On March 16, 2022, our Sponsor purchased an aggregate 2,875,000 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, (the “Founder Shares” or “Class B Shares”) for a total price of $25,000, or approximately $0.009 per share, pursuant to a securities subscription agreement dated March 3, 2022 by and between the Company and our Sponsor (as amended by a subscriber forfeiture and amendment No. 1 to the securities subscription agreement dated September 8, 2022 and a subscriber forfeiture and amendment No. 2 to the securities subscription agreement dated September 29, 2022). On September 8, 2022, our Sponsor surrendered to us 718,750 Founder Shares for no consideration, resulting in our Sponsor owning 2,156,250 Founder Shares and increasing the approximate price paid per Founder Share to $0.012. On September 29, 2022, our Sponsor surrendered to us an additional 431,250 Founder Shares for no consideration, resulting in our Sponsor owning 1,725,000 Founder Shares and increasing the approximate price paid per Founder Share to $0.015. Mr. You, the manager of our Sponsor, has voting and investment discretion with respect to the common stock held by the Sponsor. Our Sponsor intends to transfer 25,000 Founder Shares to each of Darla Anderson, Francesca Luthi, Charles Wert and Constance Weaver, our independent directors, upon the completion of our initial Business Combination, resulting in our Sponsor holding at that time 1,479,750 Founder Shares (taking into account the 145,250 shares forfeited upon the underwriter’s exercise of its over- allotment option). Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the Sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share price of the Founder Shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of Founder Shares issued.
In addition, on October 11, 2022, further to the underwriter’s partial exercise of the over-allotment option and forfeiture of the remaining amount, our Sponsor forfeited 145,250 Founder Shares, resulting in an aggregate of 1,579,750 Class B Shares outstanding.
A total of $64,137,850 of the net proceeds from the initial public offering (including the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Units), the sale of the Private Placement Warrants with our Sponsor (including the Additional Private Placement Warrants) and the Overfunding Loans from our Sponsor (including the Additional Overfunding Loan) was placed in a U.S.-based trust account (the “Trust Account”) at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
The funds held in the Trust Account may be (i) held uninvested, (ii) held in an interest-bearing bank demand deposit account, or (iii) invested and reinvested in solely U.S. “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (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, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination, (ii) the redemption of Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our Amended and Restated Articles of Organization to modify the substance or timing of our of our obligation to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period (as defined below) or with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity, and (iii) 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 complete an initial Business Combination during the Combination Period. The trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. Investing in our securities is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. Instead, the Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the use of such funds upon completion of a Business Combination or distribution upon redemption of our Public Shares.
As of December 31, 2023, there was $67,545,266 in investments held in the Trust Account. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had withdrawn $304,000 from the interest earned from the Trust Account to pay taxes.
The Company’s Amended and Restated Articles of Organization (the “Charter”) initially provided 15 months from the closing of the initial public offering, or January 4, 2024 (the “Prior Outside Date”), to consummate an initial Business Combination. The Charter also permitted the Company, by resolution of the board of directors, to extend the period of time to consummate a Business Combination twice by an additional 3 month period (for a total of 21 months to complete a Business Combination), subject to the Sponsor depositing into the Trust Account $631,900 in the aggregate for each extension (the “Prior Contributions”). The Sponsor did not intend to deposit such Prior Contributions into the Trust Account. Accordingly, following January 4, 2024, the Company would have been forced to liquidate. The Company’s board of directors determined that, in order for the Company to have additional time to complete a Business Combination in a more cost effective manner, it would be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders to extend the Prior Outside Date to allow for a period of additional time to consummate the Business Combination. On January 2, 2024, the Company held a special meeting of its shareholders (the “Special Meeting”). At the Special Meeting, the Company’s shareholders approved an amendment of the Charter to extend (the “Extension”) the date by which the Company has to consummate a Business Combination up to twenty-three (23) times for an additional one (1) month each time (each, an “Extension Period”) from January 4, 2024 to January 29, 2024 (the “Extended Date”) and to allow the Company, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the board of directors, to elect to further extend the Extended Date up to twenty-three times for an additional one month each time, until up to December 29, 2025 (each, an “Additional Extended Date”, and such period in its entirety, from the initial public offering until the final Additional Extended Date, the “Combination Period”), only if the Sponsor or its designee would deposit (the “Contribution”) into the Trust Account as a loan, (i) on or before January 4, 2024, with respect to the initial extension, an amount of $41,667, and (ii) one business day following the public announcement by us disclosing that the board of directors has determined to implement an additional monthly extension, with respect to each such additional extension, an amount of $50,000. In connection with the shareholder approval of the Extension, an aggregate of 3,980,414 Public Shares were redeemed, and the Company paid approximately $42.0 million accordingly on January 4, 2024.
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