From 2003 until 2004, Prof. Dr. Richenhagen was Executive Vice President of Forbo International SA (XSWX: FORN), a flooring material company headquartered in Switzerland. He also served as Managing Director for CLAAS KGaA mbH, a global agricultural equipment manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Germany, from 1998 until 2003. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen was the Senior Executive Vice President for Schindler Deutschland Holdings GmbH, Germany, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of elevators and escalators, from 1995 until 1998. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen received the highest distinction conferred by the government of France and was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honor) in 2018. He has received the Global Leadership Award from the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies and the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2017.
Mr. Benedikt Förtig (Chief Executive Officer and Director)
Benedikt Förtig serves as our Chief Executive Officer and member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Benedikt Förtig has over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, advisor and investor with extensive expertise in agriculture, processing, food production, renewable energy and farm technologies. Mr. Benedikt Förtig also brings diverse management expertise throughout his professional career in various operational and senior executive roles. Prior to serving as our Chief Executive Officer, from 2019 to 2020 he was the General Manager and the Chief Operating Officer of Elite Agro LLC Serbia (a subsidiary of YAS Holding LLC, Abu Dhabi) and responsible for all mergers and acquisitions activities, integration of the investments and operational leadership. Since 2016, he has been advising international investors in the areas of strategy development, restructuring, acquisition and divestment of agribusiness companies and took over interim leadership positions. From 2010 to 2015 he was part of the leadership team of KTG, a public vertical agricultural holding company with operations across Germany and Central Eastern Europe and business activities in farming, processing, trading, food production and agricultural machinery. From 2014 to 2015, he was responsible for internal expansion as Chief Business Development Officer and member of the Board of Directors with a focus on investments, mergers and acquisitions as well as strategic projects in the area of plant proteins and oilseeds at KTG. He was a member of the steering committee of the joint venture with Tönnies Group — one of the leading and largest meat processing companies in Europe — and took a key leadership role in development and management of the vertical agricultural holding with 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) of arable farming, compound feed production, pig production and meat processing. Today, the group of companies is one of the 8 largest meat producers in Russia. Mr. Förtig’s experience also includes a vast understanding and passion for venture capital and startups. He supports
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several projects in the field of farm technologies and plant proteins as a mentor and business angel. Mr. Förtig holds a B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Management Studies from University of Europe for Applied Sciences an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from Humboldt University Berlin.
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy (Chief Financial Officer)
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy has over 22 years of strategic global operational experience in large technology focused multinational public and private corporations. Presently, and since 2016, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy is the Managing Director of Health Bytes, LLC a Switzerland-based financial and management consultancy firm. Since 2018, he is also a senior consultant to Celtic Asset and Equity Partners in Dublin, a boutique consultancy specialized in SPACs. Furthermore, since 2019, he is also a member of Board of Directors of Thermal Medical Switzerland Ltd., a Swiss domiciled limited company specialized in development and global marketing of medical devices. Prior to his current engagements, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy held senior global sales and marketing positions at RADIOMETER MEDICAL ApS, which was later acquired by Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR). Earlier in his career, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy held senior positions in business management for Octapharma AG (“Octapharma”), Thermo Fisher Scientific Schweiz (AG), a group company of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (NYSE: TMO), Straumann Holding AG (XSWX: STMN) and Deloitte Consulting AG. At Octapharma, he managed financial and technical due diligence for multiple M&A targets in the U.S. as well implemented a global resource management system. Between 2008 and 2017, he was an active executive committee member of the Strathclyde Alumni Association, a non-profit organization serving the advancement of knowledge and network among the alumni members. Since 2019, he is also a juror and mentor for MassChallenge Switzerland. Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy has a PhD from University of Zurich, Switzerland and an MBA from Strathclyde Business School, UK. We believe that his experience and contacts in global manufacturing as well as his strong understanding of the strategic global operations of large corporations makes him well qualified to serve as our chief financial officer.
Anthony V. Raftopol (Chief Operating Officer)
Anthony V. Raftopol serves as our Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Raftopol is a US-trained attorney specializing in cross-border commercial transactions into the markets of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As such, he brings over 25 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, real estate and finance. Concurrently, and prior to joining our company, Mr. Raftopol serves as the Managing Partner of Ternir Group, a legal and financial consulting services firm based out of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. Raftopol served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Legal Counsel to StHealth Capital Investment Corporation (a SEC-registered Business Development Company) and Vision BioBanc Holdings, Inc. (a privately-registered, licensed financial institution), both of which are based in the U.S. and are focused on healthcare-related investments. In those roles, Mr. Raftopol was tasked with oversight over all capital raising and investment banking activities, fund acquisitions, joint-venture and partnership arrangements, on-going regulatory compliance under applicable U.S. securities laws, communication with the SEC, the formulation of internal compliance policies, procedures and controls, audit requirements, vendor retention and performance, as well as general fund operations. Mr. Raftopol also held partner-level and senior roles in the M&A and finance practices of other law firms focused on Eastern Europe and the Middle East, including Salans (now Dentons), Herzfeld & Rubin, the Iraq Law Alliance and MENA Legal Advisors. In 1995, he was admitted by the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division — Second Department to practice law in the State of New York, and continues to be in good standing. He was also a member of the Bar of Bucharest, Romania between 2005 and 2010. Mr. Raftopol is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Boston University School of Law, and is fluent in English, Romanian, French, Italian and Spanish.
Dr. Uwe Nickel (Director Nominee)
Dr. Uwe Nickel has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Dr. Nickel has 35 years of experience as an executive, advisor, entrepreneur and investor with extensive expertise in specialty-chemicals, agro-chemicals, petrochemicals as well as in active pharmaceutical ingredients production and chemical engineering. During his long career, Dr. Nickel has managed different international businesses and advised
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global buy and sell side customers in the chemical and pharmaceutical space, amongst them large and mid-size chemical companies and private equity funds. He also advised companies and developed on their behalf strategies, restructuring programs and implementation plans for chemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical customers. Dr. Nickel is an equity partner at Proventis Partners AG, an M&A advisory firm in Switzerland. He also serves as a director on the board of directors of chemical and engineering companies in Europe and North America, such as DCL Corporation, HCS Group GmbH (“HCS”), SIS GmbH, Triplan Ingenieur AG, Pharmaplan AG. From 2011 to 2019, Dr. Nickel was Chief Executive Officer of the specialty hydrocarbon company, HCS. Under his leadership, and strategic M&A, HCS transformed from a local German company, to an international leader in the specialty hydrocarbon sector. From 2008 to 2011, he oversaw chemicals for the ‘EMEA’ region of the management consulting company, Arthur D. Little. From 2003 to 2007, he was a member of the board of directors of the stock listed Swiss company Clariant AG (XSWX: CLN), one of the top 3 global specialty chemicals companies (“Clariant”). He oversaw the groups’ ‘OPEX program’ and the pigments and additives business. By spearheading innovation efforts, investment in new technologies and partaking in joint ventures in China and the APAC region, Dr. Nickel led Clariant to the world’s top ranked company in the specialty chemicals industry. From 1996 to 2003, he was Senior Vice President at Clariant in charge of operations and supply chain management. From 1986 to 1996, he served numerous positions in R&D, operations and staff functions in the Hoechst AG, one of the largest global chemical companies. Dr. Uwe Nickel holds a Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe and graduated in several management training programs at INSEAD, France and IMD, Switzerland.
Jeffrey B. Kamins (Director Nominee)
Jeffrey B. Kamins has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Kamins has over 25 years of international experience with primary focus in the agriculture, irrigation and energy sectors in Eastern Europe and Africa, having served in numerous senior roles at international manufacturers and as a former diplomat in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Presently, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Trade Finance LLC, a global finance and market development company, with directors in 32 cities worldwide, covering 85 markets. Mr. Kamins’ global team represents numerous manufacturers and investors, arranging CAPEX and project finance. Formerly, Mr. Kamis also served as Director, Finance, Central and Eastern Europe / Eurasia for AGCO International GmbH, overseeing all retail finance programs for AGCO brands, special project finance for key account customers and all wholesale finance for distribution partners. He holds a M.B.A./MIM from Thunderbird School of Global Management, which he received in 2000. In 1995, Mr. Kamins graduated with a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Mr. Kamins is fluent in Russian and working knowledge of German and Spanish.
Hans-Bernd Veltmaat (Director Nominee)
Hans-Bernd Veltmaat has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. In 2012, Mr. Veltmaat was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer of AGCO. In this role at AGCO, Mr. Veltmaat has global responsibility for manufacturing, purchasing, logistics and quality. AGCO’s manufacturing capacity currently totals 39 factories worldwide. From July 2008 to December 2011, Mr. Veltmaat held the position of Senior Vice President of manufacturing and quality for AGCO and was responsible for AGCO’s factories and quality. Mr. Veltmaat joined AGCO from Alba AG & Co. KG (“Alba”), one of Germany’s leading waste cleaning and recycling companies. Prior to his involvement with Alba, Mr. Veltmaat gained experience in agricultural equipment manufacturing during his 11-year stint with Claas KGaA mbH (“Claas”) in Germany, as a member of the group Executive Board. Mr. Veltmaat spent four years as Executive Vice President Crop Division for Claas and seven years as Managing Director of Claas Fertigungstechnik Group, a technology producer for automotive and aerospace. Prior to joining Claas, Mr. Veltmaat spent 17 years in sales as well as regional management at ABB Ltd. Mr. Veltmaat holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig / Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Mr. Veltmaat is a member of the Industry Executive Advisory Board of the Executive M.B.A. in Supply Chain Management at ETH Zurich.
Independent Directors
Matthias Krön (Director Nominee)
Matthias Krön has agreed to serve as an Independent Director and member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Krön is a key driver in the development of European protein markets, a visionary serial entrepreneur
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and founder of a European Soya Association, the “Donau Soja Association,” a key organization in European non-GMO soy production. Presently, Mr. Krön is the Chief Executive Officer at Plant Republic GmbH, a European leader in tofu and plant meat production, based in Vienna, Austria. Since 2012, Mr. Krön has served as President of Donau Soja Association, a driving force in the European protein markets. He is responsible for successfully lobbying the European Union with the Europe Soya Declaration in 2017 (signed by 14 EU agricultural ministers) resulting in the development of the ‘EU Protein Plan’. He was also responsible for developing the Danube and Europe soya standards, the gold standards with the best benchmarking in the world of soy. From 1995 to 2011, Mr. Krön was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mona Group, the second largest European non-dairy producer, Mr. Krön has carved a new and innovative business out of an old dairy industry. He has developed a European multi-site production strategy and early on understood that diversity of raw materials and natural, clean label products, were the future. Currently, Mr. Krön is driving forward the development of ‘Fields of Europe’, the first comprehensive European food and feed system. In this project Mr. Krön partnered up with the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, (NYSE:ADM), Agrifirm, Fenaco, Ameropa and many others. Mr. Krön has extensive experience as a Board Member and Co-Founder of successful businesses in soya, wine, hemp, testing and real estate. He is fluent in Chinese, English and German and has a large personal network in Europe, China and the US.
Dr. Thomas Berger (Director Nominee)
Dr. Thomas Berger has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Dr. Berger combines extensive industry experience in the field of renewable energies with wide-ranging legal expertise in various areas of law. Since January 2017 he has been responsible for the corporate restructuring, advising on investment in financial instruments and corporate strategy, as an independent legal and financial consultant. He is also a shareholder of NordStrom AG (Berlin and Luxembourg). Between April 2009 to August 2016, Dr. Berger was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KTG Energie AG (“KTGE”), Europe’s largest listed biogas producer at the time. Under his leadership, KTGE more than tripled its revenue. Under Dr. Berger’s leadership, the company generated significant EBITDA and went public in June 2012 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. During this time, he developed international expertise in the legal field of renewable energies and was a speaker at numerous conferences. Dr. Berger worked for Freshfields and Noerr, international law firms, for two years before becoming the Managing Director at an airline, Comfort Air GmbH & Co. KG, München Airport, which he successfully managed until the owner sold it to an investor in 2008. Following a period with the Deutscher Bundestag (the German parliament) in 2002 as the Speaker in the Economic Committee, he was admitted to the bar in Munich in 2003. Dr. Berger has a Ph.D in law from Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, he studied law in Munich and Geneva, he received a scholarship from the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the Max Planck Society.
Kristopher Lance Anderson (Director Nominee)
Kristopher Lance Anderson has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Anderson brings over 20 years of experience in intellectual property development, management and transactions, including corporate and asset-based acquisitions. Since 2016, Mr. Anderson has served as a member of the law firm of Dickinson Wright PLLC (“DW”), in its Austin, Texas office. DW is a fully integrated law firm of approximately 500 attorneys in 19 offices in the United States and Canada. Since 2018, Mr. Anderson has further served as a Deputy CEO of DW, overseeing the firm’s marketing and information technology operations. Mr. Anderson specializes in complex intellectual property and technology transactions and advising businesses in acquisition and disposition of innovation-rich assets. Mr. Anderson has previously served in-house for both a public academic research institution and a private venture capital operating company, in both instances leading the development, negotiation and disposition of all forms of intellectual property. Mr. Anderson practices directly within the agricultural and biotechnology arenas, as well as with food, medical device, pharmaceutical, immuno-oncology, and drug delivery ventures, together with their various regulatory frameworks. In addition to such experience, Mr. Anderson’s background originated in commercial agriculture, working in rural west Texas with corporate family farming operations and contract R&D efforts for new germplasm and agricultural compounds. A significant portion of Mr. Anderson’s current practice includes plant traits and plant-derived products and related formulations ranging from cannabis/hemp to fresh produce and food products. Mr. Anderson has been qualified as a member of the Bar of the State of Texas since 2000, and the United States Patent Office since 2005. Prior to his current firm,
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Mr. Anderson was Of Counsel at Greenberg Traurig’s Austin, Texas Office. Mr. Anderson is a graduate of Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University School of Law, and received Distinguished Alumnus recognition in 2019 by the Texas Tech University College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Mr. Anderson obtained his undergraduate degree in Entomology with a minor in Horticulture, and further obtained his Masters’ degree in Crop Science, participating in both traditional breeding and genetic research projects.
Matthijs Mondria (Director Nominee)
Matthijs P. Mondria has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. During the course of his 30 year long career, he has developed professional experience in global food and agribusiness strategy, sustainability, mergers and acquisitions and in corporate and acquisition debt finance. Mr. Mondria currently serves as an advisory board member of APH Group, an agriculture equipment distribution company with strong market positions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is also the principal adviser to True-code.org, a not-for-profit venture initiative sponsored by the Consumer Goods Forum (the pre-eminent industry platform of consumer goods retailers and branded goods producers) aiming to create radical food supply chain transparency for food retailers and consumer food producers. Between September 2002 and May 2021, Mr. Mondria served in various roles with Rabobank, the world’s leading food and agribusiness bank. From April 2018 to May 2021, Mr. Mondria, as Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainable Business Development, was responsible for integrating sustainability in the client business operations of Rabobank’s global wholesale banking network. From January 2010 to April 2018, Mr. Mondria was a Managing Director and Global Sector Head, leading Rabobank’s business with all corporate clients operating in the upper end of the food value chain (equipment, genetics, animal and crop nutrition, crop protection, pharma, biotechnology, AgTech). As Executive Vice President and Head of Food & Agribusiness, Mr. Mondria was responsible for Rabobank’s portfolio of Food and Agribusiness clients based in the Netherlands between June 2007 and January 2015. From 2010 through 2014 he combined his responsibilities as Global Sector Head and Head of Food & Agribusiness at Rabobank. From April 2003 to June 2007, Mr. Mondria, as Executive Director and Head of Acquisition Finance, lead a team responsible for the origination, structuring and execution of debt finance in relation to corporate and private equity backed acquisitions. During his tenure at Rabobank, Mr. Mondria served for many years in the group credit committee. Mr. Mondria received his M.B.A. and his B.B.A. from Nyenrode University in the Netherlands.
Notwithstanding our management team’s past experiences, past performance is not a guarantee (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) that we will be able to provide an attractive return to our shareholders from any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management’s performance as indicative of our future performance. See “Risk Factors — Past performance 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.” For more information, see the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”
Market and Industry Opportunity
Our management team believes there is no better time than today to take advantage of the global economy in the area of agribusiness with free trade and the ability to move commodities and value-added agriculture-based products around the world. The Black Sea basin and Eurasia, which is the largest land mass in the world, with an abundance of farming, having over 165 million hectares of cultivated land and 15 million hectares of existing and potential irrigated land. The main issues here are lack of access to capital to truly grow and be part of the global supply chain; lack of management know-how; lack of long-term vision; lack of financial and management transparency and corporate governance; and lack of developed land. Where there is a deficiency, often there is an opportunity, and this is exactly where our management team sees an opportunity to acquire a business that can participate in the global supply chain with vertical integration, supply key markets and bring value to shareholders. We believe our management team’s operational experience can be an asset to a potential target in order to roll-out in this region the top industrialized countries’ best agri-technologies to conserve water, energy and other natural resources by
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using the latest technologies and management practices in irrigation, weather prediction, power systems, soil management and other application, all while improving people’s lives with more skilled jobs and benefits that multiply in the local society.
We believe our management team’s extensive and diversified experience in the agri-food industry will help us to effectively evaluate business combination targets across the European agribusiness industry. Our management team believes it is imperative to lead in the use of precision and sustainable agriculture in emerging markets, especially the Black Sea region and Eurasia, due to the immense availability of good, chernozem soils, good climate, and plentiful access to water for irrigation. We intend to be stewards for conservation of resources through intelligent agri-technologies and support the local socioeconomic as a strong job provider and trainer of new skills. We seek to acquire a target whose business model is to lead by example with good corporate governance, transparency, new technology, while feeding the world, developing more environmentally-friendly products and alternatives and conserving resourcing and improving lives.
The following reasons articulate the rationale behind our management teams focus on targets that are engaged in AgTech in Eastern Europe, in particular the Black Sea region:
Plant-based is the Future. A Large and Fast-Growing Market: The world’s population is growing and so, too, has its demand for food. In the past 200 years, humanity has exploded from an estimated one billion people to more than 7.8 billion in 2021. In some developing economies, that boom has led to a rising middle class and a parallel increase in demand for meat protein — often viewed as a luxury. At the same time, the middle class in developed countries is increasingly turning away from animal protein to plant-based alternatives. With the global population expected to hit 8.5 billion by 2030, the European plant-based protein industry is in a prime position to dominate the world food market. In fact, the global industry’s valuation is anticipated to hit $290 billion by 2035 with a 20% CAGR in meat substitutes until 2025 and 34% between 2025 and 2030. While we believe there is significant headroom for consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies and food manufacturers in the alternative-proteins market, many do not have the necessary production capabilities to capture this market opportunity, nor do they know where to focus their efforts. Pea protein is one of the key ingredients in the plant protein market due to its sustainability, nutritional value, and functionalities. Moreover, pea protein is gaining popularity as a replacement for other plant-based proteins such as soy protein, due to its higher levels of amino acid content. The European plant protein market has recorded rapid growth in the past few years owing to increasing consumer interest in alternative proteins, and non-animal-based food products. The demand for plant-based foods and supplements is increasing particularly, among millennials and the Gen Z population. This is primarily due to plant-based proteins emerging as the best alternative to animal protein that can offer all necessary amino acids. Among the other factors that are promoting the growth of the plant protein market is the rising health and environmental concerns. Russia is the world’s fourth-largest polluter, contributing as much as 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide annually. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), livestock accounts for 14.5% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by human activity across the world.
Reimagining Materials: Bio-based Materials Market was valued at USD 13.28 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 85.19 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 26.02% from 2019 to 2026 according to Verified Market Research. Bio-based materials are derived from renewable sources such as feedstock like vegetable oils, corn, or other organic polymers which degrade within one year. There are numerous advantages of using bio-based materials such as the stable price of the sources from agricultural feedstocks as compared to petrochemicals. Low price fluctuations of the source will lead to the stable price of bio-based products. Moreover, the rapid degradation of bio-based materials will help to reduce the waste plastics problem at a significant rate (out of the 8.3 billion tons of plastics produced, 6.3 billion tons is considered as waste). The demand for bio-based materials in every market segment is rising owing to the increasing adoption of sustainable products by consumers. Moreover, the rising awareness for eco-friendly products and reduction in the chemical waste and the release of toxic byproducts into the environment by using sustainable bio-based chemical products will fuel the market demand during the forecast period. Furthermore, the growing concerns about greenhouse gasses coupled with the increasing use of bioplastics as an option in the packaging and automotive industry will significantly drive the global bio-based materials market. Europe dominates the bio-based materials market due to favorable governmental frameworks, the
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high adoption of bio-based materials in automotive and transport sectors, along with rigid packaging applications. Crop innovations in the oilseed sector are in the early stages of development but could lead to significant market opportunities if there is a stable supply situation. The land used to grow the renewable feedstock to produce bioplastics amounted to approximately 0.7 million hectares in 2020. This accounts for 0.015% of the global agricultural area of 4.8 billion hectares of which 94% were used for pasture, feed, and food. Despite the market growth predicted in the next five years, the land use share for bioplastics will only slightly increase to 0.02%. This clearly shows that there is no competition between the renewable feedstock for food, feed, and the production of bioplastics.
Favorable Price Dynamic in Agricultural Commodities: The World Bank’s Agricultural Price Index increased more than 9% during the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the first quarter of 2020, building on the previous quarter’s momentum. Prices have risen 20% over the past year and are close to a seven-year high. Price gains have been driven by supply shortfalls for some food commodities, especially maize and soybeans, strong demand for feed commodities by China, and U.S. dollar depreciation. The largest price increase in the quarter was for grains, due to production shortfalls, followed by oils and meals. Beverage prices made modest gains while raw materials remained broadly stable as supply disruptions due to the pandemic were resolved. Agricultural prices are expected to average 14% higher in 2021 compared to 2020, followed by a small rise in 2022. Over the medium term, weather, economic growth and the distribution of income, demographics and shifts in dietary patterns, technological developments and policy trends will shape food and agricultural prices.
Global Sustainability Goals: With fewer than 10 years until the 2030 deadline for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), governments need to step up their efforts to meet global food security and environmental targets, according to a new report released in May 2021 by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (the “FAO”) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (the “OECD”). Although progress towards the SDGs is expected to be made in the coming decade, assuming a fast recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, stable weather conditions and policy environments, the past year of disruptions from COVID-19 has moved the world further away from achieving the SDGs. This calls for urgent attention to the factors and forces driving performance in agri-food systems. Ensuring food security and healthy diets for a growing global population will remain a challenge. Global demand for agricultural commodities — including for use as food, feed, fuel and industrial inputs — is projected to grow at 1.2% per year over the coming decade, albeit at a slower annual rate than during the previous decade. Demographic trends, the substitution of poultry for red meat in rich and many middle-income nations, and a boom in per capita dairy consumption in South Asia are expected to shape future demand.
Need for Productivity Improvements: Accelerating global agricultural productivity growth is critical to feeding a growing global population sustainably. According to the 2020 Global Agricultural Productivity Report, global agricultural productivity needs to increase at an average annual rate of 1.73% sustainably produce food, feed, fiber, and bioenergy for nearly 10 billion people in 2050. Productivity growth is generated by such innovations as precision agriculture technology and improved seeds and best practices for nutrient management and animal health. Attention to ecosystem services, such as pollination and erosion prevention, can increase and sustain productivity gains over time. The key towards this goal is a powerful combination of agricultural technology, best farm management practices, and attention to ecosystem services in supporting productivity growth, sustainability, and resilience is mandatory.
The dominant role of the Black Sea region in world grain markets and food security: The Black Sea region is on the verge to become the new giant in grain and oilseeds globally. The region is outperforming the U.S. and accounts for more than 40% of the world grain exports. It takes the global leadership in productivity and costs due to a unique combination of high fertile soils, climate advantages, irrigation capabilities, large-scale, technologically driven farming, efficient logistics and low production costs. Irrigation and low water supplying costs ensure highest yields, best nutrient parameters, economic stability and enables a long growing season with a very diversified crop mix coupled. However, the majority of agribusiness companies and farms are not well managed, underperforming, undercapitalized and not efficiently integrated. This gives a compelling opportunity to acquire, consolidate, rationalize, and optimize these operations. No other region in the world has such a concentrated amount of large farming operations with the potential of vertical integration and value creation. The proximity of this production to a strategic body of
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water that connects countries and continents has major and growing implications for global trade. The world has relied on Black Sea trade for millennia. Trade continues to grow as the region is rapidly increasing productivities by improving yields and infrastructure investments into irrigation. The effects of the surge in Black Sea production of grains on food security could be huge. According to research by the FAO, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa currently import more than 50% of their wheat demand. Additionally, out of the 795 million people considered undernourished globally, 92% reside in Asia and Africa. In order for individuals to become more food-secure, they must have stable access to food. Agricultural trade through the Black Sea could help address the food insecurity that many face.
Acquisition and Business Combination Criteria
Our team at AXIOS Sustainable Development Acquisition Corporation seeks to combine with targets that will permit us to follow our core business principals, with a specific focus on transforming our agribusiness ventures into models of efficiency, sustainability and social responsibility. As such, each target in our pipeline of opportunities will not only be selected strategically by our experienced agribusiness management and operations teams, but will also be reviewed thoroughly from a technical, legal and financial standpoint by globally-recognized firms and experts. We expect to pursue target businesses that are at a historical inflection point. As such, they are poised to grow with the right injection of technical expertise, market access, good governance and an enhanced access to capital. We intend to assist our target companies with scaling up, improving efficiencies, implementing cost-savings and facilitating access to the international markets. Furthermore, we believe our management team’s network of off-takers, suppliers, bankers, investors and professional service providers is well-designed to provide us with significant advantages on a short- and long-term basis.
In this light, our focus with respect to potential targets is expected to revolve around the following core considerations:
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A Compelling Case for Growth and Shareholder Value. We will seek opportunities across the agribusiness space that offer attractive long-term growth prospects through inherent environmental or strategic advantages (such as, for example, by offering favorable geographic and geological conditions, easy access to water, utilities, sustainable energy, export infrastructure, markets and human resources), and which permit scalability and organic growth under a vertically-integrated growth model. These acquisitions will also need to show the ability to absorb additional inputs, such as good governance and improved access to technology and capital, to demonstrate the ability to move along an inflection point of positive growth.
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Leading Industry Position and Competitive Market Advantage. We intend to focus on targets located in Eastern Europe that are focused in agribusiness, plant based proteins, food processing and AgTech. These areas have, in our opinion, strong fundamentals, favorable prospects and a high likelihood of generating strong risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. We will seek to acquire businesses whose products utilize proprietary technology, enjoy a dominant market position in a specific geographic or technological niche, or have some other form of distinct competitive advantage. The factors we intend to consider include the credentials of existing management, growth prospects, competitive dynamics, level of industry consolidation, need for capital investment, intellectual property and barriers to entry.
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Potential for Vertical Integration. Our long-term strategic vision of vertical integration must be played out with our acquisitions working together to support each other. As such, we seek to acquire traditional large-scale farms, AgTech innovators, raw material suppliers, food processing facilities, distribution networks and transportation infrastructure in a manner that permits the development of an organizational platform dedicated to long-term agribusiness growth.
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Attractive, Inherently Profitable Businesses with High Operating Leverage. We will seek to acquire businesses that we believe possess not only established business models and sustainable competitive advantages, but also have inherently profitable unit economics. For example, we will focus on companies with a track record of positive business growth, but we will also seek out companies that show potential for future exponential growth in the face of a significant capital infusion.
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•
Strong Management Teams. We intend to acquire businesses that have experienced management with a proven track record of rapid growth and the ability to clearly and confidently articulate the business and market opportunities to public market investors. As such, we will spend significant time assessing a company’s leadership and personnel and evaluating our ability to augment and upgrade the existing team following a clearly-defined and well-devised take-over strategy.
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Differentiated Products or Services. We will evaluate metrics such as recurring revenues, product life cycles, cohort consistency, pricing per product or customer, cross-sell success and churn rates to focus on businesses whose products or services are differentiated, or where we see an opportunity to create value by implementing best practices.
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Limited Technology Risk. We will seek to invest in companies that have established market-tested products or service offerings, and do not lend themselves to trends, fads or erratic technology risks. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will continue to look to innovation and technology as assets, rather than risks, for the purpose of guaranteeing market advantages and long-term opportunities.
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Appropriate Valuations. We will seek target companies for our initial business combination based on disciplined valuation-centric metrics. Management has significant negotiating and operating experience, and recognizes that initial valuation is an important component of the ultimate rate of return.
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Alignment with UN SDGs and B Corp Principles. We expect to focus on targets that at least show potential in addressing the global challenges identified by the UN SDGs.
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Benefits from Public Status. We intend to pursue a business combination with a business that will benefit from being publicly-traded and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and public profile that that comes along with this status. As such, we will focus on acquisitions targets with the existing governance mechanisms, financial systems and controls required to be successful in the public place.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets, discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews, financial and tax reviews, real estate title reviews, intellectual property reviews, and other reviews as we deem appropriate.
At the time of finalizing this prospectus, we have not identified or selected any specific business combination target, and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to a business combination with us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Certain of our directors and officers have, and any of them in the future may have fiduciary and contractual duties to one or more entities and to certain companies in which such entities have invested or may invest. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities, subject to Cayman Islands law. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, none of the members of our management team who are also employed by our sponsor or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our sponsor, its affiliates, and their directors and officers are also not prohibited from competing with us for acquisition opportunities,
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or sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, in each case, prior to us completing our initial business combination. However, each director and officer of AXIOS (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of our sponsor or its affiliates or in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future entities affiliated with or managed by our sponsor, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law and any other applicable fiduciary duties. 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. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”
Our directors and officers presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity subject to his or her fiduciary duties. Accordingly, if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may need to honor these fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity before we can pursue such opportunity subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our directors and officers are also not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. See “Risk Factors — Our sponsor, its affiliates, our directors and officers are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.”
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
You should not rely on the historical record of our founders’ and management’s performance as indicative of our future performance. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.”
Initial Business Combination
NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
In any case, we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target,
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our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on NYSE for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% fair market value test.
Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). As a result, we will be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
JOBS Act and Other Corporate Information
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (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 (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 this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is 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 $1.00 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 exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.
Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies wishing to conduct business outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and have received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands Government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations shall apply to us
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or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax shall be payable (1) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (2) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated on November 30, 2021. Our executive offices are located at Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004 and our telephone number is (770) 813-6500. Upon completion of this offering, our corporate website address will be AXIOSac.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
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THE OFFERING
In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the backgrounds of the members of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company and the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section below entitled “Risk Factors” of this prospectus.
Securities offered
12,500,000 units (or 14,375,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:
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one Class A ordinary share;
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one right; and
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one redeemable public warrant.
Proposed NYSE symbols
Units: “AXACU”
Class A ordinary shares: “AXAC”
Rights: “AXACR”
Public Warrants: “AXACWS”
Class A ordinary shares: “AXAC”
Rights: “AXACR”
Public Warrants: “AXACWS”
Trading commencement and separation of Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants
The units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A ordinary shares, rights and public warrants constituting the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd calendar day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless I-Bankers Securities, Inc. informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. At the time that the Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants comprising the units begin separate trading, holders will hold the separate securities and no longer hold units (without any action needing to be taken by the holders), and the units will no longer trade.
Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.
Separate trading of the Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K
In no event will the Class A ordinary shares, rights and public warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet of the company reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
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Units:
Number issued and outstanding before this offering
Zero.
Number issued and outstanding after this offering
12,500,000(1)
Ordinary Shares:
Number issued and outstanding before this offering
3,593,750(2)(3)
Number issued and outstanding after this offering
15,875,000(1)(3)(4)
Rights:
Number issued and outstanding before this offering
Zero
Number issued and outstanding after this offering
12,500,000(1)
Warrants:
Number of private placement warrants to be sold in a private placement simultaneously with this offering
7,545,000(1)
Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the sale of private placement warrants
20,420,000(1)(5)
Exercisability of warrants
Each warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share.
Exercise price of warrants
$11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein.
In addition, if (x) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary shares (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) 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 (z) 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, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and, in the case of the public warrants only, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of public warrants” will be adjusted (to the
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nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
(1)
Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and, if applicable, the forfeiture by our initial shareholders of 468,750 founder shares.
(2)
Consists solely of founder shares and includes up to 468,750 ordinary shares that are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
(3)
Founder shares are currently classified as Class B ordinary shares, which shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described below adjacent to the caption “Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights.”
(4)
Includes 12,500,000 public shares, 3,125,000 founder shares, and 250,000 shares to be issued to the representative of the underwriters. Excludes 625,000 shares underlying rights included as part of the units sold in this offering.
(5)
Includes 12,500,000 public warrants included in the units to be sold in this offering, 7,545,000 private placement warrants to be sold in the private placement, and 375,000 warrants to be issued to the representative of the underwriters.
Exercise period of warrants
The warrants will become exercisable 30 calendar days after the completion of our initial business combination; provided that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available and such shares are registered, qualified or exempt from registration under the securities, or blue sky, laws of the state of residence of the holder (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement).
While we have registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants under the Securities Act as part of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we do not plan on keeping a prospectus current until required to, pursuant to the warrant agreement. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the issuance of the our Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same 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 our Class A ordinary shares until the public warrants expire or are redeemed in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement.
If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants does not become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, holders of public warrants will have the right, during any period thereafter when there is no such effective registration statement, to exercise the public warrants on a cashless basis. Additionally, if, at the time that a public warrant is exercised, our Class A ordinary shares are not listed on a national securities
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exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In the event of a cashless exercise pursuant to this paragraph, the number of Class A ordinary shares that holders of public warrants will receive will be based on the formula described under “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants.”
The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. On the exercise of any warrant, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.
Redemption of public warrants
Once the public warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding public warrants:
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in whole and not in part;
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at a price of $0.01 per warrant;
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upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder; and
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if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”) 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 public warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-dilution Adjustments”).
We will not redeem the warrants as described above unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period or we have elected to require the exercise of the public warrants on a cashless basis as described below. 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. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants does not become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, holders of public warrants will have the right, during any period thereafter when there is no such effective registration statement, to exercise the public warrants on a cashless basis. Additionally, if, at the time that a public warrant is exercised,
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our Class A ordinary shares are not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In the event of a cashless exercise pursuant to this paragraph, the number of Class A ordinary shares that holders of public warrants will receive will be based on the formula described under “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants.”
We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the public warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the public warrants, each public warrant holder will be entitled to exercise his, her or its public warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A ordinary shares may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a public warrant as described under the heading “— Anti-dilution Adjustments”) as well as the $11.50 (for whole shares) public warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us.
Terms of Rights
Except in cases where we are not the surviving company in a business combination, each holder of a right will automatically receive one-twentieth (1/20) of one Class A ordinary share upon consummation of our initial business combination. In the event we will not be the surviving company upon completion of our initial business combination, each holder of a right will be required to affirmatively convert his, her or its rights in order to receive the one-twentieth (1/20) of one Class A ordinary share underlying each right upon consummation of the business combination. We will not issue fractional shares in connection with an exchange of rights. Fractional shares will either be rounded down to the nearest whole share or otherwise addressed in accordance with the applicable provisions of Cayman Islands law. As a result, you must hold rights in multiples of 20 in order to receive shares for all of your rights upon closing of a business combination. If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we redeem the public shares for the funds held in the trust account, holders of rights will not receive any of such funds for their rights and the rights will expire worthless.
Founder shares
On December 12, 2021, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 to cover for certain expenses on behalf of us in exchange for issuance of 3,593,750 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, or approximately $0.007 per share. On December 29, 2021, Celtic subscribed for 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate capital contribution of $1,217 which was previously funded by our
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sponsor. On December 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for no consideration.
Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of these founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to us by the number of founder shares issued. Our initial shareholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share dividend, share repurchase capitalization, redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our founder shares immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). Up to 468,750 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
The founder shares are identical to the Class A ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, except that:
•
prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election, removal or replacement of directors and holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason;
•
the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below;
•
our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive: (1) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (2) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any extended time that we have to consummate a business combination beyond 18 months as a result of a shareholder vote to amend our memorandum and articles of association (an “Extension Period”) (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public
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shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame). I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to vote its representative’s shares in favor of our initial business combination. If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our initial shareholders, directors and officers and I-Bankers have agreed to vote any founder shares and public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 4,562,500, or 36.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or none (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum (being one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the meeting) are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 12,500,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved;
•
the founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and
•
the founder shares are entitled to registration rights.
Transfer restrictions on founder shares
Our initial shareholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell 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) if the reported sale prices of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations, 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 or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property (except with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial shareholders with respect to any founder shares. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up.
Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights
We have 3,593,750 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, issued and outstanding. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations,
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reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of all ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers) plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding the ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination. The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for our Class A ordinary shares issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt.
Appointment of directors; Voting rights
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares who attend and vote in a general meeting. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except as required by law, holders of our founder shares and holders of our public shares will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.
Private placement warrants
Our sponsor and I-Bankers have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,545,000 private placement warrants (or 8,201,250 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $7,545,000 in the aggregate (or $8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Of such amount, 6,545,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by our sponsor and 1,000,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by I-Bankers, in each case assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised, our sponsor has agreed to purchase an additional 531,250 private placement warrants and I-Bankers has
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agreed to purchase an additional 125,000 private placement warrants in the private placement.
Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. For a portion of the purchase price, private placement warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of shares. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us and are exercisable on a cashless basis.
Transfer restrictions on private placement warrants
The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as described herein under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants.”
Proceeds to be held in trust account
NYSE listing rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. Of the $132,545,000 in proceeds we will receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, or $151,951,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, $126,875,000 ($10.15 per unit), or $145,906,250 ($10.15 per unit) if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (including $4,375,000 (or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and $820,000 will be used to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations.
Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and
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(3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public shareholders.
Anticipated expenses and funding sources
Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use, except the withdrawal of interest to pay taxes or to redeem our public shares in connection with an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as described above. Based upon current interest rates, we expect the trust account to generate approximately $250,000 of interest annually (assuming an interest rate of 0.20% per year). Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from:
•
interest earned on the funds held in the trust account;
•
the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account, which will be approximately $2,350,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $820,000 in expenses relating to this offering; and
•
any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their respective affiliates or other third parties, although they are under no obligation to loan funds to, or otherwise invest in, us; and provided that any such loans will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the trust account unless such proceeds are released to us upon completion of our initial business combination.
Conditions to completing our initial business combination
There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. The NYSE rules require that an initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on the NYSE for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net assets test.
If our board of directors is not able independently to determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We will complete our initial business combination only if the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the
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target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test; provided that in the event that our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities
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, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares, rights or 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 respective 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 or duty 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 held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares, rights or public warrants in such transactions. Such persons will be subject to restrictions in making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. See “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will select which shareholders to enter into private transactions with. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will be restricted from
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making any purchases if such purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.
Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion
of our initial business combination
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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes 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 $10.15 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the amounts payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our rights or public warrants. Our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us pursuant to which it has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to any representative’s shares held by it in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or otherwise.
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 (1) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (2) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless shareholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.
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If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
•
conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and
•
file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.
If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, we will:
•
conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and
•
file proxy materials with the SEC.
We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any shareholder
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vote even if we are not able to maintain our NYSE listing or Exchange Act registration.
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 holders of a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares voted in favor of the business combination. The holders of one-third of the Shares being individuals present in person or by proxy or if a corporation or other non-natural person by its duly authorized representative or proxy shall be a quorum. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our initial shareholders have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination and I-Bankers has agreed to vote the representative’s shares in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that at the time of any shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon. Our directors and officers also have agreed to vote in favor of our initial business combination with respect to any public shares acquired by them. These voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial shareholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions. Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require:
(1)
cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners;
(2)
cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or
(3)
the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination.
In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all public 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 ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights
We may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their
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shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the initial vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which may include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares.
Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold shareholder vote
Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, 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 provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our sponsor or its affiliates to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against a business combination if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or its affiliates 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 shares sold in this offering, 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 all shares held by those shareholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination.
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Redemption rights in connection with proposed amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain charter provisions. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that any of its provisions (other than amendments relating to provisions governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination, which require the approval of a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares attending and voting in a general meeting), including those related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the sale of private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances), may be amended if approved by holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Our initial shareholders, who will beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers), may 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. Our sponsor, directors and officers and I-Bankers have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. Our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us pursuant to which it has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to any representative’s shares held by it in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
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Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination
On the completion of our initial business combination, all amounts held in the trust account will be disbursed directly by the trustee or released to us to pay amounts due to any public shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination,” to pay the I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination, to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, 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 the redemption of our public 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.
Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination
Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed that we will have only 18 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such 18-month period or during any Extension Period, we will:
(1)
cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up;
(2)
as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes 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 liquidating distributions, if any); and
(3)
as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our rights or warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the 18-month time period or during any Extension Period.
Our initial shareholders and I-Bankers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights
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to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial shareholders or I-Bankers acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period. I-Bankers will have no right to any fees for marketing services in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares.
Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions.
Limited payments to insiders
There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made by us to our sponsor, directors or officers, or our or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
•
repayment of an aggregate of up to $350,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;
•
payment of customary fees for financial advisory services;
•
reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and
•
repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the
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terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such working capital loans may be convertible into private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 private placement warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such working capital loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans.
These payments may be funded using the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.
Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors or officers, or our or any of their respective affiliates.
Audit committee
Prior to the effectiveness of this registration statement, we will have established and will maintain an audit committee to, among other things, monitor compliance with the terms described above and the other terms relating to this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to promptly take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Committees of the Board of Directors — Audit Committee.”
Conflicts of interest
Certain of our directors and officers have, and any of them in the future may have fiduciary and contractual duties to one or more entities and to certain companies in which such entities have invested or may invest. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, none of the members of our management team have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, our sponsor, its affiliates and their directors and officers are also not prohibited from competing with us for acquisition opportunities, or sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, in each case, prior to us completing our initial business combination. However, each director and officer of AXIOS (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of our
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sponsor or its affiliates or in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future entities affiliated with or managed by our sponsor, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law and any other applicable fiduciary duties. 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. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”
Each of our sponsor, directors and officers will, directly or indirectly, own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following this offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, such officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
Indemnity
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.15 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations.
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Risks
We are a newly incorporated company that has conducted no operations and has generated no revenues. Until we complete our initial business combination, we will have no operations and will generate no operating revenues. In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the background of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company. This offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. For additional information concerning how Rule 419 blank check offerings differ from this offering, please see “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.” You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this prospectus.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Some statements contained in this prospectus are forward-looking in nature. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following risks, uncertainties and other factors:
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our being a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues;
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our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;
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our ability to complete our initial business combination;
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our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses;
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our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;
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our directors and officers allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;
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our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;
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our pool of prospective target businesses;
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our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the recent COVID-19 pandemic and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases);
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the ability of our directors and officers to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;
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our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;
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the lack of a market for our securities;
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the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;
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the trust account being subject to claims of third parties;
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our financial performance following this offering; and
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the other risks and uncertainties discussed in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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RISK FACTORS
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to Our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination
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 public shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the initial business combination would require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, the rules of the NYSE currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a general meeting, but would still require us to obtain shareholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding shares, we would seek shareholder approval of such business combination. However, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, 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 consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the initial business combination we complete. Please see the section entitled “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Shareholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination” for additional information.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, directors and officers have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Unlike some other blank check companies in which the initial shareholders agree to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by the public shareholders in connection with an initial business combination, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our initial shareholders, directors and officers have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to vote its representative’s shares in favor of our initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will be present if the holders of one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the meeting are represented in person or by proxy. Our initial shareholders, directors and officers and I-Bankers will count toward this quorum. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares and representative’s shares, we would need only 4,562,500, or 36.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or none (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum (being one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the meeting) are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 12,500,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved. Our directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, imposing similar obligations on them with respect to public shares acquired by them, if any. We expect that our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers) at the time of any such shareholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial shareholders, directors, and officers to vote their founder shares and any public
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shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination and quorum threshold will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek shareholder approval of the initial business combination.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Since our board of directors may complete an initial business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the initial business combination, unless we seek such shareholder vote. Accordingly, if we do not seek shareholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our 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 an initial business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into an initial 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 consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of fees payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to 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 an initial business combination 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, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our 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. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B ordinary shares result in the issuance of Class A shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination, and such amount is not available for us to use as consideration in an initial business combination. If we are able to consummate 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 amount payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial
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business combination and after such redemptions, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming shareholders will reflect our obligation to pay such fees.
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 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 within the prescribed timeframe may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning an initial business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or seek a shareholder-approved extension of such period. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating an initial 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 end of such time period. 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 COVID-19 pandemic and other events, especially unpredicted events, and the status of debt and equity markets.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was reported to have surfaced, which has and is continuing to spread throughout parts of the world, including the United States and Europe. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected, and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) could adversely affect, economies and financial markets worldwide, business operations and the conduct of commerce generally, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination may also be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if concerns relating to COVID-19 continue to restrict travel or limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors, or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner or if COVID-19 causes a prolonged economic downturn. In addition, if treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 are ineffective or underutilized, any impact on our business may be prolonged. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses, and the inability to accurately predict the future impact of the pandemic on businesses, has also made determinations and negotiations of valuation more difficult, which could make it more difficult to consummate a business combination transaction. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases), or other unpredictable or unforeseen events continue for an extended 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
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financing, which may be impacted by COVID-19, its “delta variant,” future unknown mutations, 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 and decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may receive only $10.15 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our rights and warrants will expire worthless.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein, including as a result of terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of infectious diseases. For example, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 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 consummated an initial business combination within 18 months or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes 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 liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) 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 applicable law to provide for claims of creditors. In such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.15 per share, or less than $10.15 per share, on the redemption of their shares, and our rights and 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 $10.15 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or public warrants from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.
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, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective 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 respective 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 or duty to do so and they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions directly, or indirectly, and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such
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transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions. See “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will select which shareholders to enter into private transactions with.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our securities and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our 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 tender offer rules or proxy 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 tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to shareholders 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 tender or redeem public shares. This may include the requirement that a beneficial holder identify itself. For example, we may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the initial vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Proposed Business — Manner of Conducting Redemptions — Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights.”
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the U.S. securities laws. However, because we will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the successful completion of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and will file 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 our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination as compared to
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companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if this offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to 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 provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, 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 special purpose acquisition company structure and 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 $10.15 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their public shares, and our rights and warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess similar technical, human and other resources as ours or similar local industry knowledge as we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. Additionally, the number of blank check companies looking for business combination targets has increased compared to recent years and many of these blank check companies are sponsored by entities or persons that have significant experience with completing business combinations. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, in the event we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we are obligated to pay cash for our Class A ordinary shares, target companies will be aware that this may present closing risk by reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Additionally, potential target companies may be less inclined to consummate a transaction with us because definitive documentation for such a transaction will preclude any recourse against our trust account, meaning that potential counterparties may determine that they do not have adequate contractual remedies in the event a transaction fails to close. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.15 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.15 per share upon
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our liquidation. 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 $10.15 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the funds not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 18 months following the closing of this offering, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.15 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our rights and warrants will expire worthless.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 18 months following the closing of this offering, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.
We believe that, upon the closing of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 18 months following the closing of this offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed initial business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or other agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.15 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances our public shareholders may receive less than $10.15 per share upon our liquidation. 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 $10.15 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we may depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search for an initial business combination, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, only approximately $2,350,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $820,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. The amount held in the trust account will not be impacted as a result of such increase or decrease. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $820,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds, potentially at higher than desirable rates, from our sponsor, directors, officers or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. We may also resort to other means to raise funds. None of our sponsor, directors, officers nor any of their respective affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to, or otherwise invest in, us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination.
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Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into private-placement equivalent units at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, directors, or officers, or an affiliate of our sponsor, directors or officers, as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive approximately $10.15 per share on our redemption of our public shares, and our rights and warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.15 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.15 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense and/or accept less favorable terms. Furthermore, 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, after completion of any initial business combination, our directors and officers could be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to such 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.
Subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and 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 that may be present with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write down or write off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any shareholder, rights holder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a shareholder, rights holder or warrant
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holder, respectively, following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders, rights holders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the initial business combination constituted an actionable material misstatement or omission.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.15 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses 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 perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver only if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering, will not execute agreements 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 required 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 $10.15 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 Exhibit 10.1 to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a written letter of intent, confidentiality, or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (1) $10.15 per public share and (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.15 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable; provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account or any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities
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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 $10.15 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 public share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our other officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
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 $10.15 per share.
The net proceeds of this offering and certain proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants, in an aggregate amount of $126,875,000, will be held in an interest-bearing trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in direct U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. 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 of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may withdraw to pay income taxes, if any) would be reduced. 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). If the balance of the trust account is reduced below $126,875,000 as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.15 per share.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (1) $10.15 per public share and (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.15 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor assert that each of them are unable to satisfy their respective obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties to applicable stakeholders may choose not to do so in any particular instance if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.15 per share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive (and any other persons who may become an officer or director prior to the initial business combination will also be required to waive) any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (1) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (2) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit
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against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a winding-up or bankruptcy petition or an involuntary winding-up or bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and we and the members of our board of directors may be exposed to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a winding-up or bankruptcy petition or an involuntary winding-up or bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or insolvency laws as a voidable performance. As a result, a bankruptcy court or a liquidator 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 petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our 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 petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, (1) 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, and (2) the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our 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.
Holders of rights will not have redemption rights.
If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we redeem the funds held in the trust account, the rights will expire and holders will not receive any of the amounts held in the trust account in exchange for such rights.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
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restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
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restrictions on the issuance of securities;
each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
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registration as an investment company 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.
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In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete an initial business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long-term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. This offering is 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: (1) the completion of our initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (3) absent an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, 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 an initial business combination or may result in our liquidation. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.15 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are and will be 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, our business combination may be contingent on our ability to comply with certain laws and regulations and any post-business combination company may be subject to additional laws and regulations. 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, including as a result of changes in economic, political, social and government policies, and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within the allotted time period, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such allotted time period before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the
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trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), pro rata to our public shareholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account shall be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to windup, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond the allotted time 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 then only in cases where investors have properly sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior thereto.
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, and thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offense and may be liable for a fine of up to approximately $18,300 and to imprisonment for up to five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold an annual shareholder meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination. Our public shareholders will not have the right to elect or remove directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders until after we consummate our initial business combination (unless required by NYSE). 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. In addition, as holders of our Class A ordinary shares, our public shareholders will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination. In addition, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.
Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations 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 receive only approximately $10.15 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and 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, consultants and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the
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proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.15 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.15 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.15 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Since our initial shareholders will lose their entire at-risk investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On December 12, 2021, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 in exchange for issuance of 3,593,750 founder shares, or approximately $0.007 per share. On December 29, 2021, Celtic subscribed for 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate capital contribution of $1,217 which was previously funded by our sponsor. On December 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for no consideration. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share dividend, share repurchase capitalization, redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). None of these founder shares are subject to forfeiture in the event the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised. All of the founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.
In addition, our sponsor and I-Bankers have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,545,000 warrants (or 8,201,250 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $7,545,000 in the aggregate (or $8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), which will also be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.
The founder shares are identical to the ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering except that: (1) prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election, removal or replacement of directors and holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason; (2) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions; (3) our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive: (i) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame); (4) the founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution
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rights, as described in more detail below; and (5) the founder shares are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our initial shareholders have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them purchased during or after this offering in favor of our proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director.
The personal and financial interests of our sponsor, directors and officers 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 to complete our initial business combination nears.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete an initial 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 prospectus to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following this offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
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default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after 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 our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;
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our inability to pay dividends on our ordinary shares;
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using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our ordinary shares if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions and fund other general corporate purposes;
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limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
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an increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
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an increased risk of filing (1) a voluntary bankruptcy petition, or (2) an involuntary bankruptcy petition by a creditor;
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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
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other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preferred 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 Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of closing 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 authorizes 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
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value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 undesignated preferred shares, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 187,500,000 and 16,875,000 (assuming in each case that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option) authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance, which amount does not take into account the Class A ordinary shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants, upon conversion of outstanding rights or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares. Class B ordinary shares are convertible into Class A ordinary shares, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein, including certain circumstances in which we issue Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities related to our initial business combination. Class B ordinary shares are also convertible at the option of the holder at any time. Immediately after this offering, there will be no preferred shares issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares, and may issue preferred shares, in order 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 to redeem the warrants as described in “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of public warrants” or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of closing of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote as a class with our public shares on any initial business combination. 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 the approval of our shareholders. However, our officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares.
The issuance of additional ordinary shares or preferred shares:
•
may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, 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;
•
may subordinate the rights of holders of ordinary shares if preferred shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our ordinary shares;
•
could cause a change of control if a substantial number of our ordinary shares is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present directors and officers;
•
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;
•
may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, ordinary shares, rights and/or warrants; and
•
may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services and limited operating activities. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operating results and profitability.
Of the net proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $126,875,000 (or $145,906,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be available to complete our
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initial business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which includes $4,375,000, or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination being held in the trust account, and excludes estimated offering expenses of $820,000). In addition, we will pay I-Bankers a cash fee in an amount equal to 1.0% of the total consideration payable in the initial business combination if it introduces us to the target business with whom we complete our initial business combination. The underwriters will not receive any underwriting commissions on any units purchased in this offering by AXIOS.
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 risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination on a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
•
solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or
•
dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, political, 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.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.
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. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.
Our rights, warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We will be issuing rights that will result in the issuance of up to 625,000 Class A ordinary shares (or up to 718,750 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) and warrants to purchase 12,500,000 Class A ordinary shares (or up to 14,375,000 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at a price of $11.50 per share (subject to adjustment as provided herein), as part of the units offered by this prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of this offering, we will be issuing in a private placement an aggregate of 7,545,000 (or 8,201,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants, each exercisable to
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purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our initial shareholders currently hold 3,593,750 Class B ordinary shares (up to 468,750 of which are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised). The Class B ordinary shares are convertible into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private-placement warrants of the post-business combination company at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. To the extent we issue Class A ordinary shares 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 or conversion rights could make us a less attractive combination vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our rights, warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate an initial business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering except that, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) they are entitled to registration rights.
The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees 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.
Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, at or after the time of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of their founder shares after those shares convert to our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our sponsor and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the private placement warrants and the our Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and the holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the resale of such warrants or the our Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our 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 Class A ordinary shares that is expected when the securities described above are registered for resale.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
Although we intend to focus on identifying companies in the AgTech industry, we will consider an initial business combination in industries or sectors outside of our management team’s areas of expertise if an initial business combination candidate is presented to us, and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company or we are unable to identify a suitable candidate in the AgTech industry after having expanded a reasonable amount of time and effort in an attempt to do so. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in this offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in an initial business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management team’s expertise, our management team’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding the areas of our management team’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that
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we elect to acquire. As a result, our management team may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors relevant to such acquisition. Accordingly, any shareholder, rights holder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a shareholder, rights holder or warrant holder, respectively, following our initial 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 acquisition opportunities with an early-stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early-stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our directors and officers will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
We are not required to obtain an opinion regarding fairness. Consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, or our board cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we, or a committee of independent directors, are not required to obtain an opinion that the such initial business combination 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 tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related 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 their individual 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. We do not, however, intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with 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 an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our initial 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 an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete an initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public 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, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective 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 initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all our Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that some of our shareholders, rights holders or warrant holders may not support.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check 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. A resolution is deemed to be a special resolution as a matter of Cayman Islands law where it has been approved by either (1) holders of at least two-thirds (or any higher threshold specified in a company’s articles of association) of a company’s ordinary shares at a general meeting for which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special resolution has been given or (2) if so authorized by a company’s articles of association, by a unanimous written resolution of all of the company’s shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that special resolutions must be approved either by holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting (i.e., the lowest threshold permissible under Cayman Islands law) (other than amendments relating to provisions governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination, which require the approval of a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares attending and voting in a general meeting), or by a unanimous written resolution of all of our shareholders. The warrant agreement provides that (a) the terms of the public warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the public warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision (ii) removing or reducing the Company’s ability to redeem the public warrants and, if applicable, a corresponding amendment to the Company’s ability to redeem the private placement warrants 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 public warrants under the warrant agreement in any material respect, (b) the terms of the warrants may be amended with the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and private placement warrants, voting together as a single class, to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements and (c) the terms of the warrants may be amended with the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then
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outstanding warrants and private placement warrants, voting together as a single class, to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements and (c) all other modifications or amendments to our warrant agreement with respect to the public warrants require the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and amending our warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding private placement warrants. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments, including the warrant agreement, or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
Certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account), including an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per-share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, may be amended with the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our outstanding ordinary shares, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by holders of a certain percentage of the company’s shares. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by holders holding between 90% and 100% of the company’s public shares. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions, including those related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the sale of private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances), may be amended if approved by holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our ordinary shares (other than amendments relating to provisions governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination, which require the approval of a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares attending and voting in a general meeting). Our initial shareholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete our initial business combination with which you do not agree. In certain circumstances, our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any specific business combination target, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we
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may be required to seek additional financing to complete or to abandon the proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. 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.
Further, the amount of additional financing we may be required to obtain could increase as a result of future growth capital needs for any particular transaction, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of public shares from shareholders who elect to redeem their shares in connection with our initial business combination and/or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase public shares in connection with our initial business combination. 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 directors, officers or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.15 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our rights and warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “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 $10.15 per share,” under certain circumstances our public shareholders may receive less than $10.15 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
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 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 consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions) and
(iii)
the Market Value is below $9.20 per share,
then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of public warrants” 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 an initial business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We would include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with any 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 (“U.S. GAAP”) or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IFRS”), depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some
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targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy or tender offer rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe.
Our initial business combination or reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders or warrant holders.
Subject to requisite shareholder approval, we may effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or reincorporate in another jurisdiction. Such transactions may result in tax liability for a shareholder or warrant holder in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder is a tax resident (or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity), in which the target company is located, or in which we reincorporate. In the event of a reincorporation pursuant to our initial business combination, such tax liability may attach prior to the consummation of redemptions of any of our public shares properly submitted to us for redemption in connection with such business combination. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company
After our initial business combination, our results of operations and prospects could be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political, social 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.
Because we are not limited to a particular industry, sector or geographic area or 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.
Although we expect to focus our search for a target business in the AgTech industry in Eastern Europe or interested in expanding into Eastern Europe, we may seek to complete an initial business combination with an operating company of any size (subject to our satisfaction of the 80% fair market value test) and in any industry, sector or geographic area. However, we will not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, profitability, 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 development stage entity. Although our directors and officers 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 not ultimately prove to be less favorable to our investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any shareholder, rights holder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a shareholder, rights holder or warrant
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holder, respectively, following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders, rights holders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Our 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 an initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and 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-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the 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 initial 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 outstanding capital shares, shares or other equity securities of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
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 have all of these positive attributes. 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 do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.15 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.15 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.15 per share” and other risk factors herein.
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After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all or substantially 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 or substantially 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.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination could remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
We may face risks related to energy, water, food and agriculture sector companies.
Business combinations with companies in the water, food and agriculture industries entail certain risks. If we are successful in completing a business combination with any such target business, we may be subject to, and possibly adversely affected by, the following risks:
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governmental or regulatory actions relating to water rights, water quality or infrastructure, even if well-intentioned;
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governmental or regulatory actions which, among other things, establish standards for the treatment, storage and disposal of solid and hazardous waste, could subject us to responsibility and liability for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous substances;
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changes to labor regulations concerning minimum wages and minimum and maximum work hours or restricting the hiring of illegal immigrants;
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changes in demographics that impact water demands, public policies that may be negative toward investment in water resources, water resources market conditions or inability to obtain or maintain sufficient water supply;
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agricultural crops are vulnerable to crop disease, pests, and adverse weather conditions, and, because agricultural crops are perishable, unfavorable growing conditions can reduce both crop size and crop quality;
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negative impacts of climate change, including an increased risk of flooding, degradation in the quality of groundwater aquifers, and expansion of agricultural weed and pest populations;
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the failure of food and agriculture quality control procedures could cause losses from liability to harmed persons, and negatively impact consumer perception;
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price fluctuations resulting from recessions, adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, political domestic and foreign trade, changes in supply and demand and other factors;
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difficulty in establishing and implementing a commercial and operational approach adequate to address the specific needs of the markets we are pursuing;
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legal claims arising with respect to any project having undisclosed or unknown environmental problems or as to which inadequate reserves have been established;
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need for substantial investments for infrastructure changes necessary for growth, such as additional rail and trucking capacity, additional storage facilities, advancement of technologies and updates to the electric grid;
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the viability and continued growth in demand for renewable energy may be impacted by many factors outside of our control, including competition, market acceptance of renewable energy systems, availability and amount of government subsidies and incentives, and prices of traditional utility-provided energy sources;
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difficulty in competing against established companies who may have greater financial resources and/or a more effective or established localized business presence;
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the possibility of applying an ineffective commercial approach to targeted markets, including product offerings that may not meet market needs with respect to their environmental or non-environmental attributes;
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an inability to build strong brand identity, environmental credibility or reputation for exceptional customer satisfaction and service;
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difficulty in timely identifying, attracting, training, and retaining qualified sales, technical, and other personnel;
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any significant disruption in our computer systems or those of third parties that we would utilize in our operations, including disruptions or failure of our networks, systems or technology as a result of computer viruses, “cyberattacks,” misappropriation of data or other malfeasance, as well as outages, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, accidental releases of information or similar events; and
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scientific reports or investigative journalism on the negative impacts of agricultural products, even if these studies or other types of publication are based on incorrect assumptions, basics or data, do not concern our specific sector, or the derivation of the results in these studies or publications was done neglecting standard principles.
Any of the foregoing could have an adverse impact on our operations following a business combination. However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will be focused on, but not be limited to the water, food & agriculture and renewable energy sectors. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks will likely not affect us and we will be subject to other risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, none of which can be presently ascertained.
Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If our management team pursues a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If our management team pursues 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 market, 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 how relevant governments respond to such factors), including any of the following:
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costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
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rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
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complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
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laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
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tariffs and trade barriers;
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regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
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longer payment cycles;
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tax consequences, such as tax law changes, including termination or reduction of tax and other incentives that the applicable government provides to domestic companies, and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
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currency fluctuations and exchange controls, including devaluations and other exchange rate movements;
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rates of inflation, price instability and interest rate fluctuations;
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liquidity of domestic capital and lending markets;
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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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energy shortages;
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data privacy;
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changes in industry, regulatory or environmental standards within the jurisdictions where we operate;
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public health or safety concerns and governmental restrictions, including those caused by outbreaks of pandemic disease such as the COVID-19 pandemic;
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crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, wars and other forms of social instability;
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deterioration of political relations with the United States;
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political changes, ruptures of states and alliances between states;
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obligatory military service by personnel; and
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government appropriation of assets.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such combination or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
The likelihood of such occurrences and their potential effect on us vary from country to country and are unpredictable. Certain regions, including Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region, are generally more economically and politically volatile and as a result, operations in these regions could be subject to significant fluctuations in sales and operating income from quarter to quarter. Adverse fluctuations in the operating results in these regions could have a disproportionate impact on the results of our operations following a business combination.
Risks Relating to Our Management Team
Certain of our sponsor, their affiliates, our directors and officers are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Following the completion of this offering and 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
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and directors and officers are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business. Our sponsor, their affiliates, and their directors and officers are also not prohibited from competing with us for acquisition opportunities, or sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, in each case, prior to us completing our initial business combination. However, each director and officer of AXIOS (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering. Moreover, entities in which our directors and officers are affiliated with may enter into agreements or other arrangements with businesses, which agreements or arrangements may limit or restrict our ability to enter into a business combination with such business.
Our directors and officers 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. Any such opportunities may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, and our directors and officers may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. Subject to Cayman Islands law and the duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law, these conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to other entities prior to its presentation to us. 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 our interest in 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.
For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Management — Directors, Director Nominees and Officers,” “Management — Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of our or a target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, 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 initial business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of an initial business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an initial business combination candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an initial business combination target’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an initial business combination 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.
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We are dependent upon our directors and officers and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals, in particular, our directors and officers. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our directors and officers, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our directors and officers 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 endeavors, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Although our directors and officers have agreed to serve in their respective capacities until the earlier of the consummation by the Company of an initial business combination, the liquidation of the Company, or their removal, death or incapacity, they may not do so. For a discussion of certain of our officers’ and directors’ other business endeavors, please see “Management — Directors, Director Nominees and Officers.” We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements as well as reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, if any, with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation or reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, if any, 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 the resultant company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the initial business combination. Additionally, they may negotiate reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses incurred on our behalf prior to the consummation of our initial business combination should they choose to do so. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the initial 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 initial business combination, or as reimbursement for such out-of-pocket expenses. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. 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 limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
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’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholder, rights holder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a shareholder, rights holder or warrant holder, respectively, following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders, rights holders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
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
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impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Our directors and officers 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 directors and officers 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 an initial business combination and their other businesses. Although we may in the future retain consultants and advisors to perform certain services for the company, we do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors may be engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to, or otherwise expect to receive, substantial compensation or other economic benefit and our officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs, nor are they prohibited from sponsoring, or otherwise becoming involved with, or continuing their involvement with, any other blank check companies prior to us completing our initial business combination. Certain of our directors and officers also serve as officers and/or board members for other entities. If our directors’ and officers’ 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. For a discussion of certain of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management — Directors, Director Nominees and Officers.”
We may engage in an initial business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, directors and officers with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, directors and officers. Certain of our directors and officers also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including those described under “Management — Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, directors and officers 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 preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Selection of a target business and structuring of our initial business combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement that we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion, if required by applicable law or based upon the decision of our board of directors or a committee thereof, from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, 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.
Moreover, we may, at our option, pursue an affiliated joint acquisition opportunity with other entities to which an officer or director has a fiduciary, contractual or other obligation or duty. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing equity to any such parties, which may give rise to certain conflicts of interest.
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Our directors, officers, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or their respective 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, officers, security holders or their respective affiliates, 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. In particular, affiliates of our sponsor has invested in a diverse set of industries. As a result, there may be substantial overlap between companies that would be a suitable business combination for us and companies that would make an attractive target for such other affiliates.
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 target 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.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
We intend to apply to have our units listed on the NYSE on or promptly after the date of this prospectus and our Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants on or promptly after their date of separation. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NYSE. Although after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum average global market capitalization and a minimum number of holders of our securities.
Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our global market capitalization would be required to be at least $150 million, the aggregate market value of our publicly-held
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shares would be required to be at least $40 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 400 round lot holders and 1,100,000 publicly held shares. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the NYSE delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
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a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
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reduced liquidity for our securities;
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a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
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a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
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a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants will be listed on NYSE, our units, Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants will qualify as covered securities under such statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by 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 NYSE, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under such statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities, including in connection with our initial business combination.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares and/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: (1) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of rights and holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the rights or warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares, rights and/or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our initial shareholders paid an aggregate of $25,000 in exchange for issuance of 3,593,750 founder shares, or approximately $0.007 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution upon the purchase of our Class A ordinary shares.
The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the Class A ordinary shares and none to the right or warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net
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tangible book value per ordinary share after this offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in this offering. Our sponsor acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon the closing of this offering, and assuming no value is ascribed to the rights and warrants included in the units, you and the other public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 94.0% (or $8.96 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.57 and the initial offering price of $9.52 per unit. For purposes of the dilution calculation, in order to present the maximum estimated dilution as a result of this offering, we have assumed (i) the issuance of 0.05 of a share for each right outstanding, as such issuance will occur upon a business combination without the payment of additional consideration and (ii) the number of shares included in the units offered hereby will be deemed to be 13,125,000 (consisting of 12,500,000 shares included in the units we are offering by this prospectus and 625,000 shares for the outstanding rights), and the price per share in this offering will be deemed to be $9.52. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B ordinary shares result in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public shareholders seek redemptions from the trust. In addition, because of the anti-dilution rights of the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A ordinary shares.
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 contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include two-year director terms and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Cayman Islands law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together, these provisions 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.
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 NYSE, NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
After completion of this offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors until our initial business combination. As a result, NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of NYSE corporate governance standards. Under NYSE 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:
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we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of NYSE;
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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
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we have a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities.
We do not intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of NYSE, 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 NYSE corporate governance requirements.
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There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
There is currently no market for our securities. Shareholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases). Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
You will not be permitted to exercise your warrants unless we register and qualify the issuance of the underlying Class A ordinary shares or certain exemptions are available
If the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of the warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, holders of warrants will not be entitled to exercise such warrants and such warrants may have no value and expire worthless.
While we have registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act as part of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we do not plan on keeping a prospectus current until required to pursuant to the warrant agreement. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a post-effective amendment to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part or a new registration statement covering the issuance of such shares, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same 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 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. 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 included as part of units sold in this offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the
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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 public 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 15 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
If you exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis,” you will receive fewer Class A ordinary shares from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
There are circumstances in which the exercise of the public warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Second, if a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act; provided that such exemption is available; if that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. Third, if we call the public warrants for redemption, we will have the option, in our sole discretion, to require any holder that wishes to exercise its public warrants (including any public warrants held by our sponsor, officers, directors or their permitted transferees) to do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, the number of Class A ordinary shares received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised their public warrants for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company.
Our initial shareholders will control the election of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination and will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they will elect all of our directors prior to our initial business combination and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Upon the closing of this offering, our initial shareholders will own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). In addition, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors and may remove members of the board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election, removal or replacement of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares attending and voting in a general meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election, removal or replacement of directors prior to our initial business combination.
Neither our initial shareholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our directors or officers, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading
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price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial shareholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial shareholders purchase any Class A ordinary shares in this offering or in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. Accordingly, our initial shareholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a shareholder vote at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Unlike many other similarly structured blank check 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 at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holders, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts offered in this prospectus and related to the closing of the initial business combination, the ratio at which founder shares shall convert into Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted so that 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 all outstanding ordinary shares upon completion of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers), plus (ii) all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued, or deemed issued in connection with the initial business combination, excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination, and any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or any of their affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us. This is different from most other similarly structured blank check companies in which the initial shareholder will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the 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 our Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our public warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that (a) the terms of the public warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or to correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the public warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision, (ii) removing or reducing the Company’s ability to redeem the public warrants and, if applicable, a corresponding amendment to the Company’s ability to redeem the private placement warrants or (ii) 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 public warrants (b) the terms of the warrants may be amended with the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and private placement warrants, voting together as a single class, to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements and (c) the terms of the warrants may be amended with the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding warrants and private placement warrants, voting together as a single class, to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements and (c) all other modifications or amendments to our warrant agreement with respect to the public warrants require the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and amending our warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding private placement warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
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We may amend the terms of the rights in a way that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding rights.
Our rights will be issued in registered form under a rights agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as rights agent, and us. The rights agreement provides that the terms of the rights may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision. The rights agreement requires the approval by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding rights in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.
Each of our rights agreement and warrant agreement will designate 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 rights and holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of rights holders and warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Each of our rights agreement and warrant agreement will provide that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the rights agreement or warrant agreement, as applicable, 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 rights agreement and 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 rights or warrants, as applicable, shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our rights agreement or warrant agreement, as applicable. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of our rights agreement or warrant agreement, as applicable, 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 rights or warrants, as applicable, 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 right holder or warrant holder, as applicable, in any such enforcement action by service upon such right holder’s counsel or such warrant holder’s counsel, as applicable, in the foreign action as agent for such rights holder or such warrant holder, as applicable.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit the ability of rights holders and warrant holders 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 rights agreement or 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 outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption and provided certain other conditions are met. Please see “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of public warrants” If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may
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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: (1) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (2) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants; or (3) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us.
The determination of the offering price of our units and the size of this offering is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our units properly reflects the value of such units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.
Prior to this offering there has been no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the units and the terms of the rights and the warrants were negotiated between us and the underwriters. In determining the size of this offering, management held customary organizational meetings with representatives of the underwriters, both prior to our inception and thereafter, with respect to the state of capital markets, generally, and the amount the underwriters believed they reasonably could raise on our behalf. Factors considered in determining the size of this offering, prices and terms of the units, including the Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants underlying the units, include:
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the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;
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prior offerings of those companies;
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our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;
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a review of debt-to-equity ratios in leveraged transactions;
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our capital structure;
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an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;
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general conditions of the securities markets at the time of this offering; and
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other factors as were deemed relevant.
Although these factors were considered, the determination of our offering price is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities of an operating company in a particular industry since we have no historical operations or financial results.
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 the completion 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 completion 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 complete such transaction.
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. Depending on the
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jurisdiction of our acquisition target for our initial business combination, we may be subject to rules promulgated by foreign regulators. 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.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. Federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. 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 (1) 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 (2) 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 the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
General Risk Factors
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 (as defined in the section of this prospectus captioned “Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Federal Income Taxation — U.S. Holders”) of our ordinary shares or warrants (or possibly our rights), 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
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depend upon the status of an acquired company pursuant to a business combination and whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception (see the section of this prospectus captioned “Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Federal Income Taxation — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules”). Depending on the particular circumstances, the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, moreover, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor upon written request to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may require, including a PFIC Annual Information Statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would likely be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases (and may not be available with respect to our rights). We urge U.S. Holders to consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules to holders of our ordinary shares, rights and warrants. For a more detailed explanation of the tax consequences of PFIC classification to U.S. Holders, see “Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Federal Income Taxation — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”
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.
We are a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a newly incorporated company with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through this offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning an initial 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.
Past performance by businesses or entities affiliated with AXIOS, our management team, directors and advisors, and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company or in the future performance of any business we may acquire.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, AXIOS, our management team, directors and advisors, and their respective affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Not all of the companies in which our team has invested have achieved the same level of value creation. Past performance by AXIOS, our management team, directors or advisors and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee (1) either of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (2) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical performance of AXIOS, our management team, directors and advisors and any of their respective affiliates as indicative of the future performance of an investment in the Company or the returns the Company will, or is likely to, generate going forward. Our management team, directors and advisors have had limited past experience with blank check and special purpose acquisition companies and no experience working together. The absence of experience working together may be exacerbated by the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early-stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
We 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 aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of the end of any second quarter of a fiscal year, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the end of such fiscal year. 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 aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and 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 and other disclosures with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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USE OF PROCEEDS
We are offering 12,500,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement warrants will be used as set forth in the following table.
Gross Proceeds | | | Without Over-Allotment Option | | | Over-Allotment Option Exercised | | ||||||
Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1) | | | | $ | 125,000,000 | | | | | $ | 143,750,000 | | |
Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement | | | | | 7,545,000 | | | | | | 8,201,250 | | |
Total gross proceeds | | | | $ | 132,545,000 | | | | | $ | 151,951,250 | | |
Estimated offering expenses(2) | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Underwriting commissions(3) | | | | $ | 2,500,000 | | | | | $ | 2,875,000 | | |
Legal fees and expenses | | | | | 350,000 | | | | | | 350,000 | | |
Accounting fees and expenses | | | | | 60,000 | | | | | | 60,000 | | |
Printing and engraving expenses | | | | | 40,000 | | | | | | 40,000 | | |
SEC expenses | | | | | 30,074 | | | | | | 30,074 | | |
FINRA expenses | | | | | 49,164 | | | | | | 49,164 | | |
Travel and road show | | | | | 25,000 | | | | | | 25,000 | | |
NYSE listing and filing fees | | | | | 85,000 | | | | | | 85,000 | | |
Miscellaneous expenses(5) | | | | | 180,762 | | | | | | 180,762 | | |
Total estimated offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) | | | | $ | 820,000 | | | | | $ | 820,000 | | |
Proceeds after estimated offering expenses | | | | $ | 129,225,000 | | | | | $ | 148,256,250 | | |
Held in trust account(3) | | | | $ | 126,875,000 | | | | | $ | 145,906,250 | | |
% of public offering size | | | | | 101.5% | | | | 101.5% | | |||
Not held in trust account(2) | | | | $ | 2,350,000 | | | | | $ | 2,350,000 | | |
The following table shows the use of the approximately $2,350,000 of net proceeds not held in the trust account(5).
| | | Amount | | | % of Total | | ||||||
Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses in connection with any business combination(7) | | | | $ | 900,000 | | | | | | 38.3% | | |
Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations(8) | | | | | 100,000 | | | | | | 4.26% | | |
NYSE continued listing fees(8) | | | | | 85,000 | | | | | | 3.62% | | |
Directors and officers insurance premiums(4) | | | | | 612,500 | | | | | | 26.06% | | |
Administration and Support Services | | | | | 180,000 | | | | | | 7.66% | | |
Working capital and miscellaneous expenses | | | | | 472,500 | | | | | | 20.11% | | |
Total | | | | $ | 2,350,000 | | | | | | 100.0% | | |
(1)
Includes amounts payable to public shareholders who properly redeem their shares in connection with our successful completion of our initial business combination.
(2)
A portion of the offering expenses have been paid from the proceeds of a promissory note from AXIOS Sponsor LP of $350,000 as described in this prospectus. To date, we have borrowed $50,000 under the promissory note with AXIOS Sponsor LP. This promissory note will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $820,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account. These expenses are estimates only. In the event that offering expenses are less than as set forth in this table, any such
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amounts will be used for post-closing working capital expenses. In the event that the offering expenses are more than as set forth in this table, we may fund such excess with funds not held in the trust account.
(3)
Upon completion of our initial business combination, $4,375,000, which constitutes the amount payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination (or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be paid to I-Bankers from the funds held in the trust account, and the remaining funds, less amounts used to pay redeeming shareholders, will be released to us and can be used to pay all or a portion of the purchase price of the business or businesses with which our initial business combination occurs or for general corporate purposes, including payment of principal or interest on indebtedness incurred in connection with our initial business combination, to fund the purchases of other companies for working capital. In addition, if I-Bankers introduces us to the target business with whom we complete our initial business combination, we will pay I-Bankers a fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 1.0% of the total consideration payable in the initial business combination.
(4)
This amount represents the approximate amount of annualized director and officer liability insurance policy premiums we anticipate paying following the completion of this offering and until we complete a business combination.
(5)
Includes organizational and administrative expenses and may include amounts related to above-listed expenses in the event actual amounts exceed estimates.
(6)
These expenses are estimates only. Our actual expenditures for some or all of these items may differ from the estimates set forth herein. For example, we may incur greater legal and accounting expenses than our current estimates in connection with negotiating and structuring a business combination based upon the level of complexity of such business combination. In the event we identify an acquisition target in a specific industry subject to specific regulations, we may incur additional expenses associated with legal due diligence and the engagement of special legal counsel. In addition, our staffing needs may vary and as a result, we may engage a number of consultants to assist with legal and financial due diligence. We do not anticipate any change in our intended use of proceeds, other than fluctuations among the current categories of allocated expenses, which fluctuations, to the extent they exceed current estimates for any specific category of expenses, would not be available for our expenses. The amount in the table above does not include interest available to us from the trust account. Based on current interest rates, we would expect to earn approximately $634,375 in interest on the funds held in the trust account over the 12 months following the closing of this offering; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. This estimate assumes an interest rate of 0.5% per annum based upon current yields of securities in which the trust account may be invested. 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 directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, lend us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such borrowed 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 borrowed amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such borrowed amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such working capital loans may be convertible into private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 private placement warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such working capital loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor 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.
(7)
Includes estimated amounts that may also be used in connection with our initial business combination to fund a “no shop” provision and commitment fees for financing.
(8)
This amount represents applicable fees and expenses for one year following this offering.
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NYSE listing rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $126,875,000 (or $145,906,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), including $4,375,000 (or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination, will, upon the consummation of this offering, be placed in a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. In addition, we will pay I-Bankers a cash fee in an amount equal to 1.0% of the total consideration payable in the initial business combination if it introduces us to the target business with whom we complete our initial business combination. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Based on current interest rates, we estimate that the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $634,375 per year, assuming an interest rate of 0.5% per annum. We will not be permitted to withdraw any of the principal or interest held in the trust account except for the withdrawal of interest to pay our taxes, if any. The funds held in the trust account will not otherwise be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. Based on current interest rates, we expect that interest earned on the trust account will be sufficient to pay taxes.
The net proceeds held in the trust account may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we ultimately complete our initial business combination and to pay the amounts to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, 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 the redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We believe that amounts not held in trust will be sufficient to pay the costs and expenses to which such proceeds are allocated. This belief is based on the fact that while we may begin preliminary due diligence of a target business in connection with an indication of interest, we intend to undertake in-depth due diligence, depending on the circumstances of the relevant prospective acquisition, only after we have negotiated and signed a letter of intent or other preliminary agreement that addresses the terms of a business combination. However, if our estimate of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may be required to raise additional capital, the amount, availability and cost of which is currently unascertainable. If we are required to seek additional capital, we could seek such additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their respective affiliates, but such persons are not under any obligation to loan funds to, or otherwise invest in, us.
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $350,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the organization and offering expenses of this offering. To date, we have borrowed $50,000 under this promissory note. This loan is non-interest bearing, unsecured and is due at the earlier of July 31, 2022, and the closing date of this offering. This loan will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $820,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.
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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 directors and officers 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 working capital loans may be convertible into private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 private placement warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
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, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may also purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Please see “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities” for a description of how such persons will determine from which shareholders to seek to acquire shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. However, such persons have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. Such persons will be subject to restrictions in making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
We may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions, and the agreement for our initial business combination may require 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 so that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement or any net worth or cash requirements, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination, and may instead search for an alternate business combination.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of rights and holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the rights and warrants, as applicable.
Our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares
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held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as described elsewhere in this prospectus. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect its representative’s shares held by it in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, our initial shareholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. However, if our initial shareholders acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
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DIVIDEND POLICY
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 earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of this offering, in which case we will effect a capitalization or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
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DILUTION
The difference between the public offering price per Class A ordinary share, assuming no value is attributed to the rights or warrants included in the units we are offering pursuant to this prospectus or the private placement warrants, and the pro forma net tangible book value per ordinary share after this offering constitutes the dilution to investors in this offering. Such calculation does not reflect any dilution associated with the sale and exercise of warrants, including the private placement warrants, which would cause the actual dilution to the public shareholders to be higher, particularly where a cashless exercise is utilized. Net tangible book value per share is determined by dividing our net tangible book value, which is our total tangible assets less total liabilities (including the value of Class A ordinary shares which may be redeemed for cash), by the number of issued and outstanding ordinary shares.
At December 31, 2021, our net tangible book value was ($608,068), or approximately ($0.19) per share of issued Class B ordinary shares. For purposes of the dilution calculation, in order to present the maximum estimated dilution as a result of this offering, we have assumed (i) the issuance of 0.05 of a share for each right outstanding, as such issuance will occur upon a business combination without the payment of additional consideration and (ii) the number of shares included in the units offered hereby will be deemed to be 13,125,000 (consisting of 12,500,000 shares included in the units we are offering by this prospectus and 625,000 shares for the outstanding rights), and the price per share in this offering will be deemed to be $9.52. After giving effect to the sale of 12,500,000 Class A ordinary shares included in the units we are offering by this prospectus (or 14,375,000 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), the sale of the private placement warrants and the deduction of underwriting commissions and estimated expenses of this offering, our pro forma net tangible book value at December 31, 2021, would have been $0.57 per share (or $0.51 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of 12,500,000 Class A ordinary shares that may be redeemed for cash, or 14,375,000 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of $0.76 per share (or $0.68 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) to our initial shareholders as of the date of this prospectus and an immediate dilution of $8.96 per share or 94.0% to our public shareholders not exercising their redemption rights. The dilution to new investors if the underwriters exercise the over-allotment option in full would be an immediate dilution of $9.01 per share or 94.6%.
The following table illustrates the pro forma dilution to the public shareholders on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the rights or warrants included in the units or the private placement warrants:
| | | Without Over-allotment | | | With Over-allotment | | ||||||
Public offering price | | | | $ | 9.52 | | | | | $ | 9.52 | | |
Net tangible book value before this offering | | | | | (0.19) | | | | | | (0.17) | | |
Increase attributable to public shareholders | | | | | 0.76 | | | | | | 0.68 | | |
Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants (rounded to two decimal places) | | | | | 0.57 | | | | | | 0.51 | | |
Dilution to public shareholders | | | | $ | 8.96 | | | | | $ | 9.01 | | |
Percentage of dilution to public shareholders | | | | | 94.0% | | | | | | 94.6% | | |
For purposes of presentation, we have reduced our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) by $126,875,000 because holders of up to approximately 100% of our public shares may redeem their shares at $10.15 per share for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account at a per-share redemption price equal to the amount in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of Class A ordinary shares sold in this offering.
The following table sets forth information with respect to our initial shareholders, public shareholders and the underwriter:
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| | | Shares Purchased | | | Total Consideration | | | Average Price Per Share | | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | | | Percentage | | | Amount | | | Percentages | | ||||||||||||||||||||
Initial Shareholders(1) | | | | | 3,125,000 | | | | | | 18.94% | | | | | $ | 25,000 | | | | | | .02% | | | | | $ | .008 | | |
Representative’s shares | | | | | 250,000 | | | | | | 1.52% | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Public Shareholders(2) | | | | | 13,125,000 | | | | | | 79.55% | | | | | | 125,000,000 | | | | | | 99.98% | | | | | $ | 9.52 | | |
Total | | | | | 16,500,000 | | | | | | 100% | | | | | $ | 125,025,000 | | | | | | 100% | | | | | | | | |
(1)
Assumes the full forfeiture of 468,750 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
(2)
Assumes the issuance of an additional 625,000 shares underlying the rights included in the public units.
The pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering is calculated as follows:
| | | Without Over-allotment | | | With Over-allotment | | ||||||
Numerator: | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net tangible book value before this offering | | | | $ | (608,068) | | | | | $ | (608,068) | | |
Net proceeds from this offering and sale of the private placement warrants | | | | | 129,225,000 | | | | | | 148,256,250 | | |
Plus: Offering costs paid in advance, excluded from tangible book value before this offering | | | | | 624,637 | | | | | | 624,637 | | |
Less: Over allotment liability(1) | | | | | (99,107) | | | | | | — | | |
Less: Proceeds held in trust subject to redemption | | | | | (126,875,000) | | | | | | (145,906,250) | | |
Total Pro Forma Net Tangible Book Value | | | | $ | 2,267,462 | | | | | $ | 2,366,569 | | |
Denominator: | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Shares outstanding prior to this offering | | | | | 3,125,000 | | | | | | 3,593,750 | | |
Shares included in the units offered | | | | | 12,500,000 | | | | | | 14,375,000 | | |
Shares underlying the rights to be included in the units offered | | | | | 625,000 | | | | | | 718,750 | | |
Representative’s shares | | | | | 250,000 | | | | | | 300,000 | | |
Less: Shares subject to redemption | | | | | (12,500,000) | | | | | | (14,375,000) | | |
Total Pro Forma Shares Outstanding | | | | | 4,000,000 | | | | | | 4,612,500 | | |
(1)
Represents the fair value of the underwriters 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,875,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
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CAPITALIZATION
The following table sets forth our capitalization at December 31, 2021, and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our 12,500,000 units in this offering for $125,000,000 (or $10.00 per unit) and the sale of 7,545,000 private placement warrants for $7,545,000 (or $1.00 per unit) and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:
| | | December 31, 2021 | | |||||||||
| Actual | | | As Adjusted(2) | | ||||||||
Note payable to related party(1) | | | | $ | 50,000 | | | | | $ | — | | |
Over allotment liability(5) | | | | | — | | | | | | 99,107 | | |
Class A ordinary shares; -zero- and 12,500,000 shares are subject to possible redemption, actual and as adjusted, respectively(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | 126,875,000 | | |
Preferred shares, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, 200,000,000 shares authorized; -zero- and 250,000 shares issued and outstanding (excluding -zero- and 12,500,000 shares subject to possible redemption), actual and as adjusted, respectively | | | | | — | | | | | | 25 | | |
Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, 20,000,000 shares authorized, 3,593,750 and 3,125,000 shares issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted, respectively(4) | | | | | 359 | | | | | | 313 | | |
Additional paid-in capital | | | | | 24,641 | | | | | | 2,275,555 | | |
Accumulated deficit | | | | | (8,431) | | | | | | (8,431) | | |
Total shareholders’ equity | | | | $ | 16,569 | | | | | $ | 2,267,462 | | |
Total capitalization | | | | $ | 66,569 | | | | | $ | 129,241,569 | | |
(1)
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $350,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the organization and offering expenses of this offering, which loan is due at the earlier of July 31, 2022, and the closing of this offering. As of December 31, 2021, we have borrowed $50,000 under the promissory note with AXIOS Sponsor.
(2)
Assumes the full forfeiture of 468,750 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The proceeds of the sale of such shares will not be deposited into the trust account, the shares will not be eligible for redemption from the trust account nor will they be eligible to vote upon the initial business combination.
(3)
Upon the completion of our initial business combination, we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), subject to the limitations described herein and following such redemptions, and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination. The “as adjusted” amount of our ordinary shares, subject to redemption equals 12,500,000 shares at an initial redemption value of $10.15 per share.
(4)
Actual share amount is prior to any forfeiture of founder shares by our initial shareholders and as adjusted share amount assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, excluding 625,000 Class A ordinary shares underlying the rights in the units.
(5)
Represents the fair value of the underwriters 30 day option to purchase up to an additional 1,875,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Overview
We are a newly incorporated blank check company, incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company, for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities and activities related to this offering. At the time of preparing this prospectus, we have not identified or selected any specific target company for a business combination, and neither we nor anyone on our behalf has engaged, directly or indirectly, in any substantive discussions with any potential target company about entering into a business combination with us. Although there is no restriction or limitation on what industry our target operates in, it is our intention to pursue prospective targets that are engaged in the AgTech industry with our target search focused on agricultural companies in Eastern Europe, in particular the Black Sea region.
We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, shares and debt.
The issuance of additional ordinary shares or preferred shares in a business combination:
•
may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, 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;
•
may subordinate the rights of holders of ordinary shares if preferred shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our ordinary share;
•
could cause a change of control if a substantial number of ordinary shares is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present directors and officers;
•
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;
•
may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, ordinary shares, rights and/or warrants; and
•
may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
Similarly, if we issue debt or otherwise incur significant indebtedness, it could result in:
•
default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
•
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;
•
our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;
•
our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;
•
our inability to pay dividends on our ordinary share;
•
using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;
•
limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
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•
increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and
•
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.
Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for this offering. Following this offering, 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 after this offering. 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. After this offering, 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 the closing of this offering.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our liquidity needs have been satisfied prior to the completion of this offering through the payment of $25,000 from our sponsor to cover for certain expenses on behalf of us in exchange for issuance of founder shares, and up to $350,000 in loans from our sponsor under an unsecured promissory note. To date, we have borrowed $50,000 under the promissory note with our sponsor. We estimate that the net proceeds from (1) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of approximately $820,000 and underwriting commissions of $2,500,000 ($2,875,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) (excluding business combination marketing fees of $4,375,000 or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), and (2) the sale of the private placement warrants for a purchase price of $7,545,000 (or $8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), will be $129,225,000 (or $148,256,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $126,875,000 or $145,906,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, including $4,375,000, or up to $5,031,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in business combination marketing fees will be deposited into the trust account. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. The remaining $2,350,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $820,000 we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $820,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and excluding business combination marketing fees), to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay our taxes, if any. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and other income earned on the amounts held in the trust account. We expect the interest earned on the amount in the trust account will be sufficient to pay our taxes. We expect the only taxes payable by us out of the funds in the trust account will be income and franchise taxes, if any. To the extent that our ordinary shares or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we will have available to us an estimated $2,350,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account. We will use these funds primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from
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the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, structure, negotiate and complete a business combination, to pay taxes to the extent the interest earned on the trust account is not sufficient to pay our taxes and to use for working capital purposes.
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 directors and officers 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 working capital loans may be convertible into private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 private placement warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such working capital loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor 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.
We expect our primary liquidity requirements to include approximately $900,000 for legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses in connection with any business combinations; $100,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting requirements; $85,000 for NYSE continued listing fees; $612,500 for directors and officers insurance premiums; $240,000 for administration and supply services; and $412,500 for general working capital that will be used for miscellaneous expenses and reserves net of estimated interest income.
These amounts are estimates and may differ materially from our actual expenses. In addition, we could use a portion of the funds not being placed in trust to pay commitment fees for financing, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision 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 initial business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into an agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business, the amount that would be used as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision would be determined based on the terms of the specific business combination and the amount of our available funds at the time. Our forfeiture of such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise) could result in our not having sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conducting due diligence with respect to, prospective target businesses.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an 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 completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination.
As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, at December 31, 2021, we had no cash, and deferred offering costs of $624,637. Further, 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.
Controls and Procedures
We are not currently required to maintain an effective system of internal controls as defined by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will be required to comply with the internal control reporting
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requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we intend 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 independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement.
Prior to the closing of this offering, we have not completed an assessment, nor have our independent registered accounting firm tested our systems, of internal controls. We expect to assess the internal controls of our target business or businesses prior to the completion of our initial business combination and, if necessary, to implement and test additional controls as we may determine are necessary in order to state that we maintain an effective system of internal controls. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding the adequacy of internal controls. Many small and mid-sized target businesses we may consider for our initial business combination may have internal controls that need improvement in areas such as:
•
staffing for financial, accounting and external reporting areas, including segregation of duties;
•
reconciliation of accounts;
•
proper recording of expenses and liabilities in the period to which they relate;
•
evidence of internal review and approval of accounting transactions;
•
documentation of processes, assumptions and conclusions underlying significant estimates; and
•
documentation of accounting policies and procedures.
Because it will take time, management involvement and perhaps outside resources to determine what internal control improvements are necessary for us to meet regulatory requirements and market expectations for our operation of a target business, we may incur significant expenses in meeting our public reporting responsibilities, particularly in the areas of designing, enhancing, or remediating internal and disclosure controls. Doing so effectively may also take longer than we expect, thus increasing our exposure to financial fraud or erroneous financing reporting.
Once our management’s report on internal controls is complete, we will retain our independent registered public accounting firm to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The independent registered public accounting firm may identify additional issues concerning a target business’s internal controls while performing their audit of internal control over financial reporting.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
The net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be invested in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Related Party Transactions
On December 12, 2021, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 to cover for certain expenses on behalf of us in exchange for issuance of 3,593,750 founder shares, or approximately $0.007 per share. On December 29, 2021, Celtic subscribed for 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate capital contribution of $1,217 which was previously funded by our sponsor. On December 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for no consideration. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. Our initial shareholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares
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issuable to I-Bankers). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share dividend, share repurchase, capitalization, redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). Up to 468,750 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
Our sponsor, directors and officers, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors, officers or our or any of their respective affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $350,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the offering and organization expenses of this offering. To date, we have borrowed $50,000 under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of July 31, 2022, and the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $820,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.
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 directors and officers 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 working capital loans may be convertible into private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 private placement warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such working capital loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor 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.
Our sponsor and I-Bankers have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,545,000 private placement warrants (or 8,201,250 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $7,545,000 in the aggregate (or $8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Of such amount, 6,545,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by our sponsor and 1,000,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by I-Bankers, in each case assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised, our sponsor has agreed to purchase an additional 531,250 private placement warrants and I-Bankers has agreed to purchase an additional 125,000 private placement warrants in the private placement. The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering except that: (1) they will not be redeemable by us; (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 our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) they (including the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement that we will enter into with our initial shareholders on or prior to the closing of this offering, we may be required to register certain securities for sale under the Securities Act. These holders and holders of warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if
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any, are entitled under the registration rights agreement to make up to three demands that we register certain of our securities held by them for sale under the Securities Act and to have the securities covered thereby registered for resale pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders have the right to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until the securities covered thereby are released from their lock-up restrictions, as described herein. We will bear the costs and expenses of filing any such registration statements. See “Principal Shareholders — Registration Rights.”
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations; Quarterly Results
As of December 31, 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. No unaudited quarterly operating data is included in this prospectus as we have conducted no operations to date.
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. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
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: (1) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; (2) 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; (3) 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 (4) 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 this offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
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PROPOSED BUSINESS
Company Overview
We are a blank check company, newly incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities and activities related to this offering. At the time of preparing this prospectus, we have not identified or selected any specific target company for a business combination, and neither we nor anyone on our behalf has engaged, directly or indirectly, in any substantive discussions with any potential target company about entering into a business combination with us. Although there is no restriction or limitation on what industry our target operates in, it is our intention to pursue prospective targets that are engaged in AgTech, with our target search focused on agricultural companies in Eastern Europe, in particular the Black Sea region.
We intend to seek targets that adhere to the highest standards with respect to environmental and social matters, and focus on sustainable supply chains, operations, asset management and production methods, socially responsible employment opportunities, as well as active and transparent stakeholder engagement, supported by strong governance mechanisms. We believe these goals are highly aligned with benchmarking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formalized by the United Nations Member States in 2015, which call for a “global partnership” to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth, in addition to addressing climate change and preserving natural resources.
We intend to focus on finding one or more businesses that are focused on the following broad environmental and social policy goals:
(i)
operating a durable, sustainable and profitable business that advances United Nations, European Union, World Bank and other internationally-sanctioned environmental and development goals, policies and guidelines;
(ii)
implementing an active, participatory and effective corporate decision-making structure tasked with using natural resources (e.g., land, air and water) responsibly and with investor, environmental and societal long-term interests in mind;
(iii)
supporting the advancement and modernization of agriculture in the markets where we operate by looking at new methods, procedures and technologies, and promoting an infusion of technology, best practices and access to financial and technical “know-how” to attract a new class of young, local, tech-savvy entrepreneurs to create a new cadre of farmers; and
(iv)
supporting human development, security and dignity by engaging directly with local communities and institutions, and work for the general human good.
We will seek to capitalize on the significant experience and substantial network of our management team and affiliates of our sponsor. Although we may pursue our initial business combination target in any business sector, industry or geographic location, we intend to focus our search on targets in agri-business and plant-based proteins located in Eastern Europe.
Our management team believes that the intersection of agriculture, plant-based food production and technology represents a tremendous opportunity for investment. The protein transformation from animal derived proteins to plant-based proteins comes along with significant untapped or unnoticed potential across the agri-business and food value chain — in particular for vertically integrated platforms. The alternative protein market is expected to be worth $290 billion globally by 2035. With the world population projected to grow to 9.8 billion by 2050, the agriculture sector is being forced to do more with less. Rapidly increasing global demand for food and protein sources comes together with decreases in productivity gains and shrinkage of resources. In addition, global initiatives towards carbon dioxide (“CO2”) neutrality and the growing need to reduce the dependency on conventional fossil fuels is propelling the demand for bio-based products where protein crops play an important role. Therefore, agriculture is one of the key industries of the
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present and future to meet ambitious climate targets and serve fast-growing markets, as well as to address critical food security issues and global food demand challenges.
We believe our management team’s collective background makes us well-positioned to identify attractive businesses that would further benefit from access to the public markets and the diverse skill set of our team. We intend to focus on evaluating established companies with leading competitive positions, experienced management teams, attractive financial profiles and robust long-term potential for growth and profitability. Our objective is to consummate our initial business combination with such a business and enhance stakeholder value by identifying and recruiting management, pursuing additional acquisitions, implementing operational improvements, increasing impact outcomes, and expanding its product offerings and geographic footprint. We intend to utilize our sponsor’s research capabilities, experience, reputation and relationships across the agri-business and food industry to achieve this objective.
We believe the fact that we have a management team that has an extensive track record in Eastern Europe will allow us to leverage their significant, diversified and well-rounded network of contacts (including relationships with business and market leaders), business insight and local knowledge for the benefit of a unique and proprietary pipeline of acquisition deals. In addition, we intend to leverage the deep relationships and longstanding experience of these teams with respect to industrial and technology venture capital and private equity sectors, as described in the “Competitive Advantages” section, below. We believe this combination of relationships and experience puts us in an excellent position to find potential targets.
Market and Industry Opportunity
Our management team believes there is no better time than today to take advantage of the global economy in the area of agribusiness with free trade and the ability to move commodities and value-added agriculture-based products around the world. The Black Sea basin and Eurasia, which is the largest land mass in the world, with an abundance of farming, having over 165 million hectares of cultivated land and 15 million hectares of existing and potential irrigated land. The main issues here are lack of access to capital to truly grow and be part of the global supply chain; lack of management know-how; lack of long-term vision; lack of financial and management transparency and corporate governance; and lack of developed land. Where there is a deficiency, often there is an opportunity, and this is exactly where our management team sees an opportunity to acquire a business that can participate in the global supply chain with vertical integration, supply key markets and bring value to shareholders. We believe our management team’s operational experience can be an asset to a potential target in order to roll-out in this region the top industrialized countries’ best agri-technologies to conserve water, energy and other natural resources by using the latest technologies and management practices in irrigation, weather prediction, power systems, soil management and other application, all while improving people’s lives with more skilled jobs and benefits that multiply in the local society.
We believe our management team’s extensive and diversified experience in the agri-food industry will help us to effectively evaluate business combination targets across the European agribusiness industry. Our management team believes it is imperative to lead in the use of precision and sustainable agriculture in emerging markets, especially the Black Sea region and Eurasia, due to the immense availability of good, chernozem soils, good climate, and plentiful access to water for irrigation. We intend to be stewards for conservation of resources through intelligent agri-technologies and support the local socioeconomic as a strong job provider and trainer of new skills. We seek to acquire a target whose business model is to lead by example with good corporate governance, transparency, new technology, while feeding the world, developing more environmentally-friendly products and alternatives and conserving resourcing and improving lives.
The following reasons articulate the rationale behind our management teams focus on targets that are engaged in AgTech in Eastern Europe, in particular the Black Sea region:
Plant-based is the Future. A Large and Fast-Growing Market: The world’s population is growing and so, too, has its demand for food. In the past 200 years, humanity has exploded from an estimated one billion people to more than 7.8 billion in 2021. In some developing economies, that boom has led to a rising middle class and a parallel increase in demand for meat protein — often viewed as a luxury. At the same
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time, the middle class in developed countries is increasingly turning away from animal protein to plant-based alternatives. With the global population expected to hit 8.5 billion by 2030, the European plant-based protein industry is in a prime position to dominate the world food market. In fact, the global industry’s valuation is anticipated to hit $290 billion by 2035 with a 20% CAGR in meat substitutes until 2025 and 34% between 2025 and 2030. While we believe there is significant headroom for consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies and food manufacturers in the alternative-proteins market, many do not have the necessary production capabilities to capture this market opportunity, nor do they know where to focus their efforts. Pea protein is one of the key ingredients in the plant protein market due to its sustainability, nutritional value, and functionalities. Moreover, pea protein is gaining popularity as a replacement for other plant-based proteins such as soy protein, due to its higher levels of amino acid content. The European plant protein market has recorded rapid growth in the past few years owing to increasing consumer interest in alternative proteins, and non-animal-based food products. The demand for plant-based foods and supplements is increasing particularly, among millennials and the Gen Z population. This is primarily due to plant-based proteins emerging as the best alternative to animal protein that can offer all necessary amino acids. Among the other factors that are promoting the growth of the plant protein market is the rising health and environmental concerns. Russia is the world’s fourth-largest polluter, contributing as much as 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide annually. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), livestock accounts for 14.5% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by human activity across the world.
Reimagining Materials: Bio-based Materials Market was valued at USD 13.28 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 85.19 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 26.02% from 2019 to 2026 according to Verified Market Research. Bio-based materials are derived from renewable sources such as feedstock like vegetable oils, corn, or other organic polymers which degrade within one year. There are numerous advantages of using bio-based materials such as the stable price of the sources from agricultural feedstocks as compared to petrochemicals. Low price fluctuations of the source will lead to the stable price of bio-based products. Moreover, the rapid degradation of bio-based materials will help to reduce the waste plastics problem at a significant rate (out of the 8.3 billion tons of plastics produced, 6.3 billion tons is considered as waste). The demand for bio-based materials in every market segment is rising owing to the increasing adoption of sustainable products by consumers. Moreover, the rising awareness for eco-friendly products and reduction in the chemical waste and the release of toxic byproducts into the environment by using sustainable bio-based chemical products will fuel the market demand during the forecast period. Furthermore, the growing concerns about greenhouse gasses coupled with the increasing use of bioplastics as an option in the packaging and automotive industry will significantly drive the global bio-based materials market. Europe dominates the bio-based materials market due to favorable governmental frameworks, the high adoption of bio-based materials in automotive and transport sectors, along with rigid packaging applications. Crop innovations in the oilseed sector are in the early stages of development but could lead to significant market opportunities if there is a stable supply situation. The land used to grow the renewable feedstock to produce bioplastics amounted to approximately 0.7 million hectares in 2020. This accounts for 0.015% of the global agricultural area of 4.8 billion hectares of which 94% were used for pasture, feed, and food. Despite the market growth predicted in the next five years, the land use share for bioplastics will only slightly increase to 0.02%. This clearly shows that there is no competition between the renewable feedstock for food, feed, and the production of bioplastics.
Favorable Price Dynamic in Agricultural Commodities: The World Bank’s Agricultural Price Index increased more than 9% during the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the first quarter of 2020, building on the previous quarter’s momentum. Prices have risen 20% over the past year and are close to a seven-year high. Price gains have been driven by supply shortfalls for some food commodities, especially maize and soybeans, strong demand for feed commodities by China, and U.S. dollar depreciation. The largest price increase in the quarter was for grains, due to production shortfalls, followed by oils and meals. Beverage prices made modest gains while raw materials remained broadly stable as supply disruptions due to the pandemic were resolved. Agricultural prices are expected to average 14% higher in 2021 compared to 2020, followed by a small rise in 2022. Over the medium term, weather, economic growth and the distribution of income, demographics and shifts in dietary patterns, technological developments and policy trends will shape food and agricultural prices.
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Global Sustainability Goals: With fewer than 10 years until the 2030 deadline for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), governments need to step up their efforts to meet global food security and environmental targets, according to a new report released in May 2021 by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (the “FAO”) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (the “OECD”). Although progress towards the SDGs is expected to be made in the coming decade, assuming a fast recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, stable weather conditions and policy environments, the past year of disruptions from COVID-19 has moved the world further away from achieving the SDGs. This calls for urgent attention to the factors and forces driving performance in agri-food systems. Ensuring food security and healthy diets for a growing global population will remain a challenge. Global demand for agricultural commodities — including for use as food, feed, fuel and industrial inputs — is projected to grow at 1.2% per year over the coming decade, albeit at a slower annual rate than during the previous decade. Demographic trends, the substitution of poultry for red meat in rich and many middle-income nations, and a boom in per capita dairy consumption in South Asia are expected to shape future demand.
Need for Productivity Improvements: Accelerating global agricultural productivity growth is critical to feeding a growing global population sustainably. According to the 2020 Global Agricultural Productivity Report, global agricultural productivity needs to increase at an average annual rate of 1.73% sustainably produce food, feed, fiber, and bioenergy for nearly 10 billion people in 2050. Productivity growth is generated by such innovations as precision agriculture technology and improved seeds and best practices for nutrient management and animal health. Attention to ecosystem services, such as pollination and erosion prevention, can increase and sustain productivity gains over time. The key towards this goal is a powerful combination of agricultural technology, best farm management practices, and attention to ecosystem services in supporting productivity growth, sustainability, and resilience is mandatory.
The dominant role of the Black Sea region in world grain markets and food security: The Black Sea region is on the verge to become the new giant in grain and oilseeds globally. The region is outperforming the U.S. and accounts for more than 40% of the world grain exports. It takes the global leadership in productivity and costs due to a unique combination of high fertile soils, climate advantages, irrigation capabilities, large-scale, technologically driven farming, efficient logistics and low production costs. Irrigation and low water supplying costs ensure highest yields, best nutrient parameters, economic stability and enables a long growing season with a very diversified crop mix coupled. However, the majority of agribusiness companies and farms are not well managed, underperforming, undercapitalized and not efficiently integrated. This gives a compelling opportunity to acquire, consolidate, rationalize, and optimize these operations. No other region in the world has such a concentrated amount of large farming operations with the potential of vertical integration and value creation. The proximity of this production to a strategic body of water that connects countries and continents has major and growing implications for global trade. The world has relied on Black Sea trade for millennia. Trade continues to grow as the region is rapidly increasing productivities by improving yields and infrastructure investments into irrigation. The effects of the surge in Black Sea production of grains on food security could be huge. According to research by the FAO, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa currently import more than 50% of their wheat demand. Additionally, out of the 795 million people considered undernourished globally, 92% reside in Asia and Africa. In order for individuals to become more food-secure, they must have stable access to food. Agricultural trade through the Black Sea could help address the food insecurity that many face.
Our Management Team
Our management team consists of experienced dealmakers, entrepreneurs, and seasoned executives with deep sector experience throughout the global farm supply chain. Leading our management team is Benedikt Förtig, our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy, our Chief Financial Officer, and Anthony V. Raftopol, our Chief Operating Officer. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen, who has been serving as Chairman, President and CEO of AGCO for decades is one of the most successful CEOs in the agri-business industry. Under his leadership, AGCO became one of the 500 largest U.S. corporations. In 16 years as CEO and (from 2006) Chairman of the Board, Martin Richenhagen forged a global giant with a stock market value of over $8.5 billion dollars (as of December 21, 2021) from a small holding company with a conglomerate of 40 different brands operating side by side.
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Our management team has a strong track record in the European agriculture-food, energy and chemical industries, spanning all stages of the value chain. Particularly noteworthy is the expertise in building and managing companies and platforms, scaling and developing them from the startup phase to a publicly-listed company. The team has successfully executed two IPOs in the European agri-business and has been involved in numerous transactions as advisors, executives and investors. Our management team brings decades of experience in farming, finance and M&A transactions dedicated to the EMEA region, with a strong focus on the emerging markets in the region, such as Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Bulgaria.
We believe that our management team of operators possess vast and complementary industry expertise, operational experience, and networks. We believe these relationships and assets will enable us to source, identify and execute valued-added transactions for our shareholders.
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen — Director Nominee
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen has agreed to serve as Chairman of our Board of Directors. For 16 years, since 2004 he served as the President & Chief Executive Officer, and since 2006 also as Chairman of the Board of Directors of AGCO. AGCO is a global, manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and sells its products under the well-known brands Challenger®, Fendt®, Massey Ferguson®,Valtra® and GSI®. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen is a designated member of the supervisory board of Daimler Truck, the spin-off of Daimler AG’s trucks division is a listed company at ‘Prime Standard’ of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Prime Standard sets the highest transparency requirements across all segments in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As an independent company, Daimler Truck is the world’s market leader employing approximately 100,000 people in more than 35 main sites. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen is a designated member of the supervisory board of Andreas STIHL. The family-owned company develops, manufactures, and sells power tools for forestry, gardening, landscaping and construction. He currently is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) in Washington, DC. He also is the Economic Ambassador in Cologne, Germany and a member of the North American Advisory Board of Directors (NAAAB) at Rabobank International. Dr. Richenhagen is also member of the board of directors for Linde, a multinational chemical company with German-American roots. It is the largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue, serving customers in the healthcare, petroleum refining, manufacturing, food, beverage carbonation, fibre-optics, steel making, aerospace, chemicals, electronics and water treatment industries. From 2015 to 2018, Prof. Dr. Richenhagen also served as a director of Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), from 2015 until the business combination of Praxair, Inc. and Linde in 2018. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen is also a member of the board of directors of PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG), a leading American coatings and specialty products and services company. He was the Chairman of the German American Chambers of Commerce of the United States and member of the board of directors for Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the board of directors of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern US, Inc. He was Member of the U.S. “President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.” Prof. Dr. Richenhagen has served as Chairman of the board of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (“AEM”) and is a ‘Lifetime Honorary Director’ at AEM. From 2003 until 2004, Prof. Dr. Richenhagen was Executive Vice President of Forbo International SA (XSWX: FORN), a flooring material company headquartered in Switzerland. He also served as Managing Director for CLAAS KGaA mbH, a global agricultural equipment manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Germany, from 1998 until 2003. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen was the Senior Executive Vice President for Schindler Deutschland Holdings GmbH, Germany, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of elevators and escalators, from 1995 until 1998. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen received the highest distinction conferred by the government of France and was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honor) in 2018. He has received the Global Leadership Award from the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies and the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2017.
Mr. Benedikt Förtig — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Benedikt Förtig serves as our Chief Executive Officer and member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Benedikt Förtig has over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, advisor and investor with extensive expertise in agriculture, processing, food production, renewable energy and farm technologies.
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Mr. Benedikt Förtig also brings diverse management expertise throughout his professional career in various operational and senior executive roles. Prior to serving as our Chief Executive Officer, from 2019 to 2020 he was the General Manager and the Chief Operating Officer of Elite Agro LLC Serbia (a subsidiary of YAS Holding LLC, Abu Dhabi) and responsible for all mergers and acquisitions activities, integration of the investments and operational leadership. Since 2016, he has been advising international investors in the areas of strategy development, restructuring, acquisition and divestment of agribusiness companies and took over interim leadership positions. From 2010 to 2015 he was part of the leadership team of KTG Agrar SE (“KTG”), a public vertical agricultural holding company with operations across Germany and Central Eastern Europe and business activities in farming, processing, trading, food production and agricultural machinery. From 2014 to 2015, he was responsible for internal expansion as Chief Business Development Officer and member of the Board of Directors with a focus on investments, mergers and acquisitions as well as strategic projects in the area of plant proteins and oilseeds at KTG. He was a member of the steering committee of the joint venture with Tönnies Group — one of the leading and largest meat processing companies in Europe — and took a key leadership role in development and management of the vertical agricultural holding with 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) of arable farming, compound feed production, pig production and meat processing. Today, the group of companies is one of the 8 largest meat producers in Russia. Mr. Förtig’s experience also includes a vast understanding and passion for venture capital and startups. He supports several projects in the field of farm technologies and plant proteins as a mentor and business angel. Mr. Förtig holds a B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Management Studies from University of Europe for Applied Sciences an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from Humboldt University Berlin.
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy — Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy has over 22 years of strategic global operational experience in large technology focused multinational public and private corporations. Presently, and since 2016, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy is the Managing Director of Health Bytes, LLC a Switzerland-based financial and management consultancy firm. Since 2018, he is also a senior consultant to Celtic Asset and Equity Partners in Dublin, a boutique consultancy specialized in SPACs. Furthermore, since 2019, he is also a member of Board of Directors of Thermal Medical Switzerland Ltd., a Swiss domiciled limited company specialized in development and global marketing of medical devices. Prior to his current engagements, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy held senior global sales and marketing positions at RADIOMETER MEDICAL ApS, which was later acquired by Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR). Earlier in his career, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy held senior positions in business management for Octapharma AG (“Octapharma”), Thermo Fisher Scientific Schweiz (AG), a group company of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (NYSE: TMO), Straumann Holding AG (XSWX: STMN) and Deloitte Consulting AG. At Octapharma, he managed financial and technical due diligence for multiple M&A targets in the U.S. as well implemented a global resource management system. Between 2008 and 2017, he was an active executive committee member of the Strathclyde Alumni Association, a non-profit organization serving the advancement of knowledge and network among the alumni members. Since 2019, he is also a juror and mentor for MassChallenge Switzerland. Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy has a PhD from University of Zurich, Switzerland and an MBA from Strathclyde Business School, UK. We believe that his experience and contacts in global manufacturing as well as his strong understanding of the strategic global operations of large corporations makes him well qualified to serve as our chief financial officer.
Acquisition and Business Combination Criteria
Our team at AXIOS Sustainable Development Acquisition Corporation seeks to combine with targets that will permit us to follow our core business principals, with a specific focus on transforming our agribusiness ventures into models of efficiency, sustainability and social responsibility. As such, each target in our pipeline of opportunities will not only be selected strategically by our experienced agribusiness management and operations teams, but will also be reviewed thoroughly from a technical, legal and financial standpoint by globally-recognized firms and experts. We expect to pursue target businesses that are at a historical inflection point. As such, they are poised to grow with the right injection of technical expertise, market access, good governance and an enhanced access to capital. We intend to assist our target companies with scaling up, improving efficiencies, implementing cost-savings and facilitating access to the international markets.
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Furthermore, we believe our management team’s network of off-takers, suppliers, bankers, investors and professional service providers is well-designed to provide us with significant advantages on a short- and long-term basis.
In this light, our focus with respect to potential targets is expected to revolve around the following core considerations:
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A Compelling Case for Growth and Shareholder Value. We will seek opportunities across the agribusiness space that offer attractive long-term growth prospects through inherent environmental or strategic advantages (such as, for example, by offering favorable geographic and geological conditions, easy access to water, utilities, sustainable energy, export infrastructure, markets and human resources), and which permit scalability and organic growth under a vertically-integrated growth model. These acquisitions will also need to show the ability to absorb additional inputs, such as good governance and improved access to technology and capital, to demonstrate the ability to move along an inflection point of positive growth.
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Leading Industry Position and Competitive Market Advantage. We intend to focus on targets located in Eastern Europe that are focused in agribusiness, plant based proteins, food processing and AgTech. These areas have, in our opinion, strong fundamentals, favorable prospects and a high likelihood of generating strong risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. We will seek to acquire businesses whose products utilize proprietary technology, enjoy a dominant market position in a specific geographic or technological niche, or have some other form of distinct competitive advantage. The factors we intend to consider include the credentials of existing management, growth prospects, competitive dynamics, level of industry consolidation, need for capital investment, intellectual property and barriers to entry.
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Potential for Vertical Integration. Our long-term strategic vision of vertical integration must be played out with our acquisitions working together to support each other. As such, we seek to acquire traditional large-scale farms, AgTech innovators, raw material suppliers, food processing facilities, distribution networks and transportation infrastructure in a manner that permits the development of an organizational platform dedicated to long-term agribusiness growth.
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Attractive, Inherently Profitable Businesses with High Operating Leverage. We will seek to acquire businesses that we believe possess not only established business models and sustainable competitive advantages, but also have inherently profitable unit economics. For example, we will focus on companies with a track record of positive business growth, but we will also seek out companies that show potential for future exponential growth in the face of a significant capital infusion.
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Strong Management Teams. We intend to acquire businesses that have experienced management with a proven track record of rapid growth and the ability to clearly and confidently articulate the business and market opportunities to public market investors. As such, we will spend significant time assessing a company’s leadership and personnel and evaluating our ability to augment and upgrade the existing team following a clearly-defined and well-devised take-over strategy.
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Differentiated Products or Services. We will evaluate metrics such as recurring revenues, product life cycles, cohort consistency, pricing per product or customer, cross-sell success and churn rates to focus on businesses whose products or services are differentiated, or where we see an opportunity to create value by implementing best practices.
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Limited Technology Risk. We will seek to invest in companies that have established market-tested products or service offerings, and do not lend themselves to trends, fads or erratic technology risks. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will continue to look to innovation and technology as assets, rather than risks, for the purpose of guaranteeing market advantages and long-term opportunities.
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Appropriate Valuations. We will seek target companies for our initial business combination based on disciplined valuation-centric metrics. Management has significant negotiating and operating experience, and recognizes that initial valuation is an important component of the ultimate rate of return.
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Alignment with UN SDGs and B Corp Principles. We expect to focus on targets that at least show potential in addressing the global challenges identified by the UN SDGs.
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Benefits from Public Status. We intend to pursue a business combination with a business that will benefit from being publicly-traded and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and public profile that that comes along with this status. As such, we will focus on acquisitions targets with the existing governance mechanisms, financial systems and controls required to be successful in the public place.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets, discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews, financial and tax reviews, real estate title reviews, intellectual property reviews, and other reviews as we deem appropriate.
At the time of finalizing this prospectus, we have not identified or selected any specific business combination target, and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to a business combination with us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Certain of our directors and officers have, and any of them in the future may have fiduciary and contractual duties to one or more entities and to certain companies in which such entities have invested or may invest. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities, subject to Cayman Islands law. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, none of the members of our management team who are also employed by our sponsor or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our sponsor, its affiliates, and their directors and officers are also not prohibited from competing with us for acquisition opportunities, or sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, in each case, prior to us completing our initial business combination. However, each director and officer of AXIOS (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of our sponsor or its affiliates or in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future entities affiliated with or managed by our sponsor, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law and any other applicable fiduciary duties. 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. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”
Our directors and officers presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity subject to his or her fiduciary duties. Accordingly,
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if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may need to honor these fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity before we can pursue such opportunity subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our directors and officers are also not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. See “Risk Factors — Our sponsor, its affiliates, our directors and officers are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.”
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
You should not rely on the historical record of our founders’ and management’s performance as indicative of our future performance. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.”
Initial Business Combination
NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
In any case, we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on the NYSE for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% fair market value test.
Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we will be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets
We believe our management team’s significant operating and transaction experience and relationships with companies will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships around the world. This network has grown through the activities of our management team sourcing, acquiring, financing and selling businesses, our management team’s relationships
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with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and the experience of our management team in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions.
We believe this network provides our management team with a robust and consistent flow of acquisition opportunities which were proprietary or where a limited group of investors were invited to participate in the sale process. We believe that the network of contacts and relationships of our management team will provide us with important sources of acquisition opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core assets or divisions.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Our directors and officers currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004 and our telephone number is (770) 813-6500.
Mail addressed to the company and received at its registered office will be forwarded unopened to the forwarding address supplied by the company to be dealt with. None of the company or its directors, officers, advisors or service providers will bear any responsibility for any delay howsoever caused with regards to mail reaching the forwarding address.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. 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 this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is 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 $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer target businesses an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their equity securities, shares
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or shares of stock in the target business for our shares or for a combination of our shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, road show and public reporting efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests. It can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination initially in the amount of $122,500,000 assuming no redemptions and after payment of $4,375,000 of business combination marketing fees (or $140,875,000 assuming no redemptions and after payment of up to $5,031,250 of business combination marketing fees if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), in each case, after estimated offering expenses of $820,000 (and prior to any post-IPO working capital expenses), we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third-party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following this offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our shares, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, 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 the redemptions of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account.
In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing the business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law or we decide to do so for business or other reasons, we would seek shareholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.
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Selection of a target business and structuring of our initial business combination
NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation or value of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. There is no basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination. To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information, which will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Lack of business diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business.
By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry.
Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
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solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or
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dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
Limited ability to evaluate the target’s management team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following our initial business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Shareholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination
We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.
Under the NYSE listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
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we issue (other than in a public offering for cash) ordinary shares that will either (a) be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of Class A ordinary shares then issued and outstanding or (b) have voting power equal to or in excess of 20% of the voting power then outstanding;
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any of our directors, officers or substantial security holders (as defined by NYSE rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired and if the number of ordinary shares to be issued, or if the number of ordinary shares into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable and the present or potential issuance of ordinary shares, or securities convertible into or exercisable for ordinary shares, could result in an increase in outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 5% or more; or
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the issuance or potential issuance of ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control.
The Companies Act and Cayman Islands law do not currently require, and we are not aware of any other applicable law that will require, shareholder approval of our initial business combination.
Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities
In the event 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
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sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective 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. There is no limit on the number of securities such persons may purchase. 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 respective 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, 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. In the event our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates determine to undertake any such transactions, such transactions could have the effect of influencing the vote necessary to approve such transaction. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such persons will be subject to restrictions in making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. We will adopt an insider trading policy which will require insiders to (1) refrain from purchasing securities during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (2) clear certain trades prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases. Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholder who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling shareholder would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our initial business combination. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules.
The purpose of such transaction could be to (1) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of our initial business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (3) 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. This may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our securities and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and/or any of their respective affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of public shares) following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates enter into private transactions, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination. Such persons would select the shareholders from whom to acquire shares based on the number of shares available, the negotiated price per share and such other factors as any such person
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may deem relevant at the time of purchase. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, directors, officers and/or any of their respective affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will be restricted unless such purchases are made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, directors, officers and/or any of their respective affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of our ordinary shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.
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 the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. At the completion of our initial business combination, we will be required to purchase any ordinary shares properly delivered for redemption and not withdrawn. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.15 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the amounts payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its public shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our rights or public warrants. Our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to any representative’s shares held by it in connection with the completion of our initial 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 (1) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (2) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless shareholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.
If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
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conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and
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file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.
If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
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conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and
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file proxy materials with the SEC.
We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholder well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any shareholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our NYSE listing or Exchange Act registration.
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 shareholder 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 holders of a majority of ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our initial shareholders have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. Our directors and officers also have agreed to vote in favor of our initial business combination with respect to public shares acquired by them, if any. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to vote its representative’s shares in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that at the time of any shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares without voting and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination.
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Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions. Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (1) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners; (2) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (3) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all public 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 ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
Limitation on redemption upon completion of our initial business combination if we seek shareholder approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, 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 provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to Excess Shares, 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 sponsor or its affiliates to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or its affiliates 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 shares sold in this offering, 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.
Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights
We may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Pursuant to the tender offer rules, the tender offer period will be not less than 20 business days and, in the case of a shareholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct
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redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by some blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, some blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the shareholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or two business days prior to the scheduled date of the shareholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable (unless we elect to allow additional withdrawal rights). Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period.
Redemption of public shares and liquidation if no initial business combination
Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed that we will have only 18 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such 18-month period or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes 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 liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) 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
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Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our rights or warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period or during any Extension Period.
Our initial shareholders and I-Bankers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares, and pursuant to which I-Bankers has waived its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any representative’s shares held by it, if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial shareholders acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.
Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the estimated $2,350,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.15. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.15. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent 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, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including, but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver only if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the
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engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, 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. Our sponsor has agreed that they will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a written letter of intent, confidentiality, or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (1) $10.15 per public share and (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.15 per share due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes; provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account or any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our other officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (1) $10.15 per public share and (2) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.15 per share due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor assert that it is unable to satisfy their respective 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, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.15 per share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent 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 monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $2,350,000 from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $820,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $820,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
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If we file a winding-up or bankruptcy petition or an involuntary winding-up or bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable insolvency law, and may be included in our insolvency estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any insolvency claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.15 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a winding-up or bankruptcy petition or an involuntary winding-up or bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or insolvency laws as a voidable performance. As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of rights and holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the rights or the warrants, as applicable.
Amended and restated memorandum and articles of association
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain a provision which provides that, if we seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, we will provide public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with any such amendment. Specifically, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that:
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prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we shall either (1) seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which public shareholders may seek to redeem their public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to tender their public shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a shareholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein;
•
in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions;
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•
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 holders of a majority of ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company;
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if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law; and
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prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote as a class with our public shares on any initial business combination.
These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote in a general meeting. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that we may consummate our initial business combination only if approved by a majority of the ordinary shares voted by our shareholders at a duly held general meeting.
Additionally, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors and that holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares attending and voting at such general meeting. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except as required by law, holders of our founder shares and holders of our public shares will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.
Comparison of redemption or purchase prices in connection with our initial business combination and if we fail to complete our initial business combination.
The following table compares the redemptions and other permitted purchases of public shares that may take place in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period.
| | | Redemptions in Connection with our Initial Business Combination | | | Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares by our Affiliates | | | Redemptions if we fail to Complete an Initial Business Combination | |
Redemption price | | | Redemptions at the time of our initial business combination may be made pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a shareholder vote. The redemption price will be the same whether we | | | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately | | | If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, we will redeem all public shares at a per-share | |
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| | | Redemptions in Connection with our Initial Business Combination | | | Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares by our Affiliates | | | Redemptions if we fail to Complete an Initial Business Combination | |
| | | conduct redemptions pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a shareholder vote. In either case, our public shareholders may redeem their public shares for cash equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination (which is initially anticipated to be $10.15 per share), including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitation that no redemptions will take place if all of the redemptions would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and following such redemptions, and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) agreed to in connection with the negotiation of terms of a proposed business combination. | | | negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Such purchases will be restricted except to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares in such transactions. | | | price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (which is initially anticipated to be $10.15 per share), including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. | |
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| | | Redemptions in Connection with our Initial Business Combination | | | Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares by our Affiliates | | | Redemptions if we fail to Complete an Initial Business Combination | |
Impact to remaining shareholders | | | The redemptions in connection with our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for our remaining shareholders, who will bear the burden of the business combination marketing fees and interest withdrawn in order to pay taxes (to the extent not paid from amounts accrued as interest on the funds held in the trust account). | | | If the permitted purchases described above are made, there will be no impact to our remaining shareholders because the purchase price would not be paid by us. | | | The redemption of our public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for the shares held by our initial shareholders, who will be our only remaining shareholders after such redemptions. | |
Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419
The following table compares the terms of this offering to the terms of an offering by a blank check company subject to the provisions of Rule 419. This comparison assumes that the gross proceeds, underwriting commissions and underwriting expenses of our offering would be identical to those of an offering undertaken by a company subject to Rule 419, and that the underwriters will not exercise its over-allotment option. None of the provisions of Rule 419 apply to our offering.
| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
Escrow of offering proceeds | | | NYSE listing rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. $126,875,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock & Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. | | | Approximately $106,312,500 of the offering proceeds, representing the gross proceeds of this offering less allowable underwriting commissions, expenses and company deductions under Rule 419, would be required to be deposited into either an escrow account with an insured depositary institution or in a separate bank account established by a broker-dealer in which the broker-dealer acts as trustee for persons having the beneficial interests in the account. | |
Investment of net proceeds | | | $126,875,000 of the net offering proceeds and the sale of the private placement warrants held in trust will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions | | | Proceeds could be invested only in specified securities such as a money market fund meeting conditions of the Investment Company Act or in securities that are direct obligations of, or obligations guaranteed as to principal or interest by, the United States. | |
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| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
| | | under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. | | | | |
Receipt of interest on escrowed funds | | | Interest on proceeds from the trust account to be paid to shareholders is reduced by (1) any taxes paid or payable, and (2) in the event of our liquidation for failure to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period, up to $100,000 of net interest that may be released to us should we have no or insufficient working capital to fund the costs and expenses of our dissolution and liquidation. | | | Interest on funds in escrow account would be held for the sole benefit of investors, unless and only after the funds held in escrow were released to us in connection with our completion of a business combination. | |
Limitation on fair value or net assets of target business | | | The NYSE rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). | | | The fair value or net assets of a target business must represent at least 80% of the maximum offering proceeds. | |
Trading of securities issued | | | The units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants constituting the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless I-Bankers Securities, Inc. informs us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. At the time that the Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants comprising the units begin separate trading, holders will hold the separate securities and no longer hold units (without any action needing to be taken by the holders), and the units will no longer trade. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the | | | No trading of the units or the underlying ordinary shares, rights and warrants would be permitted until the completion of a business combination. During this period, the securities would be held in the escrow or trust account. | |
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| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
| | | closing of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. | | | | |
Exercise of the warrants | | | The warrants cannot be exercised until the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and 12 months from the closing of this offering. | | | The warrants could be exercised prior to the completion of a business combination, but securities received and cash paid in connection with the exercise would be deposited in the escrow or trust account. | |
Election to remain an investor | | | We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein. We may not be required by law to hold a shareholder vote. If we are not required by applicable law or stock exchange rules and do not otherwise decide to hold a shareholders vote, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC and file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and | | | A prospectus containing information pertaining to the business combination required by the SEC would be sent to each investor. Each investor would be given the opportunity to notify the company in writing, within a period of no less than 20 business days and no more than 45 business days from the effective date of a post-effective amendment to the company’s registration statement, to decide if he, she or it elects to remain a shareholder of the company or require the return of his, her or its investment. If the company has not received the notification by the end of the 45th business day, funds and interest or dividends, if any, held in the trust or escrow account are automatically returned to the shareholder. Unless a sufficient number of investors elect to remain investors, all funds on deposit in the escrow account must be returned to all of the investors and none of the securities are issued. | |
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| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
| | | the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, we hold a shareholder vote, we will, like some blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. Pursuant to the tender offer rules, the tender offer period will be not less than 20 business days and, in the case of a shareholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public shareholders at least 10 days prior to the shareholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such shareholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will be present if the holders of one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the meeting are represented in person or by proxy. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. | | | | |
Business combination deadline | | | If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, we will (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business | | | If an acquisition has not been completed within 18 months after the effective date of the company’s registration statement, funds held in the trust or escrow account are returned to investors. | |
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| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
| | | days thereafter, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes 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 liquidating distributions, if any), and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. | | | | |
Release of funds | | | Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the | | | The proceeds held in the escrow account are not released until the earlier of the completion of a business combination or the failure to effect a business combination within the allotted time period. | |
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| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
| | | closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. | | | | |
Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold a shareholder vote | | | 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 provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect Excess Shares (more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering), without our prior consent. Our public shareholders’ inability to redeem Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and they could suffer a material loss on their investment in us if they sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. | | | Most blank check companies provide no restrictions on the ability of shareholders to redeem shares based on the number of shares held by such shareholders in connection with an initial business combination. | |
Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights | | | We may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to | | | In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, holders could vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holders were seeking to exercise their redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholders to arrange for them to deliver | |
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| | | Terms of Our Offering | | | Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering | |
| | | approve our initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. | | | their certificate to verify ownership. | |
Competition
We expect to encounter significant competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. Additionally, the number of blank check companies looking for business combination targets has increased compared to recent years and many of these blank check companies are sponsored by entities or persons that have significant experience with completing business combinations. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, in the event we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we are obligated to pay cash for our Class A ordinary shares, target companies will be aware that this may present closing risk by reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Additionally, potential target companies may be less inclined to consummate a transaction with us because definitive documentation for such a transaction will preclude any recourse against our trust account, meaning that potential counterparties may determine that they do not have adequate contractual remedies in the event a transaction fails to close. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately
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$10.15 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our rights and warrants will expire worthless.
Conflicts of Interest
Certain of our directors and officers have, and any of them in the future may have fiduciary and contractual duties to one or more entities and to certain companies in which such entities have invested or may invest. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities, subject to Cayman Islands law. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, none of the members of our management team who are also employed by our sponsor or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our sponsor, its affiliates and their directors and officers are also not prohibited from competing with us for acquisition opportunities, or sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, in each case, prior to us completing our initial business combination. However, each director and officer of AXIOS (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of our sponsor or its affiliates or in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future entities affiliated with or managed by our sponsor, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law and any other applicable fiduciary duties. 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. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”
Our directors and officers presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may need to honor these fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her duties under Cayman Islands law. See “Risk Factors — Our sponsor, its affiliates, our directors and officers are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.”
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
Indemnity
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.15 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain
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liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy their indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have three officers and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Members of our management team are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any such person will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We will register our units, Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.
We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to shareholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, U.S. GAAP or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with PCAOB standards. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we will be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of
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Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is 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 $1.00 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 exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.
Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date of this prospectus.
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MANAGEMENT
Officers, Directors and Director Nominees
Our officers, directors and director nominees are as follows:
Name | | | Age | | | Title | |
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen | | | 69 | | | Director Nominee | |
Benedikt Förtig | | | 37 | | | Chief Executive Officer and Director | |
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy | | | 54 | | | Chief Financial Officer | |
Anthony V. Raftopol | | | 52 | | | Chief Operating Officer | |
Dr. Uwe Nickel | | | 63 | | | Director Nominee | |
Jeffrey B. Kamins | | | 48 | | | Director Nominee | |
Hans-Bernd Veltmaat | | | 66 | | | Director Nominee | |
K. Lance Anderson | | | 46 | | | Director Nominee | |
Matthias A. Krön | | | 52 | | | Director Nominee | |
Dr. Thomas Berger | | | 46 | | | Director Nominee | |
Matthijs P. Mondria | | | 52 | | | Director Nominee | |
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen has agreed to serve as Chairman of our Board of Directors. For 16 years, since 2004 he served as the President & Chief Executive Officer, and since 2006 also as Chairman of the Board of Directors of AGCO. AGCO is a global, manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and sells its products under the well-known brands Challenger®, Fendt®, Massey Ferguson®,Valtra® and GSI®. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen is a designated member of the supervisory board of Daimler Truck, the spin-off of Daimler AG’s trucks division is a listed company at ‘Prime Standard’ of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Prime Standard sets the highest transparency requirements across all segments in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As an independent company, Daimler Truck is the world’s market leader employing approximately 100,000 people in more than 35 main sites. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen is a designated member of the supervisory board of Andreas STIHL. The family-owned company develops, manufactures, and sells power tools for forestry, gardening, landscaping and construction. He currently is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) in Washington, DC. He also is the Economic Ambassador in Cologne, Germany and a member of the North American Advisory Board of Directors (NAAAB) at Rabobank International. Dr. Richenhagen is also member of the board of directors for Linde, a multinational chemical company with German-American roots. It is the largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue, serving customers in the healthcare, petroleum refining, manufacturing, food, beverage carbonation, fibre-optics, steel making, aerospace, chemicals, electronics and water treatment industries. From 2015 to 2018, Prof. Dr. Richenhagen also served as a director of Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), from 2015 until the business combination of Praxair, Inc. and Linde in 2018. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen is also a member of the board of directors of PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG), a leading American coatings and specialty products and services company. He was the Chairman of the German American Chambers of Commerce of the United States and member of the board of directors for Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the board of directors of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern US, Inc. He was Member of the U.S. “President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa.” Prof. Dr. Richenhagen has served as Chairman of the board of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (“AEM”) and is a ‘Lifetime Honorary Director’ at AEM. From 2003 until 2004, Prof. Dr. Richenhagen was Executive Vice President of Forbo International SA (XSWX: FORN), a flooring material company headquartered in Switzerland. He also served as Managing Director for CLAAS KGaA mbH, a global agricultural equipment manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Germany, from 1998 until 2003. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen was the Senior Executive Vice President for Schindler Deutschland Holdings GmbH, Germany, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of elevators and escalators, from 1995 until 1998. Prof. Dr. Richenhagen received the highest distinction conferred by the government of France and was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) in 2018. He has received the Global Leadership Award from the American Institute for
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Contemporary German Studies and the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2017. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen’s significant operational, management, financial, and investment experience makes him well qualified to serve as chairman of our board of directors.
Benedikt Förtig serves as our Chief Executive Officer and member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Benedikt Förtig has over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, advisor and investor with extensive expertise in agriculture, processing, food production, renewable energy and farm technologies. Mr. Benedikt Förtig also brings diverse management expertise throughout his professional career in various operational and senior executive roles. Prior to serving as our Chief Executive Officer, from 2019 to 2020 he was the General Manager and the Chief Operating Officer of Elite Agro LLC Serbia (a subsidiary of YAS Holding LLC, Abu Dhabi) and responsible for all mergers and acquisitions activities, integration of the investments and operational leadership. Since 2016, he has been advising international investors in the areas of strategy development, restructuring, acquisition and divestment of agribusiness companies and took over interim leadership positions. From 2010 to 2015 he was part of the leadership team of KTG, a public vertical agricultural holding company with operations across Germany and Central Eastern Europe and business activities in farming, processing, trading, food production and agricultural machinery. From 2014 to 2015, he was responsible for internal expansion as Chief Business Development Officer and member of the Board of Directors with a focus on investments, mergers and acquisitions as well as strategic projects in the area of plant proteins and oilseeds at KTG. He was a member of the steering committee of the joint venture with Tönnies Group — one of the leading and largest meat processing companies in Europe — and took a key leadership role in development and management of the vertical agricultural holding with 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) of arable farming, compound feed production, pig production and meat processing. Today, the group of companies is one of the 8 largest meat producers in Russia. Mr. Förtig’s experience also includes a vast understanding and passion for venture capital and startups. He supports several projects in the field of farm technologies and plant proteins as a mentor and business angel. Mr. Förtig holds a B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Management Studies from University of Europe for Applied Sciences an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from Humboldt University Berlin. We believe Mr. Förtig’s significant experience in M&A, agriculture, sustainability, food production and farm technologies in both private and public companies as well as in various related investment roles makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy serves as our Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy has over 22 years of strategic global operational experience in large technology focused multinational public and private corporations. Presently, and since 2016, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy is the Managing Director of Health Bytes, LLC a Switzerland-based financial and management consultancy firm. Since 2018, he is also a senior consultant to Celtic Asset and Equity Partners in Dublin, a boutique consultancy specialized in SPACs. Furthermore, since 2019, he is also a member of Board of Directors of Thermal Medical Switzerland Ltd., a Swiss domiciled limited company specialized in development and global marketing of medical devices. Prior to his current engagements, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy held senior global sales and marketing positions at RADIOMETER MEDICAL ApS, which was later acquired by Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR). Earlier in his career, Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy held senior positions in business management for Octapharma AG (“Octapharma”), Thermo Fisher Scientific Schweiz (AG), a group company of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (NYSE: TMO), Straumann Holding AG (XSWX: STMN) and Deloitte Consulting AG. At Octapharma, he managed financial and technical due diligence for multiple M&A targets in the U.S. as well implemented a global resource management system. Between 2008 and 2017, he was an active executive committee member of the Strathclyde Alumni Association, a non-profit organization serving the advancement of knowledge and network among the alumni members. Since 2019, he is also a juror and mentor for MassChallenge Switzerland. Dr. Bürgi-Krishnamurthy has a PhD from University of Zurich, Switzerland and an MBA from Strathclyde Business School, UK. We believe that his experience and contacts in global manufacturing as well as his strong understanding of the strategic global operations of large corporations makes him well qualified to serve as our chief financial officer.
Anthony V. Raftopol serves as our Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Raftopol is a US-trained attorney specializing in cross-border commercial transactions into the markets of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As such, he brings over 25 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, real estate and finance. Concurrently, and prior to joining our company, Mr. Raftopol serves as the Managing Partner of Ternir Group, a legal and financial consulting services firm based out of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From 2018 to
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2021, Mr. Raftopol served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Legal Counsel to StHealth Capital Investment Corporation (a SEC-registered Business Development Company) and Vision BioBanc Holdings, Inc. (a privately-registered, licensed financial institution), both of which are based in the U.S. and are focused on healthcare-related investments. In those roles, Mr. Raftopol was tasked with oversight over all capital raising and investment banking activities, fund acquisitions, joint-venture and partnership arrangements, on-going regulatory compliance under applicable U.S. securities laws, communication with the SEC, the formulation of internal compliance policies, procedures and controls, audit requirements, vendor retention and performance, as well as general fund operations. Mr. Raftopol also held partner-level and senior roles in the M&A and finance practices of other law firms focused on Eastern Europe and the Middle East, including Salans (now Dentons), Herzfeld & Rubin, the Iraq Law Alliance and MENA Legal Advisors. In 1995, he was admitted by the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division — Second Department to practice law in the State of New York, and continues to be in good standing. He was also a member of the Bar of Bucharest, Romania between 2005 and 2010. Mr. Raftopol is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Boston University School of Law, and is fluent in English, Romanian, French, Italian and Spanish.
Dr. Uwe Nickel has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Dr. Nickel has 35 years of experience as an executive, advisor, entrepreneur and investor with extensive expertise in specialty-chemicals, agro-chemicals, petrochemicals as well as in active pharmaceutical ingredients production and chemical engineering. During his long career, Dr. Nickel has managed different international businesses and advised global buy and sell side customers in the chemical and pharmaceutical space, amongst them large and mid-size chemical companies and private equity funds. He also advised companies and developed on their behalf strategies, restructuring programs and implementation plans for chemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical customers. Dr. Nickel is an equity partner at Proventis Partners AG, an M&A advisory firm in Switzerland. He also serves as a director on the board of directors of chemical and engineering companies in Europe and North America, such as DCL Corporation, HCS Group GmbH (“HCS”), SIS GmbH, Triplan Ingenieur AG, Pharmaplan AG. From 2011 to 2019, Dr. Nickel was Chief Executive Officer of the specialty hydrocarbon company, HCS. Under his leadership, and strategic M&A, HCS transformed from a local German company, to an international leader in the specialty hydrocarbon sector. From 2008 to 2011, he oversaw chemicals for the ‘EMEA’ region of the management consulting company, Arthur D. Little. From 2003 to 2007, he was a member of the board of directors of the stock listed Swiss company Clariant AG (XSWX: CLN), one of the top 3 global specialty chemicals companies (“Clariant”). He oversaw the groups’ ‘OPEX program’ and the pigments and additives business. By spearheading innovation efforts, investment in new technologies and partaking in joint ventures in China and the APAC region, Dr. Nickel led Clariant to the world’s top ranked company in the specialty chemicals industry. From 1996 to 2003, he was Senior Vice President at Clariant in charge of operations and supply chain management. From 1986 to 1996, he served numerous positions in R&D, operations and staff functions in the Hoechst AG, one of the largest global chemical companies. Dr. Uwe Nickel holds a Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe and graduated in several management training programs at INSEAD, France and IMD, Switzerland. We believe Dr. Nickel’s significant experience in specialty chemicals, management, advisory and operations makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Jeffrey B. Kamins has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Kamins has over 25 years of international experience with primary focus in the agriculture, irrigation and energy sectors in Eastern Europe and Africa, having served in numerous senior roles at international manufacturers and as a former diplomat in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Presently, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Trade Finance LLC, a global finance and market development company, with directors in 32 cities worldwide, covering 85 markets. Mr. Kamins’ global team represents numerous manufacturers and investors, arranging CAPEX and project finance. Formerly, Mr. Kamis also served as Director, Finance, Central and Eastern Europe / Eurasia for AGCO International GmbH, overseeing all retail finance programs for AGCO brands, special project finance for key account customers and all wholesale finance for distribution partners. He holds an MBA/MIM from Thunderbird School of Global Management, which he received in 2000. In 1995, Mr. Kamins graduated with a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Mr. Kamins is fluent in Russian and working knowledge of German and Spanish. Mr. Jeffrey B. Kamins is well-qualified to serve as a director due to his significant experience in working with agriculture equipment manufacturers as well as CAPEX and project finance in Eastern Europe. Mr. Kamins
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is well qualified to serve as a Director due to his significant experience in working with agriculture equipment manufacturers as well as CAPEX and project finance in Eastern Europe.
Hans-Bernd Veltmaat has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. In 2012, Mr. Veltmaat was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer of AGCO. In this role at AGCO, Mr. Veltmaat has global responsibility for manufacturing, purchasing, logistics and quality. AGCO’s manufacturing capacity currently totals 39 factories worldwide. From July 2008 to December 2011, Mr. Veltmaat held the position of Senior Vice President of manufacturing and quality for AGCO and was responsible for AGCO’s factories and quality. Mr. Veltmaat joined AGCO from Alba AG & Co. KG (“Alba”), one of Germany’s leading waste cleaning and recycling companies. Prior to his involvement with Alba, Mr. Veltmaat gained experience in agricultural equipment manufacturing during his 11-year stint with Claas KGaA mbH (“Claas”) in Germany, as a member of the group Executive Board. Mr. Veltmaat spent four years as Executive Vice President Crop Division for Claas and seven years as Managing Director of Claas Fertigungstechnik Group, a technology producer for automotive and aerospace. Prior to joining Claas, Mr. Veltmaat spent 17 years in sales as well as regional management at ABB Ltd. Mr. Veltmaat holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig / Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Mr. Veltmaat is a member of the Industry Executive Advisory Board of the Executive MBA in Supply Chain Management at ETH Zurich. Mr. Veltmaat’s leadership positions in publicly listed agricultural manufacturing companies, and prior experience in supply chain management, manufacturing, quality assurance, sustainability makes him well qualified to serve on our Board of Directors.
Independent Directors
Matthias Krön has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Krön is a key driver in the development of European protein markets, a visionary serial entrepreneur and founder of a European Soya Association, the “Donau Soja Association,” a key organization in European non-GMO soy production. Presently, Mr. Krön is the Chief Executive Officer at Plant Republic GmbH, a European leader in tofu and plant meat production, based in Vienna, Austria. Since 2012, Mr. Krön has served as President of Donau Soja Association, a driving force in the European protein markets. He is responsible for successfully lobbying the European Union with the Europe Soya Declaration in 2017 (signed by 14 EU agricultural ministers) resulting in the development of the ‘EU Protein Plan’. He was also responsible for developing the Danube and Europe soya standards, the gold standards with the best benchmarking in the world of soy. From 1995 to 2011, Mr. Krön was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mona Group, the second largest European non-dairy producer, Mr. Krön has carved a new and innovative business out of an old dairy industry. He has developed a European multi-site production strategy and early on understood that diversity of raw materials and natural, clean label products, were the future. Currently, Mr. Krön is driving forward the development of ‘Fields of Europe’, the first comprehensive European food and feed system. In this project Mr. Krön partnered up with the Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, (NYSE:ADM), Agrifirm, Fenaco, Ameropa and many others. Mr. Krön has extensive experience as a Board Member and Co-Founder of successful businesses in soya, wine, hemp, testing and real estate. He is fluent in Chinese, English and German and has a large personal network in Europe, China and the US. Mr. Krön is well qualified to serve as a Director due to his significant experience in plant proteins and setting up successful agribusinesses in Eastern Europe. Currently, Mr. Krön is driving forward the development of ‘Fields of Europe’, the first comprehensive European food and feed system. In this project Mr. Krön partnered up with ADM (NYSE: ADM), cooperatives such as Agrifirm, Fenaco, Ameropa AG and many others. He has developed a European Multi Site Production strategy and early on understood that diversity of raw materials and natural, clean label products, were the future. After successful business development in Mona in 2011 Mr. Krön started to develop the successful European Soya Association “Donau Soja” which has been a driving force in the European Protein Markets — from successfully lobbying the European Union (EU) with the Europe Soya Declaration in 2017 (signed by 14 EU agricultural ministers) to the development of the EU Protein Plan. The Danube and Europe Soya Standards are the gold standards with the best benchmarking in the world of Soya. Mr. Krön has extensive experience as a Board Member and Co-Founder of successful businesses in Soya, Wine, Hemp, Testing and Real Estate. He is fluent in Chinese, English and German and has a large personal network in Europe, China and the US. Mr. Matthias Krön’s profound industry experience, investment activities and deep sector expertise make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
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Dr. Thomas Berger has agreed to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. Dr. Berger combines extensive industry experience in the field of renewable energies with wide-ranging legal expertise in various areas of law. Since January 2017 he has been responsible for the corporate restructuring, advising on investment in financial instruments and corporate strategy, as an independent legal and financial consultant. He is also a shareholder of NordStrom AG (Berlin and Luxembourg). Between April 2009 to August 2016, Dr. Berger was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KTGE, Europe’s largest listed biogas producer at the time. Under his leadership, KTGE more than tripled its revenue. Under Dr. Berger’s leadership, the company generated significant EBITDA and went public in June 2012 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. During this time, he developed international expertise in the legal field of renewable energies and was a speaker at numerous conferences. Dr. Berger worked for Freshfields and Noerr, international law firms, for two years before becoming the Managing Director at an airline, Comfort Air GmbH & Co. KG, München Airport, which he successfully managed until the owner sold it to an investor in 2008. Following a period with the Deutscher Bundestag (the German parliament) in 2002 as the Speaker in the Economic Committee, he was admitted to the bar in Munich in 2003. Dr. Berger has a Ph.D in law from Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich, he studied law in Munich and Geneva, he received a scholarship from the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the Max Planck Society. Dr. Berger is well qualified to serve as a Director due to his significant legal experience, as well as his extensive experience in finance, mergers and acquisitions, banking investment and renewable energies.
Kristopher Lance Anderson has agreed to serve as member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Anderson brings over 20 years of experience in intellectual property development, management and transactions, including corporate and asset-based acquisitions. Since 2016, Mr. Anderson has served as a member of the law firm of Dickinson Wright PLLC (“DW”), in its Austin, Texas office. DW is a fully integrated law firm of approximately 500 attorneys in 19 offices in the United States and Canada. Since 2018, Mr. Anderson has further served as a Deputy CEO of DW, overseeing the firm’s marketing and information technology operations. Mr. Anderson specializes in complex intellectual property and technology transactions and advising businesses in acquisition and disposition of innovation-rich assets. Mr. Anderson has previously served in-house for both a public academic research institution and a private venture capital operating company, in both instances leading the development, negotiation and disposition of all forms of intellectual property. Mr. Anderson practices directly within the agricultural and biotechnology arenas, as well as with food, medical device, pharmaceutical, immuno-oncology, and drug delivery ventures, together with their various regulatory frameworks. In addition to such experience, Mr. Anderson’s background originated in commercial agriculture, working in rural west Texas with corporate family farming operations and contract R&D efforts for new germplasm and agricultural compounds. A significant portion of Mr. Anderson’s current practice includes plant traits and plant-derived products and related formulations ranging from cannabis/hemp to fresh produce and food products. Mr. Anderson has been qualified as a member of the Bar of the State of Texas since 2000, and the United States Patent Office since 2005. Prior to his current firm, Mr. Anderson was Of Counsel at Greenberg Traurig’s Austin, Texas Office. Mr. Anderson is a graduate of Texas Tech University and Texas Tech University School of Law, and received Distinguished Alumnus recognition in 2019 by the Texas Tech University College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Mr. Anderson obtained his undergraduate degree in Entomology with a minor in Horticulture, and further obtained his Masters’ degree in Crop Science, participating in both traditional breeding and genetic research projects. Mr. Anderson is well qualified to serve as a Director due to his in-depth experience in portfolio company selection and acquisition, including administering project focused efforts for risk and intellectual property assessment, particularly, Mr. Anderson’s direct experience in technology transactions, acquisitions and portfolio management.
Matthijs P. Mondria has agreed to serve as an Independent Director and member of our Board of Directors. During the course of his 30-years career, he has developed professional experience in global food and agribusiness strategy, sustainability, mergers & acquisition and in corporate and acquisition debt finance. Mr. Mondria will shortly start as an advisory board member of APH, an agriculture equipment distribution company with strong market positions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is also the principal adviser to True-code.org, a not-for-profit venture initiative sponsored by the Consumer Goods Forum (the pre-eminent industry platform of consumer goods retailers and branded goods producers) and aiming to create radical food supply chain transparency for food retailers and consumer food producers. Between September 2002 and May 2021, Mr. Mondria served in various roles with Rabobank, the world’s leading food and agribusiness bank. From April 2018 to May 2021, Mr. Mondria, as Managing Director and
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Global Head of Sustainable Business Development, was responsible for integrating sustainability in the client business operations of Rabobank’s global wholesale banking network. The purpose of this role was to develop client-facing staff, products and services to position Rabobank is the principal partner for its clients on matters regarding sustainability. From January 2010 to April 2018, Mr. Mondria was a Managing Director and Global Sector Head, leading Rabobank’s business with all corporate clients operating in the upper end of the food value chain (equipment, genetics, animal and crop nutrition, crop protection, pharma, biotechnology, AgTech). In this role, Mr. Mondria was responsible positioning the bank as a strategic partner to key clients, for setting the commercial and research agenda and for developing the global sector P&L topline with a principal focus on corporate finance and capital markets income. As Executive Vice President and Head of Food & Agribusiness, Mr. Mondria was responsible for Rabobank’s portfolio of Food & Agribusiness clients based in its home market (the Netherlands) between June 2007 and January 2015. From 2010 through 2014 he combined his responsibilities as Global Sector Head and Head of Food & Agribusiness. Leading a team of wholesale bankers and credit specialists, the principal focus was on P&L topline development and the development relationships with C-level executives of the bank’s most valuable clients in its home market. From April 2003 to June 2007, Mr. Mondria, as Executive Director and Head of Acquisition Finance, lead the head office-based team responsible for the origination, structuring and execution of debt finance in relation to corporate and private equity backed acquisitions. During his tenure at Rabobank, Mr. Mondria served for many years in the group credit committee. Mr. Mondria received his MBA and his BBA from Nyenrode University in the Netherlands. Mr. Mondria is well-qualified to serve as a Director due to his substantial agribusiness, sustainability, mergers and acquisitions, and debt finance expertise.
Number, Terms of Office and Appointment of Directors and Officers
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we expect that our board of directors will consist of nine members. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our founder shares will have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of the board of directors for any reason, and holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares attending and voting in a general meeting. Each of our directors will hold office for a two-year term. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the shareholders, any vacancies on our board of directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our board of directors or by a majority of the holders of our ordinary shares (or, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our founder shares).
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman, a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Operating Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
NYSE listing rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company 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. Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we expect to have four “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing rules and applicable SEC rules prior to completion of this offering. Our board has determined that each of Matthias Krön, Dr. Thomas Berger, K. Lance Anderson, and Matthijs Mondria are independent directors under applicable SEC rules and NYSE listing rules.
Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
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Officer and Director Compensation
None of our directors or officers have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, directors and officers, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors, officers or our or any of their respective affiliates.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the combined company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We are not party to any agreements with our directors and officers that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Upon the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our board of directors will have three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. Both our audit committee and our compensation committee will be composed solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and the rules of the NYSE require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee will operate under a charter that will be approved by our board and will have the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee will be available on our website following the closing of this offering.
Audit Committee
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish an audit committee of the board of directors. The members of our audit committee will be K. Lance Anderson, Matthias Krön and Matthijs P. Mondria. Matthias Krön will serve as chair of the audit committee.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Matthias Krön qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert�� as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We will adopt an audit committee charter, which will detail the purpose and principal functions of the audit committee, including:
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assisting board oversight of (1) the integrity of our financial statements, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) our independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent registered public accounting firm;
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the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;
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pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
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reviewing and discussing with the independent registered public accounting firm all relationships the independent registered public accounting firm has with us in order to evaluate its continued independence;
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setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm;
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setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
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obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (1) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues;
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meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”;
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reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and
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reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.
Compensation Committee
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a compensation committee of the board of directors. The members of our compensation committee will be Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen, Dr. Thomas Berger and K. Lance Anderson. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen will serve as chair of the compensation committee. We will adopt a compensation committee charter, which will detail the purpose and responsibility of the compensation committee, including:
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reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;
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reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to the compensation, and any incentive-compensation and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers;
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reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;
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implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;
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assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;
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approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees;
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producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and
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reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.
The charter will also provide that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. 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 NYSE and the SEC.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a nominating and corporate governance committee of the board of directors. The members of our nominating and corporate governance committee will be Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen, Matthias Krön and Dr. Thomas Berger. Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen will serve as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee. We will adopt a nominating and corporate governance committee charter, which will detail the purpose and responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:
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identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by the board of directors, and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for appointment at the annual general meeting or to fill vacancies on the board of directors;
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developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines;
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coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the company; and
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reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary.
The charter will also provide that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our shareholders. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors.
Code of Ethics
Prior to the closing of this offering, we will adopt a code of ethics and business conduct (our “Code of Ethics”) applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We will file a copy of our form of our Code of Ethics as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. You will be able to review this document by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of our Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K. See “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”
Conflicts of Interest
Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:
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•
duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole;
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duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;
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duty to not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;
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duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders;
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duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and
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duty to exercise independent judgment.
In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care, which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge, skill and experience which that director has.
As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders; provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.
Certain of our directors and officers have, and any of them in the future may have fiduciary and contractual duties to one or more entities and to certain companies in which such entities have invested or may invest. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, none of the members of our management team who are also employed by our sponsor or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our sponsor, its affiliates and their directors and officers are also not prohibited from competing with us for acquisition opportunities, or sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, in each case, prior to us completing our initial business combination. However, each director and officer of AXIOS (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of our sponsor or its affiliates or in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future entities affiliated with or managed by our sponsor, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law and any other applicable fiduciary duties. 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. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”
Our directors and officers presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has
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then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may need to honor these fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. 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. Our directors and officers are also not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. See “Risk Factors — Our sponsor, its affiliates, our directors and officers are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.”
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical record of our founders’ and management’s performance as indicative of our future performance. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.”
Potential investors should also be aware of the following potential conflicts of interest:
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None of our directors or officers is required to commit his or her full time to our affairs and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating his or her time among various business activities.
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In the course of their other business activities, our directors and officers may become aware of investment and business opportunities that may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as the other entities with which they are affiliated. Our management may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. For a complete description of our management’s other affiliations, see “— Directors, Director Nominees and Officers.”
•
Our initial shareholders, directors and officers have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, our initial shareholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial shareholders (or any of our directors, officers or affiliates) acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such applicable time period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our initial shareholders until the earlier of: (1) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (2) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations, 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 or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Since our sponsor and directors
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and officers may directly or indirectly own ordinary shares, rights and warrants following this offering, our directors and officers may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination.
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Our directors and officers may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination.
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Our directors and officers may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such directors and officers was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.
Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our directors and officers have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our directors, officers and director nominees currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may present a conflict of interest:
Individual | | | Entity | | | Entity’s Business | | | Affiliation | |
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen | | | AGCO Corporation | | | Agricultural machinery manufacturing | | | Chairman | |
| | | Daimler Truck A.G. | | | Commercial vehicle manufacturing | | | Member of supervisory board | |
| | | Andreas Stihl AG & Co. KG | | | Power tool manufacturing | | | Member of supervisory board | |
| | | Linde PLC | | | Industrial gas and engineering company | | | Board member | |
| | | PPG Industries, Inc. | | | Supply of paints, coatings and specialty materials | | | Board member | |
Dr. Uwe Nickel | | | DCL Corporation | | | Manufacturer of color pigments, preparations for coatings, plastics and ink industries | | | Member of supervisory board | |
| | | HCS Group GmbH | | | Manufacturing of specialty chemicals and hydrocarbon solvents | | | Member of supervisory board | |
| | | SIS GmbH | | | Provider of degassing and mobile combustion services | | | Chairman of supervisory board | |
| | | Triplan Ingenieur AG | | | Engineering and specialty chemicals | | | Chairman of the board | |
| | | Pharmaplan AG | | | Pharmaceutical consulting and engineering | | | Chairman of the board | |
Jeffrey B. Kamins | | | Integrated Trade Finance LLC | | | Finance and market development | | | Chief Executive Officer | |
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Individual | | | Entity | | | Entity’s Business | | | Affiliation | |
Hans-Bernd Veltmaat | | | AGCO Corporation | | | Agricultural machinery manufacturing | | | Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer | |
Matthias Krön | | | Plant Republic GmbH | | | Plant protein production | | | Chief Executive Officer | |
| | | Donau Soja Association | | | Plant protein production | | | President | |
Matthijs Mondria | | | APH Group B.V. | | | Agricultural machinery manufacturing | | | Independent non-executive board advisor | |
Accordingly, if any of the above directors or officers become aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for any of the above entities to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity, subject to his fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. 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 do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our sponsor or any of its affiliates elects to make additional investments, such proposed investments could influence our sponsor’s motivation to complete an initial business combination.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our initial shareholders, directors and officers have agreed, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares (and their permitted transferees will agree) and public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination and I-Bankers has agreed to vote any representative’s shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of directors and officers, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide for indemnification of our directors and officers to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect.
We will be party to agreements with our directors and officers that provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We may purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our directors
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and officers against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our directors and officers.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced directors and officers.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
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PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of the date of this prospectus, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our Class A ordinary shares included in the units offered by this prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in this offering, by:
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each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares;
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each of our directors, officers and director nominees; and
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all our directors, officers and director nominees 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 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 prospectus.
On December 12, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate 3,593,750 founder shares for a total purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.007 per share. On December 29, 2021, Celtic subscribed for 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate capital contribution of $1,217 which was previously funded by our sponsor. On December 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for no consideration. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of this offering would be a maximum of 14,375,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after this offering. Up to 468,750 of the founder shares will be forfeited by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment is exercised. The post-offering ownership percentage column below assumes that the underwriters does not exercise their over-allotment option, that our initial shareholders forfeit 468,750 founder shares, and that there are 15,875,000 of our ordinary shares issued and outstanding after this offering, including 250,000 representative’s shares.
| | | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned | | | Approximate Percentage of Issued and Outstanding Ordinary Shares | | ||||||||||||
| Before Offering | | | After Offering | | ||||||||||||||
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
AXIOS Sponsor LP(3) | | | | | 3,418,750 | | | | | | 95.13% | | | | | | 18.73% | | |
Jeffrey B. Kamins(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
K. Lance Anderson(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin Richenhagen(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Benedikt Förtig(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Matthijs P. Mondria(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Dr. Uwe Nickel(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Hans-Bernd Veltmaat(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Matthias Krön(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Anthony V. Raftopol(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
Dr. Ram Bürgi-Krishnamurthy(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
All directors and officers as a group (10 individuals)(3) | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | | | | | — | | |
(1)
Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o AXIOS Sustainable Growth Acquisition Corporation, Hidden Pines Farm, 1409, Hopewell Road, Alpharetta, Georgia 30004.
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(2)
Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B ordinary shares. Such ordinary shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as described in the section entitled “Description of Securities.”
(3)
AXIOS Sponsor LP, our sponsor, is the record holder of the Class B ordinary shares reported herein. AXIOS EQT LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is the general partner of our sponsor and may be deemed to beneficially own shares held by our sponsor. AXIOS EQT LLC is governed by a board of managers consisting of three members, including Benedikt Förtig and Anthony V. Raftopol. Each of Messrs. Benedikt Förtig and Anthony V. Raftopol disclaims beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares held by our sponsor. All of the members of our board of directors and certain members of our management team, including each of our officers, are direct and/or indirect members of our sponsor.
(4)
Includes up to 468,750 founder shares, which are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
Immediately after this offering, our initial shareholders will beneficially own 20% of the then issued and outstanding ordinary shares (assuming our initial shareholders do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers) and will have the right to appoint all of our directors prior to our initial business combination as a result of holding all of the founder shares. Holders of our public shares will not have the right to appoint any director to our board of directors prior to our initial business combination. In addition, because of their ownership block, our initial shareholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions.
If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share dividend, share repurchase, capitalization, redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our founder shares immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and shares of our ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers).
Our sponsor and I-Bankers have committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 7,545,000 warrants (or 8,201,250 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $7,545,000 in the aggregate (or $ 8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are identical to the units sold in this offering except that: (1) they will not be redeemable by us; (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 our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, as described below; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) they (including the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights, as described below.
Our sponsor and our directors and officers are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions” for additional information regarding our relationships with our promoters.
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 with us to be entered into by our initial shareholders, I-Bankers, directors and officers. Those lock-up provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (1) in the case of the founder shares, until the earlier of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights
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issuances, consolidations, 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 or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property, and (2) in the case of the private placement warrants and the respective Class A ordinary shares underlying such warrants, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except in each case (a) to our directors or officers, any affiliates or family members of any of our directors or officers, any members of our sponsor, or any affiliates of our sponsor, (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family or 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 the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the securities were originally purchased; (f) in the event of our liquidation prior to our completion of our initial business combination; (g) in the case of an entity, by virtue of its jurisdiction or its organizational documents or operating agreement; or (h) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization 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 (e) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions.
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants, representative’s warrants and any warrants that may be issued on conversion of working capital loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants, representative’s warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) and their permitted transferees will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering requiring us 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 these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants.” However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period as described here. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the underwriters may not exercise their demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years after the commencement date of sales in this offering and may not exercise their demand rights on more than one occasion. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
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CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
On December 12, 2021, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 to cover for certain expenses on behalf of us in exchange for issuance of 3,593,750 founder shares, or approximately $0.007 per share. On December 29, 2021, Celtic subscribed for 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate capital contribution of $1,217 which was previously funded by our sponsor. On December 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 175,000 Class B ordinary shares for no consideration. Our initial shareholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share dividend, share repurchase capitalization, redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our founder shares immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). Up to 468,750 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our initial shareholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
Our sponsor and I-Bankers have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,545,000 private placement warrants (or 8,201,250 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $7,545,000 in the aggregate (or $8,201,250 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Of such amount, 6,545,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by our sponsor and 1,000,000 private placement warrants will be purchased by I-Bankers, in each case assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised, our sponsor has agreed to purchase an additional 531,250 private placement warrants and I-Bankers has agreed to purchase an additional 125,000 private placement warrants in the private placement. 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.
As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Our directors and officers currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Our sponsor, directors and officers, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors, officers or our or any of their respective affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $350,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. To date, we have borrowed $50,000 under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of July 31, 2022, and the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $820,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account. The value of our sponsor’s interest in this loan transaction corresponds to the principal amount outstanding under any such loan.
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 directors and officers 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
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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 working capital loans may be convertible into private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 private placement warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such working capital loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor 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 tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our shareholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a shareholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive officer and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans (if any). See “Principal Shareholders — Registration Rights” for additional information.
Related Party Policy
We have not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.
Prior to the closing of this offering, we will adopt our Code of Ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board of directors) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our Code of Ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company.
In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to a written charter that we will adopt prior to the consummation of this offering, will be responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors or officers, or our or any of their respective affiliates.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, directors or officers unless we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business we are seeking to acquire that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, there will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made by us to our sponsor, directors or officers, or our or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination,
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other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
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repayment of an aggregate of up to $350,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;
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reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and
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repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private placement equivalent units of the post-business combination company at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender.
The above payments may be funded using the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.
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DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company and our affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act and common law of the Cayman Islands. Pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which will be adopted upon the consummation of this offering, we will be authorized to issue 200,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, at $0.0001 par value each, 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, at $0.0001 par value each, and 1,000,000 undesignated preferred shares, at $0.0001 par value each. The following description summarizes the material terms of our shares as set out more particularly in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.
Units
Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one Class A ordinary share, one right and one redeemable warrant. Each right entitles the holder thereof to receive one-twentieth (1/20) of one Class A ordinary share upon consummation of our initial business combination. We will not issue fractional shares in connection with an exchange of rights. As a result, you must hold rights in multiples of 20 in order to receive shares for all of your rights upon closing of a business combination. Each warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in this prospectus.
The Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants constituting the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless I-Bankers Securities, Inc. informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. At the time that the Class A ordinary shares, rights and warrants comprising the units begin separate trading, holders will hold the separate securities and no longer hold units (without any action needing to be taken by the holders), and the units will no longer trade.
In no event will the Class A ordinary shares, rights and public warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet of the company reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering which will include this audited balance sheet. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
Ordinary shares
Upon the closing of this offering 15,875,000 of our ordinary shares will be issued and outstanding (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 468,750 founder shares by our initial shareholders), including:
• 12,500,000 Class A ordinary shares underlying the units being offered in this offering;
• 3,125,000 Class B ordinary shares held by our initial shareholders; and
• 250,000 Class A ordinary shares for the underwriter as representative’s shares.
If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share dividend, share repurchase, capitalization, redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our founder shares immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers).
Class A ordinary shareholders and Class B ordinary shareholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by shareholders and vote together as a single class, except as required by law; provided that, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our Class B ordinary
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shares will have the right to appoint all of our directors and remove members of the board of directors for any reason, and holders of our Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting and attending a general meeting. Unless specified in the Companies Act, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of ordinary shares that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our shareholders (other than the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination), and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of a majority of our founder shares is required to approve the appointment or removal of directors. Approval of certain actions will require a special resolution under Cayman Islands law and pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, such actions include amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approving a statutory merger or consolidation with another company. Directors are appointed for a term of two years. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the appointment of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the founder shares voted for the appointment of directors can elect all of the directors prior to our initial business combination. Our shareholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor.
Because our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 200,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, if we were to enter into a business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such a business combination) be required to increase the number of Class A ordinary shares which we are authorized to issue at the same time as our shareholders vote on the business combination to the extent we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.
In accordance with NYSE 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 NYSE. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to appoint directors. We may not hold an annual shareholder meeting prior to the consummation 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes 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 $10.15 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by amounts payable to I-Bankers for marketing services relating to our initial business combination. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial owner must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as described elsewhere in this prospectus. Permitted transferees of our initial shareholders, directors or officers will be subject to the same obligations. I-Bankers has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to any representative’s shares held by them, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Permitted transferees of our initial shareholders, directors or officers will be subject to the same obligations.
Unlike some blank check companies that hold shareholders votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of public shares for cash upon completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, if a shareholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC
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prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, a 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, we will, like some blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. 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 the holders of a majority of ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. However, the participation of our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions (as described in this prospectus), if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public shareholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. A quorum for such meeting will be present if the holders of one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the meeting are represented in person or by proxy. Our sponsor, officers and directors will count toward this quorum and, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares and public shares held by them (including any shares purchased in this offering or in open market and privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. We intend to give not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial shareholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination.
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 provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the ordinary shares sold in this offering, 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. Our shareholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such shareholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such shareholders will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete the business combination. As a result, such shareholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose such shares would be required to sell their shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
If we seek shareholders approval in connection with our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, directors and officers have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. I-Bankers has entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to vote its representative’s shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 4,562,500, or 36.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or none (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum (being one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the meeting) are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 12,500,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not
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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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes 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 liquidating distributions, if any), and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our initial shareholders have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial shareholders, directors acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.
In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after a business combination, our shareholders at such time will be entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of shares, if any, having preference over the ordinary shares. Our shareholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the ordinary shares, except that we will provide our shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.
Founder Shares
The founder shares are designated as Class B ordinary shares and are identical to the Class A ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, and holders of founder shares have the same shareholder rights as public shareholders, except that: (1) prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election, removal or replacement of directors and holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason; (2) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below; (3) our initial shareholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive: (i) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame); (4) the founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and (5) the founder shares are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our initial shareholders have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination.
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The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of closing of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of all ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers) plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination. The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for our Class A ordinary shares issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt.
With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to our directors and officers and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor, each of whom will be subject to the same transfer restrictions) until the earlier of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations, 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 or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
Register of Members
Under Cayman Islands law, we must keep a register of members and there shall be entered therein:
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the names and addresses of the members, a statement of the shares held by each member, and of the amount paid or agreed to be considered as paid, on the shares of each member and the voting rights of the shares of each member;
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whether voting rights are attached to the share in issue;
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the date on which the name of any person was entered on the register as a member; and
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the date on which any person ceased to be a member.
Under Cayman Islands law, the register of members of our company is prima facie evidence of the matters set out therein (i.e., the register of members will raise a presumption of fact on the matters referred to above unless rebutted) and a member registered in the register of members shall be deemed as a matter of Cayman Islands law to have legal title to the shares as set against its name in the register of members. Upon the closing of this public offering, the register of members shall be immediately updated to reflect the issue of shares by us.
Once our register of members has been updated, the shareholders recorded in the register of members shall be deemed to have legal title to the shares set against their name. However, there are certain limited circumstances where an application may be made to a Cayman Islands court for a determination on whether the register of members reflects the correct legal position. Further, the Cayman Islands court has the power to order that the register of members maintained by a company should be rectified where it considers that the register of members does not reflect the correct legal position. If an application for an order for rectification of the register of members were made in respect of our ordinary shares, then the validity of such shares may be subject to re-examination by a Cayman Islands court.
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Preferred Shares
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize 1,000,000 preferred shares and provide that preferred shares may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without shareholder approval, issue preferred shares with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the ordinary shares and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred shares without shareholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preferred shares issued and outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any preferred shares, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No preferred shares are being issued or registered in this offering.
Rights
Except in cases where we are not the surviving company in a business combination, each holder of a right will automatically receive one-twentieth (1/20) of one Class A ordinary shares upon consummation of our initial business combination, even if the holder of a public right converted all Class A ordinary shares held by him, her or it in connection with the initial business combination or an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association with respect to our pre-business combination activities. No additional consideration will be required to be paid by a holder of rights in order to receive his, her or its additional Class A ordinary shares upon consummation of an initial business combination. The shares issuable upon exchange of the rights will be freely tradable (except to the extent held by affiliates of ours).
If we enter into a definitive agreement for a business combination in which we will not be the surviving entity, the definitive agreement will provide for the holders of rights to receive the same per share consideration the holders of the Class A ordinary shares will receive in the transaction on an as-converted into ordinary share basis, and each holder of a right will be required to affirmatively convert his, her or its rights in order to receive the one-twentieth (1/20) of one Class A ordinary share underlying each right upon consummation of the business combination. More specifically, the right holder will be required to indicate his, her or its election to convert the rights into underlying shares as well as to return the original rights certificates to us. In the event that we are not the surviving entity upon the consummation of our business combination, and there is no effective registration statement for the offering of the shares underlying the rights, the rights may expire worthless.
As soon as practicable upon the consummation of our business combination, we will direct registered holders of the rights to return their rights to our rights agent. Upon receipt of the rights, the rights agent will issue to the registered holder of such right(s) the number of full ordinary shares to which he, she or it is entitled. We will notify registered holders of the rights to deliver their rights to the rights agent promptly upon consummation of such business combination and have been informed by the rights agent that the process of exchanging their rights for ordinary shares should take no more than a matter of days. The foregoing exchange of rights is solely ministerial in nature and is not intended to provide us with any means of avoiding our obligation to issue the shares underlying the rights upon consummation of our business combination. Other than confirming that the rights delivered by a registered holder are valid, we will have no ability to avoid delivery of the shares underlying the rights. Nevertheless, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders of the rights upon consummation of an initial business combination.
We will not issue fractional shares in connection with an exchange of rights. Fractional shares will either be rounded down to the nearest whole share or otherwise addressed in accordance with the applicable provisions of Cayman Islands law. As a result, you must hold rights in multiples of 20 in order to receive shares for all of your rights upon closing of a business combination. If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we liquidate the funds held in the trust account, holders of rights will not receive any of such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from our assets held outside of the trust account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless. Further, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders
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of the rights upon consummation of an initial business combination. Additionally, in no event will we be required to net cash settle the rights. Accordingly, the rights may expire worthless.
The rights will be issued in registered form under a rights agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as rights agent, and us. The rights agreement provides that the terms of the rights may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval, by written consent or vote, of the holders of a majority of the then outstanding rights in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.
We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the rights 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 we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. See “Risk Factors — Each of our rights agreement and warrant agreement will designate 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 rights and holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of rights holders and warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.” This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce these provisions and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Redeemable Warrants
Public Shareholders’ Warrants
Each public warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as described below. The warrants will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
We will not be obligated to deliver any Class A ordinary shares pursuant to the exercise of a public warrant and will have no obligation to settle such public warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration, or a valid exemption from registration is available, including in connection with a cashless exercise permitted as described. Except as described below, no public 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 public warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption is available. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a public warrant, the holder of such public warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such public warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised public warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such public warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the Class A ordinary share underlying such unit.
While we have registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants under the Securities Act as part of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we do not plan on keeping a prospectus current until required to, pursuant to the warrant agreement. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the issuance, under the Securities Act, of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to
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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 thereto, until the expiration of the public warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement.
If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants does not become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, holders of public warrants will have the right, during any period thereafter when there is no such effective registration statement, to exercise the public warrants on a cashless basis. Additionally, if, at the time that a public warrant is exercised, our Class A ordinary shares are not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
In the event of a cashless exercise pursuant to the preceding paragraph, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the public warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) less the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” as used in the preceding sentence shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent.
Redemption of public warrants. Redemption of public warrants. Once the public warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding public warrants:
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in whole and not in part;
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at a price of $0.01 per public warrant;
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upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each public warrant holder; and
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if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the public warrant holders (which we refer to as the “Reference Value”) 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 public warrant as described under the heading “— Anti-dilution Adjustments”).
We will not redeem the public warrants as described above unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period or we have elected to require the exercise of the public warrants on a cashless basis as described below. If and when the public 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. If we call the warrants for redemption as described in this paragraph, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his, her or its warrant following the notice of redemption to do so on a cashless basis. In the case of such a cashless exercise, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the public warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” less the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” as used in the preceding sentence shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the public warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of Class A common shares to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case.
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We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the public warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the public warrants, each public warrant holder will be entitled to exercise his, her or its public warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A ordinary shares may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a public warrant as described under the heading “— Anti-dilution Adjustments”) as well as the $11.50 (for whole shares) public warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
Redemption procedures. A holder of a public warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such public warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
Anti-dilution Adjustments. If the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares is increased by a capitalization or share dividend payable in Class A ordinary shares, or by a split-up of Class A ordinary shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such capitalization or share dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each public warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares. A rights offering made to all or substantially all holders of Class A ordinary shares entitling holders to purchase Class A ordinary shares at a price less than the “historical fair market value” (as defined below) will be deemed a share dividend of a number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the product of (1) the number of Class A ordinary shares actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A ordinary shares) and (2) one minus the quotient of (x) the price per Class A ordinary share paid in such rights offering and (y) the historical fair market value. For these purposes, (1) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A ordinary shares, in determining the price payable for Class A ordinary shares, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (2) “historical fair market value” means the volume weighted average price of Class A ordinary shares during the 10 trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the Class A ordinary shares trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.
In addition, if we, at any time while the public warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay to all or substantially all of the holders of Class A ordinary shares a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of Class A ordinary shares on account of such Class A ordinary shares (or other securities into which the public warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) any cash dividends or cash distributions which, when combined on a per share basis with all other cash dividends and cash distributions paid on the Class A ordinary shares during the 365-day period ending on the date of declaration of such dividend or distribution does not exceed $0.50 (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, consolidations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions) but only with respect to the amount of the aggregate cash dividends or cash distributions equal to or less than $0.50 per share, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A ordinary shares in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (d) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the public warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each Class A ordinary share in respect of such event.
If the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse share sub-division or reclassification of Class A ordinary shares or other similar
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event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse share sub-division, reclassification or similar event, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each public warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares.
Whenever the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon the exercise of the public warrants is adjusted, as described above, the public warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the public warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon the exercise of the public warrants immediately prior to such adjustment and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of Class A ordinary shares so purchasable immediately thereafter.
In addition, if (x) we issue additional ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) 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 (z) 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, the exercise price of the public warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described above under “— Redemption of public warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such Class A ordinary shares), or in the case of a merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a merger or consolidation in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the public warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the public warrants and in lieu of our Class A ordinary shares immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares, stock or other equity securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the public warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their public warrants immediately prior to such event. However, if such holders were entitled to exercise a right of election as to the kind or amount of securities, cash or other assets receivable upon such merger or consolidation, then the kind and amount of securities, cash or other assets for which each public warrant will become exercisable will be deemed to be the weighted average of the kind and amount received per share by such holders in such merger or consolidation that affirmatively make such election, and if a tender, exchange or redemption offer has been made to and accepted by such holders (other than a tender, exchange or redemption offer made by the company in connection with redemption rights held by shareholders of the company as provided for in the company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or as a result of the redemption of Class A ordinary shares by the company if a proposed initial business combination is presented to the shareholders of the company for approval) under circumstances in which, upon completion of such tender or exchange offer, the maker thereof, together with members of any group (within the meaning of Rule 13d-5(b)(1) under the Exchange Act) of which such maker is a part, and together with any affiliate or associate of such maker (within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act) and any members of any such group of which any such affiliate or associate is a part, own beneficially (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act) (x) if prior to the initial business combination, more than 50% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares or (y) if on or after the initial business combination, securities representing more than 50% of the aggregate voting power represented by the issued and outstanding shares of the company, the holder of a warrant
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will be entitled to receive the highest amount of cash, securities or other property to which such holder would actually have been entitled as a shareholder if such warrant holder had exercised the warrant prior to the expiration of such tender or exchange offer, accepted such offer and all of the Class A ordinary shares held by such holder had been purchased pursuant to such tender or exchange offer, subject to adjustment (from and after the consummation of such tender or exchange offer) as nearly equivalent as possible to the adjustments provided for in the warrant agreement. Additionally, if less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A ordinary shares in such a transaction is payable in the form of ordinary shares in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the public warrant within 30 days following public disclosure of such transaction, the public warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the per share consideration minus Black-Scholes Warrant Value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the public warrant.
The public warrants will be issued in registered form under the warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, a form of which has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the public warrants. The warrant agreement provides that (a) the terms of the public warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the public warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision (ii) removing or reducing the Company’s ability to redeem the public warrants and, if applicable, a corresponding amendment to the Company’s ability to redeem the private placement warrants 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 public warrants under the warrant agreement in any material respect, (b) the terms of the warrants may be amended with the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and private placement warrants, voting together as a single class, to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements and (c) the terms of the warrants may be amended with the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding warrants and private placement warrants, voting together as a single class, to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements and (c) all other modifications or amendments to our warrant agreement with respect to the public warrants require the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and amending our warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding private placement warrants.
The public warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A ordinary shares and any voting rights until they exercise their public warrants and receive Class A ordinary shares. After the issuance of Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of the public warrants, each holder will be entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by shareholders.
We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement 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 we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Securities — Our warrant agreement will designate 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.” This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum.
Private Placement Warrants
The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion
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of our initial business combination (except, among other limited exceptions as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants,” to our directors and officers and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor) and they will not be redeemable by us. The holders of our private placement warrants have the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis and have certain registration rights described herein. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering.
If holders of the private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering his, her or its warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “sponsor fair market value” (defined below) less the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the sponsor fair market value. For these purposes, the “sponsor fair market value” shall mean the average last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that the private placement warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis is because it is not known at this time whether the holders will be affiliated with us following a business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that restrict insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public shareholders who could exercise their public warrants and sell the Class A ordinary shares received upon such exercise freely in the open market in order to recoup the cost of such exercise, the insiders could be significantly restricted from selling such securities. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.
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 loan us funds as may be required, although they are under no obligation to advance funds or invest in us. 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. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
Representative’s Warrants
We have agreed to grant to I-Bankers (and/or its designees) 375,000 warrants (or 431,250 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) exercisable at $12.00 per share (or an aggregate exercise price of $4,500,000 (or $5,175,800 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full)) upon the closing of this offering. The warrants may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, at the holder’s option, at any time during the period commencing thirty (30) days after the closing of our initial business combination and terminating on the fifth anniversary of the commencement date of sales in this offering. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, I-Bankers has agreed that neither it nor its designees will be permitted to exercise the warrants after the five-year anniversary of the commencement date of sales in this offering. The warrants and such shares purchased pursuant to the warrants have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days immediately following the commencement date of sales in this offering pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1). Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1), these securities may not be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated or the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put or call transaction that would result in the economic disposition of the securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the commencement of sales in this offering except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the offering and their officers, partners, registered persons or affiliates. The warrants grant to holders certain registration rights with respect to the registration under the Securities Act of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The exercise price and number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a share dividend, or our recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of Class A ordinary shares at a price below its exercise price. We will have no obligation to net cash settle the exercise of the warrants. The holder of the warrants will not be entitled to exercise the warrants
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for cash unless a registration statement covering the securities underlying the warrants is effective or an exemption from registration is available.
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. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of this offering, in which case we will effect a capitalization or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the Class A ordinary shares issuable to I-Bankers). Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limit