As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on May 14, 2018.
Registration No. 333-224581
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
_______________
Amendment No. 1 to
Form S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
_______________
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
_______________
Cayman Islands |
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6770 |
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N/A |
(State or other jurisdiction of |
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(Primary Standard Industrial |
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(I.R.S. Employer |
9912 Georgetown Pike
Suite D203
Great Falls, Virginia 22066
Telephone: (202) 431-0507
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Gary A. Simanson
9912 Georgetown Pike
Suite D203
Great Falls, Virginia 22066
Telephone: (202) 431-0507
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
_______________
Copies to:
Douglas S. Ellenoff, Esq. |
|
David
Alan Miller, Esq. |
_______________
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: 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 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 ¨ |
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Accelerated filer ¨ |
Non-accelerated filer x |
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Smaller reporting company ¨ |
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company) |
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Emerging growth company x |
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 |
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Amount |
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Proposed |
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Proposed |
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Amount
of |
||||
Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value, and one redeemable warrant(2) |
|
23,000,000 |
|
$ |
10.00 |
|
$ |
230,000,000 |
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$ |
28,635 |
|
Class A ordinary shares included as part of the units(3) |
|
23,000,000 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Redeemable warrants included as part of the units(4) |
|
23,000,000 |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
230,000,000 |
|
$ |
28,635 |
(5) |
____________
(1) Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee.
(2) Includes 3,000,000 units, consisting of 3,000,000 Class A ordinary shares and 3,000,000 redeemable warrants, which may be issued upon exercise of a 45-day option granted to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.
(3) Pursuant to Rule 416, there are also being registered an indeterminable number of additional securities as may be issued to prevent dilution resulting from share splits, share capitalizations or similar transactions.
(4) No fee pursuant to Rule 457(g).
(5) Previously paid.
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 of 1933, as amended, 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.
The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED MAY 14, 2018
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
$200,000,000
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd.
20,000,000 Units
_______________
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. is a newly incorporated blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target.
This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one of our Class A ordinary shares and one redeemable warrant. 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 provided herein. We have also granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (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 are unable to complete our 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 (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 outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein.
Our sponsor, Thunder Bridge Acquisition LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the representative of the underwriters in this offering, which we refer to as Cantor, have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (7,500,000 warrants by our sponsor (or 7,800,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and 250,000 warrants by Cantor (including if the over-allotment option is exercised in full)) for an aggregate purchase price of $7,750,000, or $8,050,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. We refer to these warrants throughout this prospectus as private placement warrants.
Monroe Capital, LLC, a member of our sponsor, has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination. Monroe Capital granting its consent to our initial business combination is entirely within its sole discretion. Accordingly, if it does not consent to our proposed initial business combination, it will not be obligated to purchase the units.
Prior to this offering, our sponsor held 5,750,000 founder shares (up to 750,000 of which are subject to forfeiture 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 our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants. We have applied to list our units on the NASDAQ Capital Market, or NASDAQ, under the symbol “TBRGU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NASDAQ. The Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. 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, or the SEC, containing an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering and issuing a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on NASDAQ under the symbols “TBRG” and “TBRGW,” respectively.
We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus. We 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.
We are an “emerging growth 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” on page 25. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.
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Price
to |
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Underwriting Discounts and Commissions(1) |
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Proceeds, before expenses, to us |
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Per Unit |
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$ |
10.00 |
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$ |
0.55 |
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$ |
9.45 |
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$ |
200,000,000 |
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$ |
11,000,000 |
|
$ |
289,000,000 |
____________
(1) Includes $0.35 per unit, or $7,000,000 in the aggregate payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions will be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. If the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised, an additional 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the over-allotment ($0.55 per unit or up to $1,650,000 in the aggregate) will be deposited in the trust account as deferred underwriting commissions. 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, $202,000,000 or $232,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.10 per unit), will be deposited into a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. 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 , 2018.
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 offer or invitation to subscribe for units may be made to the public in the Cayman Islands.
Cantor CLSA
The date of this prospectus is , 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY |
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1 |
RISK FACTORS |
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25 |
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS |
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54 |
USE OF PROCEEDS |
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55 |
DIVIDEND POLICY |
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59 |
DILUTION |
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60 |
CAPITALIZATION |
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62 |
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
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63 |
PROPOSED BUSINESS |
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69 |
MANAGEMENT |
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99 |
PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS |
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110 |
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS |
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113 |
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES |
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116 |
INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS |
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132 |
UNDERWRITING |
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141 |
LEGAL MATTERS |
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148 |
EXPERTS |
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148 |
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION |
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148 |
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS |
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F-1 |
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, references to:
• “we,” “us,” “company,” “Thunder Bridge” or “our company” are to Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd., a Cayman Islands exempted company;
• “public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares offered as part of the units in this offering (whether they are subscribed for in this offering or thereafter in the open market);
• “public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares;
• “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors;
• “sponsor” are to Thunder Bridge Acquisition LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; our President and Chief Executive Officer is the managing member of our sponsor;
• “initial shareholders” are to the holders of our founder shares prior to this offering;
• “founder shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering and, unless the context otherwise requires, our Class A ordinary shares issued upon the conversion thereof as provided herein;
• “ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares;
• “public warrants” are to the redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are subscribed for in this offering or in the open market);
• “private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor and Cantor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering;
• “warrants” are to our redeemable warrants, which include the public warrants as well as the private placement warrants to the extent they are no longer held by the initial purchasers of the private placement warrants or their permitted transferees;
• “amended and restated memorandum and articles of association” are to our memorandum and articles of association to be in effect upon completion of this offering;
• “letter agreement” refers to the letter agreement, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part;
• “Monroe Capital” are to Monroe Capital LLC, a member of our sponsor, with which we have entered into a contingent forward purchase contract; and
• “Companies Law” are to the Companies Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time.
All references in this prospectus to shares of Thunder Bridge being forfeited shall take effect as surrenders for no consideration of such shares as a matter of Cayman Islands law. Any conversion of the Class B ordinary shares described in this prospectus will take effect as a redemption of Class B ordinary shares and an issuance of Class A ordinary shares as a matter of Caymans Island law. Registered trademarks referred to in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.
General
We are a newly incorporated blank check company incorporated on September 18, 2017 as a Cayman Islands exempted company and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any
1
business combination target. We have generated no revenues to date and we do not expect that we will generate operating revenues at the earliest until we consummate our initial business combination.
We currently intend to concentrate our efforts in identifying businesses in the financial services industry, including asset and wealth management, lending and leasing, and businesses providing financial technological services to, or operating in, the financial services industry. We will place a particular emphasis on businesses that provide data processing, storage and transmission services, data bases and payment processing services, fraud detection, data analysis or verification, client or customer interface, or have adopted operations in the financial services industry that are more technologically driven than the operational platforms of the legacy operators (collectively “FinTech”). We are not, however, required to complete our initial business combination with a financial services or financial technology business and, as a result, we may pursue a business combination outside of that industry. We will seek to acquire established businesses that we believe are fundamentally sound but potentially in need of financial, operational, strategic or managerial enhancement or redirection to maximize value. We do not intend to acquire start-up or other early-stage companies, companies with speculative business plans or companies that are excessively leveraged.
We will seek to capitalize on the significant financial services, asset and fund management, financial technology and banking experience, private and public equity experience, and contacts of our management team, including Pete Kight, our Executive Chairman of the Board nominee, Gary Simanson, our President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director, William Houlihan, our Chief Financial Officer, John Wu, our Chief Investment Officer nominee, Mary Ann Gillespie our Chief Sales and Marketing Officer nominee, Angela Mariana Freyre, our General Counsel nominee, Robert Hartheimer, a Director nominee, Stewart Paparin, a Director nominee, Eugene S. Putnam, Jr., a Director nominee, Allerd Derk Stikker, a Director nominee and Ming Shu, a Director nominee, to identify, evaluate, acquire and operate a target business. If we elect to pursue an investment outside of the financial services or FinTech industry, our management’s expertise related to that industry may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding that industry might not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. Members of our management team have extensive experience in the financial services industry, the financial technology industry, the asset and wealth management industry, as well as extensive experience in operating financial services companies in a public company environment and a private company environment, serving on both public and private company boards of directors, including financial institutions and FinTech companies, strong knowledge and experience in financial, legal and regulatory matters, initial public offerings, private equity and venture capital, as well as mergers and acquisitions in the financial services industry.
Gary Simanson, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, and two other members of our Board of Directors, Stewart Paperin and Eugene S. Putnam, Jr., served as executive officers and/or directors of Community Bankers Acquisition Corp., or “CBAC”, a former blank check company, which raised $60.0 million in its initial public offering in June 2006, and completed its initial business combination when it simultaneously acquired two publicly traded bank holding companies, BOE Financial Services of Virginia, Inc. and TransCommunity Financial Corporation in May of 2008, which we refer to as the CBAC Acquisition. CBAC is now known as Community Bankers Trust Corporation (“CBTC”) (NASDAQ: ESXB). Mr. Putnam continues to serve on the board of directors of CBTC and its subsidiary, Essex Bank.
Additionally, Mr. Paperin served as a member of the Board of Directors of Enterprise Acquisition Corp., or “EAC”, a former blank check company, which raised $250 million in its initial public offering in November 2007, from its inception in July 2007 to its merger with ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc., in November 2009. Mr. Paperin has been a director of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE: ARR) since November 2009.
We believe that potential sellers of target businesses will view the fact that members of our management team have successfully closed business combinations with vehicles similar to our company as a positive factor in considering whether or not to enter into a business combination with us. However, with respect to the foregoing examples, past performance of our management team is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical performance record of our management team as indicative of our future performance. Additionally, in the course of their respective careers, members of our management team have been involved in businesses and deals that were unsuccessful. Aside from Messrs. Simanson, Paperin and Putnam, our officers and directors have not had management experience with blank check companies or special
2
purpose acquisition corporations in the past. For a list of our executive officers and entities for which a conflict of interest may or does exist between such officers and the company, as well as the priority and preference that such entity has with respect to performance of obligations and presentation of business opportunities to us, please refer to the table and subsequent explanatory paragraph under “Management — Conflicts of Interest”.
Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets
We believe that the operational and transactional experience of our management team and their respective affiliates, and the relationships they have developed as a result of such experience, will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. These individuals and entities have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships around the world. This network has grown through sourcing, acquiring and financing businesses, relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and experience in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions. We believe that these networks of contacts and relationships will provide us important sources of investment opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest noncore assets or divisions.
Our acquisition criteria, due diligence processes and value creation methods are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
Other Acquisition Considerations
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, or our Board of Directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying for a target is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the business judgment of our Board of Directors, which will have significant discretion in choosing the standard used to establish the fair market value of the target or targets, and different methods of valuation may vary greatly in outcome from one another. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Members of our management team may directly or indirectly own our ordinary 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, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Monroe Capital has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination.
3
The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination. Monroe Capital granting its consent to our initial business combination is entirely within its sole discretion. Accordingly, if it does not consent to our proposed initial business combination, it will not be obligated to purchase the units. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide Monroe Capital with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Each of our directors and officers presently has, and in the future any of our directors and our officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an acquisition opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such acquisition opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any officer or director unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to become an officer or director of any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, until 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.
Initial Business Combination
The NASDAQ rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our Board of Directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or 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 the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the
4
post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If 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.
Prior to the date of this prospectus, 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.
Corporate Information
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of 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 market value of our ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
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 Law. As an exempted company, we have applied for and expect to receive a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Law (2018 Revision) 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 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 (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) 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 September 18, 2017. Our executive offices are located at 9912 Georgetown Pike, Suite D203, Great Falls, Virginia 22066, and our telephone number is (202) 431-0507.
5
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” beginning on page 25 of this prospectus.
Securities offered |
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20,000,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of: |
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• one Class A ordinary share; and |
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• one warrant, each warrant exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share. |
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Proposed NASDAQ symbols |
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Units: “TBRGU” |
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Class A Ordinary Shares: “TBRG” |
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Warrants: “TBRGW” |
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Trading commencement and separation of Class A ordinary shares and warrants |
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Separate trading of the Class A ordinary shares
and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report
on |
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6
Units: |
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Number outstanding before this offering |
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0 |
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Number outstanding after this offering |
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20,000,0001 |
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Ordinary shares: |
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Number issued and outstanding before this offering |
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5,750,0002 |
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Number issued and outstanding after this offering |
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25,000,0001,3,4 |
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Redeemable Warrants: |
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Number of private placement warrants to be sold in a private placement simultaneously with this offering |
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7,750,000 |
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Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the private placement |
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27,750,000 |
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Exercisability |
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Each unit contains one warrant. Each warrant is exercisable to purchase one of our Class A ordinary shares. |
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Exercise price |
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$11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. |
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Exercise period |
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The warrants will become exercisable on the later of: |
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• 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and |
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• 12 months from the closing of this offering; |
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provided in each case that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement). |
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1 Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 750,000 founder shares.
2 Consists solely of founder shares and includes up to 750,000 ordinary shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. Except as otherwise specified, the rest of this prospectus has been drafted to give effect to the full forfeiture of these 750,000 ordinary shares.
3 Includes 20,000,000 public shares and 5,000,000 founder shares.
4 Founder shares are 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.”
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We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. 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 best efforts to file, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed. No warrants will be exercisable for cash unless we have an effective and current registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to such Class A ordinary shares. Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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 of 1933, as amended, or 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. |
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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. |
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Redemption of warrants |
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Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement 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 a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and |
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• if, and only if, the last sale price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) 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. |
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We will not redeem the warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering. |
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If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our shareholders of issuing the maximum number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the 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) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last 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 redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. Please see the section entitled “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants” for additional information. |
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None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than the sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering. In addition, for as long as the private placement warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. |
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Private placement at initial business |
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9
Election of directors; voting rights |
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Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election 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 at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting 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. |
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Founder shares |
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In September 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. 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 the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to us by the number of founder shares issued. Our sponsor will own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming it does not purchase units in this offering). If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a capitalization or share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares by our sponsor at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering. Up to 750,000 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. |
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The founder shares are identical to the Class A ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, except that: |
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• only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to our initial business combination; |
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• the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below; |
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• our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (i) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) 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 (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). If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our sponsor has agreed, pursuant to such letter agreement, to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination (as a result, in addition to our initial shareholder’s founder shares, we would need only 7,500,001, |
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or 37.5%, of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised); |
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• the founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time 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 in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association; and |
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• the founder shares are subject to registration rights. |
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Transfer restrictions on founder shares |
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Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of its founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction after our initial business combination that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property (except as described herein under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up. |
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the last sale price of our ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, the founder shares will be released from the lock-up. |
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Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights |
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In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares shall 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, 20% of the sum of all ordinary shares outstanding upon completion of this offering 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, any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us or any securities issued pursuant to the contingent forward purchase contract. Holders of founder shares may also elect to convert their Class B ordinary shares into an equal number of Class A ordinary shares, subject to adjustment as provided above, at any time. The term |
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“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. Securities could be “deemed issued” for purposes of the conversion adjustment if such shares are issuable upon the conversion or exercise of convertible securities, warrants or similar securities. |
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Private placement warrants |
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Our sponsor and Cantor have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (7,500,000 warrants by our sponsor (or 7,800,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and 250,000 warrants by Cantor (including if the over-allotment option is exercised in full)) for an aggregate purchase price of $7,750,000, or $8,050,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. |
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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. Private placement warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of shares. If any fractional interests would be issuable upon exercise of a private placement warrant, we will round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the holder. The purchase price of the private placement warrants will be added to the net proceeds from this offering to be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, 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 will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees (except as described below under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than the sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering. |
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Transfer restrictions on private placement warrants |
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Proceeds to be held in trust account |
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The rules of the NASDAQ provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the private placement be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds we will receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $202,000,000 ($10.10 per unit), or $232,300,000 ($10.10 per unit) if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, will be deposited into a segregated trust account located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee and $1.75 million will be used to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. The proceeds to be placed in the trust account include $7,000,000 (or up to $8,650,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions. |
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The funds in the trust account will be invested only in specified U.S. government treasury bills or in specified money market funds. |
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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 proceeds from this offering and the private placement will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our 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. |
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Anticipated expenses and funding sources |
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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. Based upon current interest rates, we expect the trust account to generate approximately $2,800,000 of interest annually (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option and an interest rate of 1.4% per year) following the investment of such funds in specified U.S. government treasury bills or in specified money market funds. Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from: |
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• the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account, which will be approximately $1,000,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $750,000 in expenses relating to this offering; and |
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• any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or their affiliates or other third parties, although they are under no obligation to advance funds or invest in us, and provided 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 a business combination. |
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Conditions to completing our initial business combination |
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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 firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm. 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 outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. 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. |
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Permitted purchases of public shares by our affiliates |
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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 their affiliates will not make any purchases if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. |
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Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination |
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The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. |
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Manner of conducting redemptions |
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We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) 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 the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under NASDAQ rules, asset acquisitions and stock 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 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 law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NASDAQ, we will be required to comply with such rules. |
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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 legal 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. |
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Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we or 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. |
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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, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination. |
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If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will: |
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• conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and |
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• file proxy materials with the SEC. |
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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 vote even if we are not able to maintain our NASDAQ listing or Exchange Act registration. |
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If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the business combination. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that at the time of any shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our sponsor and its permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. |
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Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof. |
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Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights |
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Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold shareholder vote |
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Redemption Rights in connection with proposed amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association |
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of the articles relating to the appointment of directors), may be amended if approved by holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote in 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. Should our sponsor vote all its shares in favor of any such amendment, we would require 11,260,001, or 56.3%, of the public shares issued in this offering to be voted in favor of any such amendment for its approval (assuming no exercise of the underwriter’s overallotment option and no purchase by our sponsor or its affiliates of public shares in this offering or thereafter). We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or in our initial business combination. Our sponsor, which will beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering (assuming it does not purchase units in this offering), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner it chooses. Our sponsor, 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 that would (i) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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 (ii) with respect to the other provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. |
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Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination |
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Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination |
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Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor acquires public shares after this offering, 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 18-month time frame. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering 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. |
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Our sponsor, 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 that would (i) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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 (ii) with respect to the other provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). |
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Limited payments to insiders |
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There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their 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: |
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• repayment of an aggregate of up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses; |
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• payment to an affiliate of our sponsor of a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services; |
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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 officers and directors to 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 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. |
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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. |
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Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. |
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Audit committee |
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Prior to the effectiveness of this registration statement, we will have established and will maintain an audit committee (which will be composed entirely of independent directors), 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 immediately 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.” |
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Conflicts of interest |
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Each of our officers and directors presently has, and in the future any of our directors and our officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an acquisition opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such acquisition opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any officer or director unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination. |
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Indemnity |
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Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in 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 their indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. 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.” In addition, an investment in this offering may result in uncertain United States federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we are issuing in this offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of the unit between the ordinary share and the warrant to purchase one ordinary share included in each unit could be challenged by the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, or the courts. Furthermore, the United States federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the units we are issuing in this offering is unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our ordinary shares suspend the running of a U.S. holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of ordinary shares is a long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for federal income tax purposes. See the section titled “Income Tax Considerations” for a summary of the principal United States federal income tax consequences of an investment in our securities. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors.”
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Summary Financial Data
The following table summarizes the relevant financial data for our business and should be read with our financial statements, which are included in this prospectus. We have not had any significant operations to date, so only balance sheet data is presented.
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March 31, 2018 |
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Actual |
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As Adjusted |
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Balance Sheet Data: |
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Working capital (deficit)(1) |
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$ |
(173,837 |
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$ |
196,019,670 |
Total assets(2) |
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$ |
197,270 |
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203,019,670 |
Total liabilities(3) |
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$ |
177,600 |
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$ |
7,000,000 |
Value of ordinary shares that may be redeemed in connection with our initial business combination ($10.10 per share)(4) |
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$ |
— |
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$ |
191,019,664 |
Shareholders’ equity(5) |
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$ |
19,670 |
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$ |
5,000,006 |
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(1) The “as adjusted” calculation includes $202,000,000 cash held in trust from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, plus $1,000,000 in cash held outside the trust account, plus $19,670 of actual shareholders’ equity at March 31, 2018, less $7,000,000 of deferred underwriting commissions.
(2) The “as adjusted” calculation equals $202,000,000 cash held in trust from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, plus $1,000,000 in cash held outside the trust account, plus $19,670 of actual shareholders’ equity at March 31, 2018.
(3) The “as adjusted” calculation includes $7,000,000 of deferred underwriting commissions.
(4) The “as adjusted” calculation equals the “as adjusted” total assets, less the “as adjusted” total liabilities, less the “as adjusted” shareholders’ equity, which is set to approximate the minimum net tangible assets threshold of at least $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination.
(5) Excludes 18,912,838 Class A ordinary shares purchased in the public market which are subject to redemption in connection with our initial business combination. The “as adjusted” calculation equals the “as adjusted” total assets, less the “as adjusted” total liabilities, less the value of ordinary shares that may be redeemed in connection with our initial business combination (approximately $10.10 per share).
If no business combination is completed within 18 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds 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) will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors 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 such 18-month time period.
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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.
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 established under the laws of the Cayman Islands 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 a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of March 31, 2018, we had $3,763 in cash and cash equivalents a working capital deficit of $173,837. Further, we expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial business combination may not be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to consummate this offering or our inability to continue as a going concern.
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed 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 not hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require shareholder approval under applicable Cayman Islands law or the rules of the NASDAQ or if we decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons. Examples of transactions that would not ordinarily require shareholder approval include asset acquisitions and share purchases, while transactions such as direct mergers with our company or transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares would require shareholder. For instance, the NASDAQ rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a shareholder meeting but would still require us to obtain shareholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our 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 outstanding shares, we would seek shareholder approval of such business combination. Except as required by law or NASDAQ rules, 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 business combination we consummate. 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 sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Unlike other blank check companies in which the initial shareholders agree to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by the public shareholders in connection with an initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant
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to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares held by them, as well as any public shares purchased during or after this offering, in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that our sponsor and its permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares at the time of any such shareholder vote. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholder’s founder shares, we would need only 7,500,001, or 37.5%, of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised). Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary shareholder approval will be received than would be the case if such persons agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public shareholders.
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 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 one or more target businesses. Since our Board of Directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. 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 a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore 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 ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B shares at the time of the initial business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
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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 time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a 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 a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, 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 only receive $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining 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. In such case, our public shareholders may only receive $10.10 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.10 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 $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our 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 sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. Please
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see “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities” for a description of how such persons will determine which shareholders to seek to acquire shares from. 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 their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The 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. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. 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 ordinary shares 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 tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Proposed Business — Business Strategy — Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights.”
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 or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
NASDAQ may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
We intend to apply to have our units listed on the NASDAQ on or promptly after the date of this prospectus and our Class A ordinary shares and warrants listed on or promptly after their date of separation. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on NASDAQ. 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 NASDAQ listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on NASDAQ in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on NASDAQ prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in shareholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of
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our securities (generally 300 public holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with NASDAQ’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than NASDAQ’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on NASDAQ. For instance, our stock price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our shareholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 300 round lot holders of our securities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If NASDAQ delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
• a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
• reduced liquidity for our securities;
• a determination that our Class A ordinary shares is 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;
• a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
• 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 and warrants will be listed on NASDAQ, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on NASDAQ, our securities would not be covered securities 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 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 business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States 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 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 than do 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.”
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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 will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of 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, if we are obligated to pay cash for the Class A ordinary shares redeemed and, in the event we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we make purchases of our Class A ordinary shares, potentially reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share (or less in certain circumstances) on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.10 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 $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of this offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 18 months, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 18 months, 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.
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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 next 18 months; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share (or less in certain circumstances) on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In such case, our public shareholders may only receive $10.10 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.10 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 $10.10 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 will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, only approximately $1,000,000 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 $750,000, 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 $750,000, 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 from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive approximately $10.10 per share (or less in certain circumstances) on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In such case, our public shareholders may only receive $10.10 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.10 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 $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues that may be present inside 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.
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Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account 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 only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.10 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors.
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in 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 their indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Our sponsor may not have sufficient funds available to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations, and therefore, no funds are currently set aside to cover any such 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 $10.10 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per 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, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related
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to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. 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 $10.10 per share.
If, after we distribute 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, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our Board of Directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our Board of Directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover 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, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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, 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.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
• restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
• 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:
• registration as an investment company;
• adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
• reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. The proceeds held in the trust account may be invested by the trustee only in United States government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in United States Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Because the investment of the proceeds will be restricted to these instruments, we believe we will meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company
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Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months of the closing of this offering, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 18 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (less up to $100,000 of the net interest earned thereon to pay dissolution expenses), 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 Law. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond the initial 18 months before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we consummate our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we are unable to complete our initial business combination.
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 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 offence and may be liable to a fine of $18,292.68 and to imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination. Our public shareholders will not have the right to elect directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.
In accordance with NASDAQ corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on NASDAQ. There is no requirement under the Companies Law for us to hold annual or general meetings or elect directors. Until we hold an annual meeting of shareholders, 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 election of directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination.
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We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed 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 best efforts to file, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. 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 is available. Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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. We will use our best 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. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering.
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register their founder shares, after those shares convert to our Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans, may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon 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 ordinary shares owned by our sponsor, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
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Because we are not limited to a particular industry 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.
We may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry or sector. However, we will not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet identified or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team and their affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team, including their affiliates’ past performance, is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team and their affiliates as indicative of our future performance. Additionally, in the course of their respective careers, members of our management team have been involved in businesses and deals that were unsuccessful. Except for Messrs. Simanson, Paperin and Putnam, none of our officers or directors has had experience operating a blank check company in the past.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, 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 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
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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 law, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with 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 volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors 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 from an independent investment banking or from an independent accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our business combination with an affiliated entity, or our Board of Directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying for a target 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. However, if our Board of Directors is unable to determine the fair value of an entity with which we seek to complete an initial business combination based on such standards, we will be required to obtain an opinion as described above.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated 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 will authorize the issuance of up to 200,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share and 1,000,000 undesignated preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 152,250,000 and 15,000,000 (assuming in each case that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option) authorized but unissued Class A and Class B ordinary shares available, respectively, for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not 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 and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Immediately after this offering, there will be no preference shares issued and outstanding. These amounts exclude the issuance of 5,000,000 units issuable pursuant to our contingent forward purchase contract at the time of the initial business combination.
We may issue a substantial number of additional ordinary shares, and may issue preference 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 upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, our amended
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and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. The issuance of additional ordinary shares or preference shares:
• may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering;
• may subordinate the rights of holders of ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our ordinary shares;
• could cause a change in control if a substantial number of ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and
• may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, ordinary shares and/or warrants.
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 — Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Holders”) of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception (see the section of this prospectus captioned “Income Tax Considerations — Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations — 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, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor 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 be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. holders to consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules to holders of our Class A ordinary shares and warrants. For a more detailed explanation of the tax consequences of PFIC classification to U.S. holders, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Income Tax Considerations — Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Law, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located. The transaction may require a shareholder to recognize taxable income 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. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders to pay such taxes. Shareholders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be
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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 are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors.
We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, Peter Kight, Gary A. Simanson and our other officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or
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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 shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidates’ 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 officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management — Directors and Officers.”
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in 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 and officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in making and managing investments in a similar business, although they may not participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other special purpose acquisition companies with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act until 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 officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to other entities prior to its presentation to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
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 and Officers,” “Management — Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with
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a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers and directors. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Management — Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no 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 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 disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire 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.
In September 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. As such, our sponsor will own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming it does not purchase units in this offering). If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a capitalization or share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of our sponsor prior to this offering at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,500,000 (or 7,800,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants, each exercisable for one Class A ordinary share, for a purchase price of $7,500,000 in the aggregate or $7,800,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), or $1.00 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Each private placement warrant may be exercised for one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein.
The founder shares are identical to the ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering except that (i) holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to our initial business combination, (ii) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, (iii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (A) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and (B) 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 (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) and (iv) the founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of
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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 herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.
Since our sponsor, officers and directors will not be eligible to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses 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.
At the closing of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf. These financial interests of our sponsor, officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination and completing an initial business combination.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our 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:
• 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 security is payable on demand;
• our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;
• our inability to pay dividends on our ordinary shares;
• 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;
• 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.
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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. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
Of the net proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $202,000,000 (or $232,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be available to complete our business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which includes up to approximately $7,000,000 (or up to $8,650,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, for the payment of deferred underwriting commissions). In addition, a member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract for gross proceeds of $50,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, which may be available to us at the time of the closing of our initial business combination, but which we cannot assure you will be available.
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. 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, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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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 a 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 outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new 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 stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete a business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will 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, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
The exercise price for the public warrants is higher than in many similar blank check company offerings in the past, and, accordingly, the warrants are more likely to expire worthless.
The exercise price of the public warrants is higher than is typical in many similar blank check companies in the past. Historically, the exercise price of a warrant was generally a fraction of the purchase price of the units in the initial public offering. The exercise price for our public warrants is $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. As a result, the warrants are less likely to ever be in the money and more likely to expire worthless.
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. 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 our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the period of time in which it had to consummate a business combination. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended
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and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments or extend the time in which we have to consummate a business combination through amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law.
The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-initial 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 ordinary shares who attend and vote in a general meeting, 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-initial business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s public shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that any of its provisions, including those related to pre-initial business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or 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), but excluding the provision of the articles relating to the appointment of directors, may be amended if approved by holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote in 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. Should our sponsor vote all its shares in favor of any such amendment, we would require 11,260,001, or 56.3%, of the public shares issued in this offering to be voted in favor of any such amendment for its approval (assuming no exercise of the underwriter’s overallotment option and no purchase by our sponsor or its affiliates of public shares in this offering or thereafter). We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our sponsor, which will collectively beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering (assuming it does not purchase any units in this offering), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner it chooses. 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 a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Certain agreements related to this offering may be amended without shareholder approval.
Certain agreements, including the underwriting agreement relating to this offering, the investment management trust agreement between us and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees, the registration rights agreement among us and our sponsor and the administrative services agreement between us and our sponsor, may be amended without shareholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions that our public shareholders might deem to be material. For example, the underwriting agreement related to this offering contains a covenant that the target company that we acquire must have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account at the time of signing the definitive agreement for the transaction with such target business (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) so long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NASDAQ. While we do not expect our board to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendment may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
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We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
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 identified any prospective target business 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 may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. 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. 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, including the funding of the contingent forward purchase contract, could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.10 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 $10.10 per share” and other risk factors below.
In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.
Monroe Capital, a member of our sponsor, has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination, which it can withhold at its sole discretion. The funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase contract securities are expected to be used as part of the consideration paid to the sellers in our initial business combination, and may be used to pay expenses in connection with our initial business combination or for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. The contingent forward purchase contract does not depend on whether any public stockholders elect to redeem their shares in connection with our initial business combination and may provide us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination. However, if the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities does not close by reason of (i) the failure of a condition or contingency or (ii) our counterparty’s failure to fund the purchase price for the contingent forward purchase securities, either because they lack sufficient funds or because they determine that it is not in their best interest to fund the purchase price for any reason whatsoever, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination, or we may need to seek alternative financing. In the event of any such failure to fund, we may not be able to obtain additional funds to account for such shortfall on terms favorable to us or at all. Any such shortfall would also reduce the amount of funds that we have available for the working capital of the post-business combination company. We have not obligated Monroe Capital to reserve funds to satisfy its obligations under the contingent forward purchase contract.
Our sponsor 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, it will elect all of our directors 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 sponsor will own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (assuming it does not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the securities issuable pursuant to the
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contingent forward purchase contract). In addition, the founder shares, all of which are held by our sponsor, will entitle the sponsor to elect all of our directors prior to our initial business combination. Holders of our public shares will have no right to vote on the election 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 at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election of directors prior to our initial business combination.
Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, as a result of its substantial ownership in our company, our sponsor 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 sponsor purchases any additional ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its influence over these actions. Accordingly, our sponsor will exert significant influence over actions requiring a shareholder vote at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 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 ordinary shares and none to the warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per Class A 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 warrants included in the units, you and the other public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 91.8% (or $9.18 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.82 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit. 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 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 protection in 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.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants.
Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our Class A ordinary shares equal or exceed $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable
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to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to 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 so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our management’s ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer Class A ordinary shares upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to exercise their warrants for cash.
If we call our public warrants for redemption after the redemption criteria described elsewhere in this prospectus have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his warrant (including any warrants held by our sponsor, officers or directors, other purchasers of our founders’ units, or their permitted transferees) to do so on a “cashless basis.” If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their warrants 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 his warrant for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company.
An investment in this offering may result in uncertain or adverse United States federal income tax consequences.
An investment in this offering may result in uncertain United States federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we are issuing in this offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the ordinary share and the warrant to purchase an ordinary share included in each unit could be challenged by the IRS or the courts. Furthermore, the United States federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the units we are issuing in this offering is unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our shares suspend the running of a U.S. holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of ordinary shares is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for federal income tax purposes. See the section titled “Income Tax Considerations” for a summary of the principal United States federal income tax consequences of an investment in our securities. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.
U.S. federal income tax reform could adversely affect us and holders of our units.
On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1, originally known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” which significantly reformed the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The new legislation, among other things, changes the U.S. federal tax rates, imposes significant additional limitations on the deductibility of interest, allows the expensing of capital expenditures, and puts into effect the migration from a “worldwide” system of taxation to a territorial system. We continue to examine the impact this tax reform legislation may have on us. The impact of this tax reform, or of any future administrative guidance interpreting provisions thereof, on holders of our units is uncertain and could be adverse. This prospectus does not discuss any such tax legislation or the manner in which it might affect holders of our units. We urge prospective investors to consult with their legal and tax advisors with respect to any such legislation and the potential tax consequences of investing in our units.
Our 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 warrants to purchase 20,000,000 of our Class A ordinary shares (or up to 23,000,000 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 7,750,000 (or 8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Prior to this offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares in a private placement. The founder shares
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are convertible into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Furthermore, a member of our sponsor agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000. In addition, if our sponsor makes any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.00 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 transaction, 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 acquisition 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 transaction. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a 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, so long as they are held by our sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees, (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 the sponsor or Cantor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis.
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 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 and warrants underlying the units, include:
• the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;
• prior offerings of those companies;
• our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;
• a review of debt to equity ratios in leveraged transactions;
• our capital structure;
• an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;
• general conditions of the securities markets at the time of this offering; and
• 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.
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. 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.
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Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP, or international financing reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending August 31, 2019. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer 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
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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 company with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. Federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (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 our Cayman Islands legal counsel that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the Board of Directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain 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 preference shares, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
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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 of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
• costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations;
• rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
• complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
• laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
• tariffs and trade barriers;
• regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
• longer payment cycles;
• tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
• currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
• rates of inflation;
• challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
• cultural and language differences;
• employment regulations;
• crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks and wars; and
• deterioration of political relations with the United States.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, 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 will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States 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.
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After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue will be derived from our operations in such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and legal policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
We may face risks related to financial technology businesses
Business combinations with financial technology businesses may involve special considerations and risks. If we complete our initial business combination with a financial technology business, we will be subject to the following risks, any of which could be detrimental to us and the business we acquire:
• If the company or business we acquire provides products or services which relate to the facilitation of financial transactions, such as funds or securities settlement system, and such product or service fails or is compromised, we may be subject to claims from both the firms to whom we provide our products and services and the clients they serve;
• If we are unable to keep pace with evolving technology and changes in the financial services industry, our revenues and future prospects may decline;
• Our ability to provide financial technology products and services to customers may be reduced or eliminated by regulatory changes;
• Any business or company we acquire could be vulnerable to cyberattack or theft of individual identities or personal data;
• Difficulties with any products or services we provide could damage our reputation and business;
• A failure to comply with privacy regulations could adversely affect relations with customers and have a negative impact on business;
• We may not be able to protect our intellectual property and we may be subject to infringement claims.
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 not be limited to financial technology businesses. 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.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
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. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, for example, statements about:
• our ability to complete our initial business combination;
• our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;
• our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination, as a result of which they would then receive expense reimbursements;
• our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;
• our pool of prospective target businesses;
• the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential acquisition opportunities;
• our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;
• the lack of a market for our securities;
• the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; or
• our financial performance following this offering.
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, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors”. 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.
54
USE OF PROCEEDS
We are offering 20,000,000 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.
|
|
Without |
|
Over-Allotment Option Exercised |
||||
Gross proceeds |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1) |
|
$ |
200,000,000 |
|
|
$ |
230,000,000 |
|
Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement |
|
|
7,750,000 |
|
|
|
8,050,000 |
|
Total gross proceeds |
|
$ |
207,750,000 |
|
|
$ |
238,050,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Offering expenses(2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Underwriting commissions (2% of gross proceeds from units offered to public, excluding deferred portion)(3) |
|
$ |
4,000,000 |
|
|
$ |
4,000,000 |
|
Legal fees and expenses |
|
|
275,000 |
|
|
|
275,000 |
|
Accounting fees and expenses |
|
|
40,000 |
|
|
|
40,000 |
|
SEC/FINRA Expenses |
|
|
63,638 |
|
|
|
63,638 |
|
Travel and road show |
|
|
20,000 |
|
|
|
20,000 |
|
NASDAQ listing and filing fees |
|
|
75,000 |
|
|
|
75,000 |
|
Director and Officer liability insurance premiums |
|
|
125,000 |
|
|
|
125,000 |
|
Printing and engraving expenses |
|
|
40,000 |
|
|
|
40,000 |
|
Miscellaneous(4) |
|
|
111,362 |
|
|
|
111,362 |
|
Total offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) |
|
$ |
750,000 |
|
|
$ |
750,000 |
|
Proceeds after offering expenses |
|
$ |
203,000,000 |
|
|
$ |
233,300,000 |
|
Held in trust account(3) |
|
$ |
202,000,000 |
|
|
$ |
232,300,000 |
|
% of public offering size |
|
|
101 |
% |
|
|
101 |
% |
Not held in trust account(2) |
|
$ |
1,000,000 |
|
|
$ |
1,000,000 |
|
The following table shows the use of the approximately $1,000,000 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(6) |
|
$ |
420,000 |
|
42.0 |
% |
Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations |
|
|
150,000 |
|
15.0 |
% |
Payment for office space, administrative and support services |
|
|
180,000 |
|
18.0 |
% |
Reserve for liquidation expenses |
|
|
100,000 |
|
10.0 |
% |
NASDAQ continued listing fees |
|
|
75,000 |
|
7.5 |
% |
Other miscellaneous expenses |
|
|
75,000 |
|
7.5 |
% |
Total |
|
$ |
1,000,000 |
|
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 loans from our sponsor of up to $300,000 as described in this prospectus. As of March 31, 2018, we had borrowed $177,600 under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $1,750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) and amounts not to be held in the trust account. In the event that offering expenses are less than as set forth in this table, any such 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) The underwriters have agreed to defer underwriting commissions equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering. Upon completion of our initial business combination, $7,000,000, which constitutes the underwriters’ deferred commissions will be paid to the underwriters from the funds held in the trust account, and the remaining funds, less
55
amounts released by the trustee 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 or for working capital. If the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised, an additional 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the over-allotment ($0.55 per unit or up to $1,650,000 in the aggregate) will be deposited in the trust account as deferred underwriting commissions. The underwriters will not be entitled to any interest accrued on the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.
(4) Includes organizational and administrative expenses and may include amounts related to above-listed expenses in the event actual amounts exceed estimates.
(5) 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 approximately $2,800,000 to be available to us from interest earned on the funds held in the trust account over 12 months following the investment of such funds in specified U.S. Government Treasury bills, however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. This estimate assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option and an interest rate of 1.4% per annum based upon current yields of securities in which the trust account may be invested. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans by our sponsor, affiliate of our sponsor, or certain of 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.
(6) 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.
The rules of the NASDAQ provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the private placement be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $202,000,000 (or $232,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), including $7,000,000 (or up to $8,650,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of deferred underwriting commissions, will, upon the consummation of this offering, be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Based on current interest rates, we estimate that the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $2,800,000 per year, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option and an interest rate of 1.4% per year, following the investment of such funds in specified U.S. government treasury bills or in specified money market funds. 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 taxes, if any, the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law.
56
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. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination, we may apply the balance of the cash released 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. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to the contingent forward purchase contract described herein.
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 their affiliates, but such persons are not under any obligation to advance funds to, or invest in, us.
We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Prior to the closing of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of March 31, 2018, we had borrowed $177,600 under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2018 or the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the $1,750,000 of offering proceeds not held in the trust account.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
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 their 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 of our securities” for a description of how such persons will determine which shareholders to seek to acquire shares from. 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. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller 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
57
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, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) 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 the redemption of our public shares or the business combination, and instead may search for an alternate business combination.
A public shareholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors 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 sponsor or any of our officers, directors or affiliates acquires public shares in or after this offering, 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.
58
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 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 capitalizations in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of the offering, in which case we will effect a capitalization or share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of our sponsor prior to this offering at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering. 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.
59
DILUTION
The difference between the public offering price per Class A ordinary share, assuming no value is attributed to the 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 Class A 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 Class A ordinary shares.
At March 31, 2018, our net tangible book value was $19,670 or approximately $0.00 per Class B ordinary share. After giving effect to the sale of 20,000,000 Class A ordinary shares included in the units we are offering by this prospectus, 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 March 31, 2018 would have been $5,000,006 or $0.82 per share, representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of the approximately 18,912,838 Class A ordinary shares that may be redeemed for cash and assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) of $0.82 per share to our sponsor as of the date of this prospectus and an immediate dilution of $9.18 per share or 91.8% 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 $9.30 per share or 93.0%.
The following table illustrates the dilution to the public shareholders on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units or the private placement warrants:
Public offering price |
|
|
|
|
$ |
10.00 |
|
Net tangible book value before this offering |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
|
|
Increase attributable to new investors |
|
|
0.82 |
|
|
|
|
Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants |
|
|
|
|
|
0.82 |
|
Dilution to public shareholders |
|
|
|
|
$ |
9.18 |
|
Percentage of dilution to new investors |
|
|
|
|
|
91.8 |
% |
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 $191,019,664 because holders of up to approximately 95% of our public shares may redeem their shares 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 as set forth in our tender offer or proxy materials (initially anticipated to be the aggregate amount held in trust two days prior to the commencement of our tender offer or shareholders meeting, including interest (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 sponsor and the public shareholders:
|
|
Shares Purchased |
|
Total Consideration |
|
Average Price |
||||||||
|
|
Number |
|
Percentage |
|
Amount |
|
Percentage |
|
per Share |
||||
Sponsor(1)(2) |
|
5,000,000 |
|
20.00 |
% |
|
$ |
25,000 |
|
0.01 |
% |
|
$ |
0.004 |
Public Shareholders |
|
20,000,000 |
|
80.00 |
% |
|
|
200,000,000 |
|
99.99 |
% |
|
$ |
10.00 |
|
|
25,000,000 |
|
100.00 |
% |
|
$ |
200,025,000 |
|
100.00 |
% |
|
|
|
____________
(1) Assumes the full forfeiture of 750,000 Class B ordinary shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
(2) Assumes conversion of Class B ordinary shares into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis. The dilution to public shareholders 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 such conversion.
60
The pro forma net tangible book value per share after the offering is calculated as follows:
Numerator: |
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
19,670 |
|
|
|
|
203,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
(7,000,000 |
) |
|
|
|
(191,019,664 |
) |
|
|
|
$ |
5,000,006 |
|
Denominator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,750,000 |
|
|
|
|
(750,000 |
) |
|
|
|
20,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
(18,912,838 |
) |
|
|
|
|
6,087,162 |
|
61
CAPITALIZATION
The following table sets forth our capitalization at March 31, 2018, and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our 20,000,000 units in this offering for $ 200,000,000 (or $10.00 per unit) and the sale of 7,750,000 private placement warrants for $7,750,000 (or $1.00 per warrant) and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:
|
|
March 31, 2018 |
||||||
|
|
Actual |
|
As Adjusted(1) |
||||
Deferred underwriting commissions |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
7,000,000 |
|
Notes payable(2) |
|
|
177,600 |
|
|
|
— |
|
Class A ordinary shares, subject to redemption(3) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
191,019,664 |
|
Shareholders’ equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Preference shares, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding (actual and as adjusted) |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
— |
|
Ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, 220,000,000 shares authorized (actual and adjusted) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
109 |
|
|
|
|
575 |
|
|
|
500 |
|
|
Additional paid-in capital(5) |
|
|
24,425 |
|
|
|
5,004,727 |
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
|
(5,330 |
) |
|
|
(5,330 |
) |
Total shareholders’ equity |
|
|
19,670 |
|
|
|
5,000,006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total capitalization |
|
$ |
197,270 |
|
|
$ |
196,020,170 |
|
____________
(1) Assumes the full forfeiture of 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor 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.
(2) Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of March 31, 2018, we had borrowed $177,600 under the promissory note with our sponsor.
(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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) subject to the limitations described herein whereby our net tangible assets will be maintained at a minimum of $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination. The “as adjusted” amount of ordinary shares subject to redemption equals the “as adjusted” total assets of $203,019,670 less the “as adjusted” total liabilities of $7,000,000 less the “as adjusted” shareholders’ equity of $5,000,006. The value of ordinary shares that may be redeemed is equal to $10.10 per share (which is the assumed redemption price) multiplied by 18,912,838 ordinary shares, which is the maximum number of ordinary shares that may be redeemed for a $10.10 purchase price per share and still maintain $5,000,001 of net tangible assets upon consummation of our initial business combination.
(4) Actual share amount is prior to any forfeiture of founder shares by our sponsor and as adjusted share amount assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
(5) The “as adjusted” additional paid-in capital calculation is equal to the “as adjusted” total shareholder’s equity of $5,000,006, less ordinary shares (par value) of $609, plus the accumulated deficit of $5,330.
62
MANAGEMENT’S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our securities in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to a contingent forward purchase contract described in this prospectus or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering or otherwise), our shares, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
The issuance of additional ordinary 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 preference 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 are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;
• 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; and
• may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants.
Similarly, if we issue debt securities, 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 security is payable on demand;
• our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;
• our inability to pay dividends on our ordinary shares;
• 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;
• 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.
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As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, at March 31, 2018 we had $3,763 in cash, and a working capital deficit of $173,837. 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. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
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 expect to 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 completion of this offering through receipt of $25,000 from the sale of the founder shares to our sponsor and up to $300,000 in loans from our sponsor under an unsecured promissory note. As of March 31, 2018, we had borrowed $177,600 under the unsecured promissory note. We estimate that the net proceeds from (i) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of approximately $750,000 and underwriting commissions of $4,000,000 (excluding deferred underwriting commissions of $7,000,000 (or up to $8,650,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full)), and (ii) the sale of the private placement warrants for a purchase price of $7,750,000 (or $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), will be $203,000,000 (or $233,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $202,000,000 or $232,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, including $7,000,000 (or up to $8,650,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions) will be deposited into a non-interest bearing trust account. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in specified U.S. government treasury bills or in specified money market funds. The remaining $1,000,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $750,000 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 $750,000, 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 trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and excluding deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay 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. 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 $1,000,000 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 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, and to pay taxes to the extent the interest earned on the trust account is not sufficient to pay our taxes.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. 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
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would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
We expect our primary liquidity requirements during that period to include approximately $420,000 for legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses associated with structuring, negotiating and documenting successful business combinations; $150,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting requirements; $75,000 for NASDAQ and other regulatory fees; $180,000 for office space, administrative and support services; $100,000 as a reserve for liquidation expenses and approximately $75,000 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 on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into 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.
A member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that such member consents to our initial business combination. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that such member consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
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.
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 requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2019. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer
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or an accelerated filer would we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act, 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 auditors 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 auditors to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404. The independent auditors 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 180 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. 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
In September 2017, our sponsor purchased 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. 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. As such, our sponsor will own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming it does not purchase units in this offering). If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a capitalization or share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares our sponsor at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor does not intend to purchase any units in this offering.
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We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will also pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of March 31, 2018, we had borrowed $177,600 under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2018 or the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the $1,750,000 of offering proceeds not held in the trust account.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. 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 for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
A member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that such member consents to our initial business combination. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that such member consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Our sponsor and Cantor have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (7,500,000 warrants by our sponsor (or 7,800,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and 250,000 warrants by Cantor (including if the over-allotment option is exercised in full)) for an aggregate purchase price of $7,750,000, or $8,050,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our sponsor and Cantor will be permitted to transfer the private placement warrants held by them to certain permitted transferees, including our or Cantor’s officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with or related to them, but the transferees receiving such securities will be subject to the same agreements with respect to such securities as our sponsor and Cantor. Otherwise, these warrants will not, subject
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to certain limited exceptions, be transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees (except as described below under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). The private placement warrants may also be exercised by the sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees for cash or on a cashless basis. In addition, for as long as the private placement warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. 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.
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement we will enter into with our sponsor and Cantor 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 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 permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act 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 “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations; Quarterly Results
As of March 31, 2018, 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, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
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PROPOSED BUSINESS
General
We are a newly incorporated blank check company incorporated on September 18, 2017 as a Cayman Islands exempted company and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We have generated no operating revenues to date and we do not expect that we will generate operating revenues until we consummate our initial business combination.
We currently intend to concentrate our efforts in identifying businesses in the financial services industry, including asset and wealth management, lending and leasing, and businesses providing financial technological services to, or operating in, the financial services industry. We will place a particular emphasis on businesses that provide data processing, storage and transmission services, data bases and payment processing services, fraud detection, data analysis or verification, client or customer interface, or have adopted operations in the financial services industry that are more technologically driven than the operational platforms of the legacy operators (collectively “FinTech”). We are not, however, required to complete our initial business combination with a financial services or financial technology business and, as a result, we may pursue a business combination outside of that industry. We will seek to acquire established businesses that we believe are fundamentally sound but potentially in need of financial, operational, strategic or managerial enhancement or redirection to maximize value. We do not intend to acquire start-up or other early-stage companies, companies with speculative business plans or companies that are excessively leveraged.
As we search for and evaluate opportunities, we intend to concentrate our efforts in identifying businesses which either provide disruptive technological innovation to the financial services industry, with particular emphasis on businesses that provide data processing; transactional and data security; data analysis; transaction clearing and payment processing; operational automation; rewards, loyalty, and client or customer engagement platforms by which financial services engage their clients and market and provide enhanced products and services to them; digital marketing; or companies that through the adoption of such technologies and practices can better compete and thrive in the rapidly evolving financial services global marketplace. We believe that these emerging technologies are blurring the lines between traditional product offerings and delivery methods of financial services companies as well as the product mix and services offered within the financial services industry as companies seek to redesign or re-engineer their customer or client experience.
According to the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Research Report on Financial Technologies, February 2017, “[T]he term Financial Technologies or “Fintech” is used to describe a variety of innovative business models and emerging technologies that have the potential to transform the financial services industry:
- Innovative Fintech
business models typically offer one or more specific
financial products or services in an automated fashion through the
use of the internet. By doing so, they unbundle the different
financial services traditionally offered by service providers
— incumbent banks, brokers or investment managers. For
example, equity crowdfunding platforms intermediate share
placements; peer-to-peer lending platforms intermediate or sell
loans; robo-advisers provide automated investment advice; and
social trading platforms offer brokerage and investing
services.
- Emerging
technologies such as cognitive computing, machine learning,
artificial intelligence, and distributed ledger technologies (DLT)
can be used to supplement both Fintech new entrants and traditional
incumbents, and carry the potential to materially change the
financial services industry.
Figure 1 shows
the Fintech landscape mapped across eight categories: payments,
insurance, planning, lending and crowdfunding, blockchain, trading
and investments, data and analytics, and security.
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Source: Fintech Control Tower, Expand, November 2016.
Figure 2 illustrates the growth of global Fintech investments across these eight categories from 2005 to 2016.
Source: Fintech Control Tower, Expand, November 2016
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While there is wide variation in reporting among market observers regarding the industry growth numbers globally, there is general consensus that the market is still experiencing strong growth, with some cyclical and regional variation.
We believe our management team has the skills and experience to identify, evaluate and consummate a business combination and is positioned to assist businesses we acquire. However, our management team’s network and investing and operating experience do not guarantee a successful initial business combination. The members of our management team are not required to devote any significant amount of time to our business and are concurrently involved with other businesses. There is no guarantee that our current officers and directors will continue in their respective roles, or in any other role, after our initial business combination, and their expertise may only be of benefit to us until our initial business combination is completed.
Furthermore, our sponsor, management team and their affiliates have a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships developed through extensive experience sourcing, acquiring, growing, financing and selling businesses; maintaining dialogues with sellers, capital providers and target management teams; and executing transactions under varying economic and financial conditions.
We believe that these networks of contacts and relationships will provide us with an important source of investment opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Upon completion of this offering, members of our management team will communicate with these networks of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a target company and a potential business combination and begin the process of pursuing and reviewing promising leads. We do not intend or expect to regularly participate in auction processes for prospective target companies.
Monroe Capital has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination. Monroe Capital granting its consent to our initial business combination is entirely within its sole discretion. Accordingly, if it does not consent to our proposed initial business combination, it will not be obligated to purchase the units. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide Monroe Capital with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Monroe Capital is a private credit asset management firm specializing in direct lending and special situations investing with approximately $5.5 billion in committed and managed assets under management as of April 1, 2018. Since 2004, the firm has provided private credit solutions to borrowers in the U.S. and Canada. Monroe Capital’s middle market lending platform provides senior and junior debt financing to businesses, special situation borrowers, and private equity sponsors. Investment types include unitranche financings; cash flow, asset based and enterprise value based loans; and equity co-investments. Monroe Capital has substantial expertise, resources and dedicated verticals in: Specialty Finance, Technology, Opportunistic Investing and Independent Sponsor Finance. Over the last three years, Monroe Capital has led over $500 million of transactions that encompass these four verticals.
Business Strategy
We will seek to capitalize on the significant financial services, asset and fund management, financial technology and banking experience, private and public equity experience, and contacts of our management team, including Pete Kight, our Executive Chairman of the Board nominee, Gary Simanson, our President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director, William Houlihan, our Chief Financial Officer, John Wu, our Chief Investment Officer nominee, Mary Ann Gillespie our Chief Sales and Marketing Officer nominee, Angela Mariana Freyre, our General Counsel nominee, Robert Harthheimer, a Director nominee, Stewart Paparin, a Director nominee, Eugene S. Putnam, Jr., a Director
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nominee, Allerd Derk Stikker, a Director nominee and Ming Shu, a Director nominee, to identify, evaluate, acquire and operate a target business. If we elect to pursue an investment outside of the financial services or FinTech industry, our management’s expertise related to that industry may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding that industry might not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. Members of our management team have extensive experience in the financial services industry, the financial technology industry, the asset and wealth management industry, as well as extensive experience in operating financial services companies in a public company environment and a private company environment, serving on both public and private company boards of directors, including financial institutions and FinTech companies, strong knowledge and experience in financial, legal and regulatory matters, initial public offerings, private equity and venture capital, as well as mergers and acquisitions in the financial services industry.
Peter “Pete” J. Kight, our Executive Chairman of the Board nominee, has 34 years of industry experience. He is an Angel Investor and Advisor to Commerce Ventures, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm focused on investing in innovations in the retail and financial services industries. Mr. Kight previously served as a Co-Chairman and Managing Partner at Comvest Partners, a mid-market private investment firm, and then as a Senior Advisor. He was the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ: CKFR), a provider of financial services technology, until it was acquired by Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV). Mr. Kight then served as director and vice chairman of Fiserv following Fiserv’s acquisition of CheckFree. Mr. Kight is on the Board of Directors of Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), a supplier of software and services specifically designed for nonprofit organizations, and has served on the board of directors of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN), a regional bank holding company. Mr. Kight previously served on the boards of directors of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: AKAM), distributor of computing solutions and services, Manhattan Associates, Inc., (NASDAQ: MANH) a provider of supply chain planning and execution solutions and Kabbage, Inc., a technology-driven SME lending company. Mr. Kight is also a member of the Board of Directors Urjanet, Inc., a data analytics company focused primarily on energy, utility, and financial transaction data and Insightpool, LLC., a marketing data analytics business focused on earned influence marketing analytics. He is a Principal of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC. He holds more than a dozen patents and publications for electronic banking and payment systems.
Gary A. Simanson, our President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director, is founder of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. In addition to serving in that capacity, Mr. Simanson serves as head of its Investment Committee, Credit Committee, Enterprise Risk Committee, Loan Review and other executive committees and is responsible for sourcing and establishing strategic loan asset purchase relationships and equity opportunities within the financial services and FinTech industries. Previously, Mr. Simanson founded and managed Endeavor Capital Management, L.L.C., Endeavor Capital Advisors, L.L.C., Endeavor Capital Fund, LP, and Endeavor Equity Fund, LP (collectively, “Endeavor”), targeting debt and equity investments in the marketplace lending industry. Prior to founding Endeavor, Mr. Simanson served as an advisor and then as a Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Avenue National Bank, restructuring its balance sheet, lending practices, underwriting procedures, special credits, ALCO, corporate governance, enterprise risk, IT, retail delivery, and achieving strong regulatory results. He has been Managing Director of First Capital Group, L.L.C., an investment banking advisory firm specializing in the financial industry and bank mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, capital raising and enterprise risk management. In such capacity, Mr. Simanson has both initiated and advised on bank mergers and acquisitions, capital raising transactions, enterprise risks and strategic initiatives around the country and has spoken nationally and internationally on enterprise risk, bank mergers and acquisitions, and also on the emerging marketplace lending and global FinTech industry, including the uses of blockchain for international asset selection and verification and income stream allocation and treasury management. He was involved in the CBAC Acquisition, as described elsewhere in this prospectus.
William “Bill” A. Houlihan, our Chief Financial Officer, serves as a director and audit committee chairman for Max Exchange, LLC, a privately-owned residential mortgage loan trading business, and as a director and financial expert on the audit committee of First Physicians Capital Group, or FPCG, a privately-owned health care investment company, which was registered with the SEC prior to completion of a going-private transaction, as well as its non-executive chairman of its board of directors and as the chairman of its audit committee. He is also a director and Audit Committee Chairman of Five Oaks Investment Company (NYSE: OAKS), a mortgage REIT. He served as lead independent director and chairman of the audit committee of Tiptree Financial Partners, LP (PINX:TIPTL), or Tiptree, a financial services holding company, and as lead independent director and chairman of the audit committee for Care Investment Trust (OTCQX: CVTR), a healthcare REIT which merged with Tiptree. He was a director of SNL Financial, a privately owned financial information company, and in addition, he was a director and shareholder of a family-owned commercial real estate investment partnership. He served as the chief financial officer for Amalgamated
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Bank, a privately owned bank and prior to this was a private investor while he served as transitional Chief Financial Officer for several distressed financial services companies. Mr. Houlihan also worked for a number of investment banking companies, including UBS (NYSE:UBS), J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM), Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Bear Steams and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and held several auditing and accounting positions.
John Wu, our Chief Investment Officer nominee, is a seasoned alternative investment executive with over twenty years of experience investing in technology, media, telecom, and FinTech companies. He has a track record in long/short equity investing in developed and emerging markets. In addition, he has experience investing in macro assets as well as structuring derivative products and developing risk management tools. Mr. Wu is currently the CEO of the Digital Securities Group of SharesPost, overseeing its expansion into digital assets and cryptocurrencies. SharesPost gives private growth companies and their shareholders a platform providing capital markets liquidity. He is also the CEO and Portfolio Manager of SEGO, LLC, a family office investment firm. Previously, he was Managing Partner and Founder of Sureview Capital, a global multisector long-short equity hedge fund. While at Sureview Capital, he secured a strategic investment from The Blackstone Group and raised approximately $400,000,000 in AUM from global institutions. Mr. Wu has also served as the Portfolio Manager of Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC, an asset management firm. Immediately prior to forming Sureview, Mr. Wu was at Kingdon Capital, a multi-billion dollar long-short hedge fund. At Kingdon, he was a Portfolio Manager, responsible for investing in a cross-section of industries within technology, media, telecom, consumer discretionary, business services, and FinTech.
Mary Anne Gillespie, our Chief Sales and Marketing Officer nominee, is the Executive Vice President of Sales/Product Marketing at EIS Group, a provider of digital-ready, customer-centered core insurance systems. She has 35 years of multichannel customer engagement experience. She has executed sales strategies and market growth in national and global territories for companies ranging from start-up to $9 billion in revenue across a broad range of industries. Ms. Gillespie previously served as Executive Vice President at TAS Group, a provider of software solutions for electronic money, payment systems, capital markets and ERP, Vice President of Merchant Sales at PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), and a Vice President of Sales at Guidewire Software, a software publisher. Earlier, she worked in several roles at Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) leading to Senior Vice President of Sales.
Angela Mariana Freyre, our General Counsel nominee, has served in the federal government and was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and in the Executive Office of the President of the United States as Special Advisor for Cuba Policy in the National Security Council. Ms. Freyre is currently a Principal with the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP in their Financial Services practice. Ms. Freyre has more than 35 years of legal experience. She served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Legal and Strategic Affairs at The Nielsen Company, a global information, data and measurement company; prior to that she was at the law firm Coudert Brothers LLP from 1995 to 2005, as an Associate and later a Partner.
Robert Hartheimer, a Director nominee, is an Independent Director of CardWorks, a privately held consumer lender and credit card servicer and an Independent Director of Lending Club Asset Management, an investment management subsidiary of fin-tech market lending firm Lending Club (NYSE: LC). Mr. Hartheimer is Co-Founder and Chief Regulatory Officer of CreditStacks, a fin-tech credit card originator since 2015 and the Founder and Managing Member of Hartheimer LLC, which provides senior-level consulting services to banks, investment firms and financial services companies on financial, regulatory, strategic and governance matters. Mr. Hartheimer was a Managing Director at Promontory Financial Group, a regulatory consulting firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hartheimer joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where he and a small team created the Division of Resolutions to analyze and sell failed banks. He went on to serve as the Director of that division. Mr. Hartheimer’s other past positions include senior roles at investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Friedman Billings Ramsey. Mr. Hartheimer previously served on four boards of directors: Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE) a financial technology company focused on providing cost-saving solutions to colleges and universities, Sterling Financial Corporation and Sterling Bank (NASDAQ: STSA) a recapitalized regional bank in the State of Washington, the three E*Trade Banks (E*Trade Bank, E*Trade Savings Bank and United Medical Bank, subsidiaries of online broker E*Trade), where he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee for such bank subsidiaries for part of this tenure (NASDAQ: ETFC), and Merrick Bank, a Utah based credit card bank where he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Stewart J. Paperin, a Director nominee, currently serves as the managing member of Leopard Rock Property Group, a real property development and investment firm located in Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Mr. Paperin served as Executive Vice President of the Soros Foundation, a worldwide private philanthropic foundation, where he oversaw financial, administrative and economic development activities, as a Senior Advisor and portfolio manager for Soros Fund Management LLC, a financial services company, and as a consultant to Soros Fund Management LLC. Previously, Mr. Paperin served as a Director of Penn Octane Corporation (NASDAQ: POCC), a company engaged in the purchase, transportation and sale of liquefied petroleum gas, and as President
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of Brooke Group International, an investment firm concentrated on the former Soviet Union, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Western Union Corporation, a provider of money transfer and message services, which was controlled by Brooke Group. He was involved in the CBAC Acquisition and EAC’s acquisition of ARMOUR Residential REIT, each as described elsewhere in this prospectus.
Eugene S. Putnam, Jr., a Director nominee, is a director of the Community Bankers Trust Corporation and served as its Chairman of the Board. Until recently, Mr. Putnam was President and Chief Financial Officer for Universal Technical Institute, Inc.,(NYSE:UTI) a post-secondary education provider based in Scottsdale, Arizona, previously serving as its as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He was involved in the CBAC Acquisition, as described elsewhere in this prospectus. He is also a Principal of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC.
Allerd D. Stikker, a Director nominee, started his career as a banking consultant in the United States. After moving back to Europe, he became active within the oil and gas sector and was subsequently employed in the financial services sector as Chief Financial Officer for IMC B.V. After a sabbatical period, he joined the BXR Group, an international private investment group, as Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for its real estate division and served as Chief Operating Officer of BXR Group, where he is currently Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure at BXR, Mr Stikker served on numerous boards and in many occasions as chairman, such as Green Gas International, a methane processor, Advanced World Transport, a railway transporter in Eastern Europe, Tower Group A/S, a real estate investor in the German residential market and BXR Group BV, the entity within BXR that makes all major decisions.
Ming Shu, Ph.D., a Director nominee, is currently a partner at Lingfeng Capital Management, a private equity firm focused on financial technology, consumer finance, big data, payments, and other technology companies. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer of Financial Services and Group Vice Present/Head of Strategic M&A at SF Express Co. Ltd. (SHE:002352), a Chinese delivery services company, where he drove an omni-channel strategy strengthening the financial service platform for individual and SME customers and led the company’s strategic investment and M&A activities, and Group Vice President at Alibaba Group/ANT Financial (NYSE: BABA) in Hangzhou. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of Henderson Global Investors (formerly LSE:HGG, ASX:HGG), an investment manager, and as Head of Greater China for Henderson Equity Partners.
Gary Simanson, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, and two other members of our Board of Directors, Stewart Paperin and Eugene S. Putnam, Jr served as executive officers and/or directors of Community Bankers Acquisition Corp., or “CBAC”, a former blank check company, which raised $60.0 million in its initial public offering in June 2006, and completed its initial business combination when it simultaneously acquired two publicly traded bank holding companies, BOE Financial Services of Virginia, Inc. and TransCommunity Financial Corporation in May of 2008, which we refer to as the CBAC Acquisition. CBAC is now known as Community Bankers Trust Corporation (“CBTC”) (NASDAQ: ESXB). Mr. Putnam continues to serve on the board of directors of CBTC and its subsidiary bank, Essex Bank.
Additionally, Mr. Paperin served as a member of the Board of Directors of Enterprise Acquisition Corp., or “EAC”, a former blank check company, which raised $250 million in its initial public offering in November of 2007, from its inception in July 2007, to its merger with ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc., in November 2009. Mr. Paperin has been a director of ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE: ARR) since November 2009.
We believe that potential sellers of target businesses will view the fact that members of our management team have successfully closed business combinations with vehicles similar to our company as a positive factor in considering whether or not to enter into a business combination with us. However, with respect to the foregoing examples, past performance of our management team is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical performance record of our management team as indicative of our future performance. Additionally, in the course of their respective careers, members of our management team have been involved in businesses and deals that were unsuccessful. Aside from Messrs. Simanson, Paperin and Putnam, our officers and directors have not had management experience with blank check companies or special purpose acquisition corporations in the past. For a list of our executive officers and entities for which a conflict of interest may or does exist between such officers and the company, as well as the priority and preference that such entity has with respect to performance of obligations and presentation of business opportunities to us, please refer to the table and subsequent explanatory paragraph under “Management — Conflicts of Interest”.
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We have identified the following criteria that we intend to use in evaluating business transaction opportunities. We expect that no individual criterion will entirely determine a decision to pursue a particular opportunity. Any particular business transaction opportunity which we ultimately determine to pursue may not meet one or more of these criteria:
• History of free cash flow generation. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses or assets that have a history of, or potential for, strong, stable free cash flow generation, with predictable and recurring revenue streams.
• Revenues and Enterprise Value. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses with annual revenues of approximately $150 million to $750 million and an enterprise value of approximately $500 million to $1.5 billion.
• Strong management team. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses or assets that have strong, experienced management teams or those that provide a platform for us to assemble an effective and experienced management team. We will focus on management teams with a proven track record of driving revenue growth, enhancing profitability and creating value for their shareholders.
• Opportunities for add-on acquisitions. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses or assets that we can grow both organically and through acquisitions. In addition, we believe that our ability to source proprietary opportunities and execute transactions will help the business we acquire grow through acquisition, and thus serve as a platform for further add-on acquisitions.
• Spin-offs/divestitures of non-core businesses or assets from larger companies. We will focus on one or more businesses or assets that are part of larger companies where the owners seek to divest or spin-off such businesses in order to free up capital to focus on core activities.
• Defensible business niche. We will seek to acquire on one or more businesses or assets that have a leading or niche market position and that demonstrate advantages when compared to their competitors, which may help to create barriers to entry against new competitors. We anticipate that these barriers to entry will enhance the ability of these businesses or assets to generate strong profitability and free cash flow.
• Diversified customer and supplier base. We seek to acquire one or more businesses or assets that have a diversified customer and supplier base, which are generally better able to endure economic downturns, industry consolidation, changing business preferences and other factors that may negatively impact their customers, suppliers and competitors.
Competitive Strengths
We believe we have the following competitive strengths:
• Management Operating and Investing Experience. Our directors and executive officers have significant executive, investment and operational experience in the financial services and financial technology industries. Although in the course of their careers they have been involved in some unsuccessful businesses and deals, we believe that this breadth of experience provides us with a competitive advantage in evaluating businesses and acquisition opportunities in our target industry.
• Established Deal Sourcing Network. As a result of their extensive experience in the financial services industry as well as their other corporate relationships, our management team members have developed a broad array of contacts in the industry. We believe that these contacts will be important in generating acquisition opportunities for us. Additionally, each of Mr. Kight, Mr. Simanson and Mr. Putnam are principals in Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC, a private investment vehicle seeking strategic loan asset purchase relationships and equity opportunities in the financial services and FinTech industries. Through this entity, the principals are presented with and exposed to numerous domestic and global opportunities in the financial services and FinTech industries.
• Strong Financial Position and Flexibility. With a trust account initially in the amount of $202,000,000 and a public market for our ordinary shares, we offer a target business a variety of options to facilitate a future business transaction and fund the growth and expansion of business operations. Because we are able
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to consummate an initial business transaction using our capital stock, debt, cash or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to design an acquisition structure to address the needs of the parties. We have not, however, taken any steps to secure third party financing and would only do so simultaneously with the consummation of our initial business transaction. Accordingly, our flexibility in structuring an initial business transaction may be constrained by our ability to arrange third-party financing, if required.
• Status as a Public Company. We believe our structure will make us an attractive business transaction partner to prospective target businesses. As an existing public company, we will offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business transaction with us. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our stock. Once public, we believe the target business would have greater access to capital and additional means of creating management incentives that are better aligned with shareholders’ interests than it would as a private company. We believe that being a public company can also augment a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid it in attracting and retaining talented employees.
Our Investment Process
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us. We will also utilize our operational and capital planning experience. Due to the relationships among our sponsor, management team and their respective affiliates, we believe that we will have the capacity to appropriately source opportunities, and to conduct critical business, financial and other analyses of prospective target businesses ourselves, and accordingly, relative to other blank check companies, we believe we have less reliance on unaffiliated third parties to provide such key elements of the investment process.
Monroe Capital has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination. Monroe Capital granting its consent to our initial business combination is entirely within its sole discretion. Accordingly, if it does not consent to our proposed initial business combination, it will not be obligated to purchase the units. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that Monroe Capital consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide Monroe Capital with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Each of our directors and officers presently has, and in the future any of our directors and officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an acquisition opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such acquisition opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any officer or director unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination. See “Management — Conflicts of Interest”.
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Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets
We believe that the operational and transactional experience of our management team and their respective affiliates, and the relationships they have developed as a result of such experience, will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. These individuals and entities have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships around the world. This network has grown through sourcing, acquiring and financing businesses, relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and experience in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions. We believe that these networks of contacts and relationships will provide us important sources of investment opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest noncore assets or divisions.
Our acquisition criteria, due diligence processes and value creation methods are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, 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.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, or our Board of Directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying for a target 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.
As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has 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, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. All of our officers currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Other Acquisition Considerations
Members of our management team may directly or indirectly own our ordinary 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, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to become an officer or director of any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act, until 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.
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Initial Business Combination
The NASDAQ rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our Board of Directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or 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 the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If 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.
Prior to the date of this prospectus, 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.
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 a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their 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.
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While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may have a negative view of us since we are a blank check company, without an operating history, and there is uncertainty relating to our ability to obtain shareholder approval of our proposed initial business combination and retain sufficient funds in our trust account in connection therewith.
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 market value of our ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination initially in the amount of $195,000,000 assuming no redemptions and after payment of $7,000,000 of deferred underwriting fees (or $223,650,000 assuming no redemptions and after payment of up to $8,650,000 of deferred underwriting fees if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), in each case before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination, and before the proceeds from the $50,000,000 contingent forward purchase contract with a member of our sponsor, 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 private placement of the private placement warrants, the $50,000,000 contingent forward purchase contract (if funded), our shares, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may, although we do not currently intend to, 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, start-up companies or companies with speculative business plans or excess leverage, 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 securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of 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, 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
The NASDAQ rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. 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. Our shareholders will be relying on the business judgment of our Board of Directors, which will have significant discretion in choosing the standard used to establish the fair market value of the target or targets, and different methods of valuation may vary greatly in outcome from one another. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
If our board 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 firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets 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 will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
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 negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and
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• cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.
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 a 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 such 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 law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons.
Under the NASDAQ’s listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
• we issue ordinary shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of Class A ordinary shares then outstanding (other than in a public offering);
• any of our directors, officers or substantial shareholders (as defined by NASDAQ 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 or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of ordinary shares could result in an increase in issued and outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 5% or more; or
• the issuance or potential issuance of ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control.
Permitted purchases of 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 sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares 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 shares such persons may purchase. 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 sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates determine to make any such purchases at the time of a shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, such purchases could have the effect of influencing the vote necessary to approve such transaction. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares in such transactions. They will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller 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
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holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. Subsequent to the consummation of this offering, we will adopt an insider trading policy which will require insiders to: (i) refrain from purchasing shares during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (ii) to clear all trades with our legal counsel 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 their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. 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.
The purpose of such purchases would be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination or (ii) 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. 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 ordinary shares may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against the 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 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, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made 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. 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, officers, directors, advisors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of 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 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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.10 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors
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who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may hold 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 Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) 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 the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under NASDAQ rules, asset acquisitions and stock 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 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 law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NASDAQ, we will be required to comply with NASDAQ rules.
If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal 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, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our Class A ordinary shares in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, 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, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
• 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
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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 NASDAQ 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 shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the business combination. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that at the time of any shareholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our sponsor and its permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of a business combination.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on redemption upon completion of our initial business combination if we seek shareholder approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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 will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to Excess Shares. 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. Our sponsor, officers and directors have, pursuant to a letter agreement entered into with us, waived their right to have any founder shares or public shares held by them redeemed in connection with our initial business combination. Unless any of our other affiliates acquires founder
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shares through a permitted transfer from an initial shareholder, and thereby becomes subject to the letter agreement, no such affiliate is subject to this waiver. However, to the extent any such affiliate acquires public shares in this offering or thereafter through open market purchases, it would be a public shareholder and restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to any Excess Shares.
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 (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically 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. 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 days prior to the 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 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 $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the 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 the date of the shareholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable. 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
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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.
Redemption of public shares and liquidation if no initial business combination
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we will have only 18 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 18-month period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) 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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining 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 warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the 18-month time period.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor acquires public shares after this offering, 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 18-month time period.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would (i) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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 (ii) with respect to the other provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares.
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 $1,000,000 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
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that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 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 $10.10. 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 $10.10. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account 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 only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, 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 it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest 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. 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. 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. None of our other officers 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 (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification 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 may choose not
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to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.10 per share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $1,000,000 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 $750,000, 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 $750,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, 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, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.10 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board 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 earlier of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our 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. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above.
Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. If we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, we will provide dissenting public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with any such vote. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive any redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Specifically, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide, among other things, that:
• 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 shareholders
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may seek to redeem their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) or (2) provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to tender their 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, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) in each case subject to the limitations described herein;
• we will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and, solely if we seek shareholder approval, a majority of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the business combination;
• if our initial business combination is not consummated within 18 months from the closing of this offering, then our existence will terminate and we will distribute all amounts in the trust account; and
• prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination.
These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide 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 shareholders meeting.
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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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering.
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Redemptions in Connection with our Initial Business Combination |
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Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares by our Affiliates |
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Redemptions if we fail to Complete an Initial Business Combination |
Calculation of redemption price |
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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 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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination (which is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per share), including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then 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 any limitations (including but not limited to cash requirements) agreed to in connection with the negotiation of terms of a proposed business combination. |
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following completion of our initial business combination. Such purchases will only be made 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. |
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If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem all public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (which is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per share), including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses, which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. |
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Redemptions in Connection with our Initial Business Combination |
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Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares by our Affiliates |
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Redemptions if we fail to Complete an Initial Business Combination |
Impact to remaining shareholders |
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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 deferred underwriting commissions 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). |
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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. |
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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 sponsor, who will be our only remaining shareholder 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 their over-allotment option. None of the provisions of Rule 419 apply to our offering.
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Terms of Our Offering |
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Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering |
Escrow of offering proceeds |
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The NASDAQ rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the private placement be deposited in a trust account. $202,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be deposited into a trust account located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. |
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Approximately $170,100,000 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. |
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Investment of net proceeds |
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$202,000,000 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 180 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. |
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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 |
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Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering |
Receipt of interest on escrowed funds |
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Interest on proceeds from the trust account to be paid to shareholders is reduced by (i) any taxes paid or payable and (ii) in the event of our liquidation for failure to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time, 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. |
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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. |
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Limitation on fair value or net assets of target business |
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The NASDAQ rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. |
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The fair value or net assets of a target business must represent at least 80% of the maximum offering proceeds. |
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Trading of securities issued |
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The units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. 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. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering, which is anticipated to take place three business days from the date of this prospectus. 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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No trading of the units or the underlying ordinary shares 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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Exercise of the warrants |
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The warrants cannot be exercised until the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering. |
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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. |
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Terms of Our Offering |
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Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering |
Election to remain an investor |
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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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest, 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 law and do not otherwise decide to hold a shareholder 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 the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, we hold a shareholder vote, we will, like many 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 issued and outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the business combination. |
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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 |
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Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering |
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Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. |
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Business combination deadline |
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If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 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 (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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining 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. |
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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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Release of funds |
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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 proceeds from this offering will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend and restate our amended and |
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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. |
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Terms of Our Offering |
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Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering |
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restated memorandum and articles of association to (A) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. The Company will instruct the Trustee to pay amounts from the trust account directly to redeeming holders. |
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Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold a shareholder vote |
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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 will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect Excess Shares (more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering). 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. |
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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. |
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Terms of Our Offering |
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Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering |
Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights |
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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 (if any) 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 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, 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 days prior to the 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. |
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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 their certificate to verify ownership. |
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our management believes that there are currently 48 other publicly traded entities similar to us (which raised an aggregate of $12.469 billion) which are currently searching for suitable targets with which to engage in an initial business combination. We are aware of only one other similar entity focused on the FinTech industry and are not aware of any other entities with an exclusive focus on the financial services industry. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
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Conflicts of Interest
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and in the future any of our directors and our officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an acquisition opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such acquisition opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any officer or director unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination.
Indemnity
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in 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 their indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 9912 Georgetown Pike, Suite D203, Great Falls, Virginia 22066. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee that we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
As of the effective date of this prospectus, we will have five officers. 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 our officers or any other members of our management team 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 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 auditors.
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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 the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition 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 August 31, 2019 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Prior to the date of this prospectus, 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 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 market value of our ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
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.
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MANAGEMENT
Directors and Officers
Name |
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Age |
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Title |
Peter J. Kight |
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61 |
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Executive Chairman nominee |
Gary A. Simanson |
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57 |
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President, Chief Executive Officer and Director |
William A. Houlihan |
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62 |
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Chief Financial Officer |
John Wu |
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47 |
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Chief Investment Officer nominee |
Mary Anne Gillespie |
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65 |
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Chief Sales and Marketing Officer nominee |
Angela Mariana Freyre |
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63 |
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General Counsel and Secretary nominee |
Robert Hartheimer |
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60 |
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Director nominee |
Stewart J. Paperin |
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69 |
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Director nominee |
Eugene S. Putnam, Jr. |
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57 |
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Director nominee |
Allerd D. Stikker |
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55 |
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Director nominee |
Ming Shu, PhD. |
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46 |
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Director nominee |
Upon consummation of this offering, our directors and officers will be as follows:
Peter “Pete” J. Kight will be our Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Mr. Kight has 34 years of industry experience. He has been an Angel Investor and Advisor to Commerce Ventures, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm focused on investing in innovations in the retail and financial services industries, since 2012. Mr. Kight previously served as a Co-Chairman and Managing Partner at Comvest Partners, a mid-market private investment firm, from 2010 - 2013, and then as a Senior Advisor at Comvest Partners from 2013 to 2015. He was the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ: CKFR), a provider of financial services technology, from 1981 until it was acquired by Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) in 2007. Mr. Kight then served as director and vice chairman of Fiserv following Fiserv’s acquisition of CheckFree from 2007 to 2012 (Vice chairman from 2007 to 2010). Mr. Kight joined the Board of Directors of Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), a supplier of software and services specifically designed for nonprofit organizations, in 2014. Mr. Kight has served on the board of directors of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ: HBAN), a regional bank holding company, since 2012. Mr. Kight previously served on the boards of directors of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: AKAM), distributor of computing solutions and services, from 2004 to 2012, Manhattan Associates, Inc., (NASDAQ: MANH) a provider of supply chain planning and execution solutions, from 2007 to 2011 and Kabbage, Inc., a technology-driven SME lending company, from 2015 to November 2017. Mr. Kight is also a member of the Board of Directors Urjanet, Inc., a data analytics company focused primarily on energy, utility, and financial transaction data, from 2016 to present and Insightpool, LLC, a marketing data analytics business focused on earned influence marketing analytics, from 2015 to present. He has been a Principal of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC, since 2017. He holds more than a dozen patents and publications for electronic banking and payment systems. Mr. Kight is well-qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors due to his extensive financial services, operational, management and investment experience.
Gary A. Simanson has been our President, Chief Executive Officer and Director since our inception. Mr. Simanson is founder of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC and has served as its Chief Executive Officer since 2017. In addition to serving in that capacity, Mr. Simanson serves as head of its Investment Committee, Credit Committee, Enterprise Risk Committee, Loan Review and other executive committees and is responsible for sourcing and establishing strategic loan asset purchase relationships and equity opportunities within the financial services and FinTech industries. From 2015 through June 2017, Mr. Simanson founded and managed Endeavor Capital Management, L.L.C., Endeavor Capital Advisors, L.L.C., Endeavor Capital Fund, LP, and Endeavor Equity Fund, LP (collectively, “Endeavor”), targeting debt and equity investments in the marketplace lending industry. Prior to founding Endeavor, Mr. Simanson served as an advisor and then as a Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Avenue National Bank from 2013 to 2015, restructuring its balance sheet, lending practices, underwriting procedures, special credits, ALCO, corporate governance, enterprise risk, IT, retail delivery, and achieving strong regulatory results. He has been Managing Director of First Capital Group, L.L.C., an investment banking advisory firm specializing in the financial industry and bank mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, capital raising and enterprise risk management from 1997 to the present. In such capacity, Mr. Simanson has both initiated and advised on bank mergers and acquisitions, capital raising transactions, enterprise risks and strategic initiatives around the
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country and has spoken nationally and internationally on enterprise risk, bank mergers and acquisitions, and also on the emerging marketplace lending and global FinTech industry, including the uses of blockchain for international asset selection and verification and income stream allocation and treasury management. Mr. Simanson previously served as the financial expert for the Audit Committee and as a member of the Board of Directors of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., with $1.4 billion in assets, and its wholly-owned subsidiary First Guaranty Bank; and as a Senior Advisor to the Chairman of Alpine Capital Bank and its related companies, operating in the commercial banking, investment advisory, merchant banking and portfolio investment areas. He was Founder, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategic Officer of Community Bankers Trust Corporation, a $1.2 billion in assets bank holding company for Essex Bank (NASDAQ NMS “ESXB”) and previously served as its President, Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer, and as a Director since its inception in 2005 to 2011, overseeing its public offering in 2006 as a special purpose acquisition company, Community Bankers Acquisition Corp, its bank acquisitions and shareholder reformulation in 2008, and its failed bank acquisitions from the FDIC in 2008 and 2009. In addition to serving as managing director of First Capital Group, Mr. Simanson also served as Senior Vice President concentrating in bank mergers and acquisitions and capital markets with FTN Financial Capital Markets, a wholly owned investment banking and financial services subsidiary of First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE: FHS) from 1998 to 1999. From 1992 to 1995, Mr. Simanson was Associate General Counsel at Union Planters Corporation, then a NYSE-traded bank holding company (presently Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF)), where his duties included the negotiation and preparation of all bank merger and acquisition transaction documents, transaction due diligence, member of integration committee, preparation of all regulatory filings, registration statements and other securities filings and other bank regulatory matters. From 1989 to 1992, he was a practicing attorney, beginning his career with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP, specializing in the securities, bank regulatory and bank merger and acquisition areas. Mr. Simanson is licensed to practice law in the states of New York and Colorado. Mr. Simanson received his B.A. degree, majoring in Economics, from George Washington University. He earned his M.B.A., majoring in Finance, from George Washington University and holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University. Mr. Simanson is well-qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors due to his extensive banking, financial and advisory experience.
William “Bill” A. Houlihan will be our Chief Financial Officer as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. He has served since 2012 as a director and audit committee chairman for Max Exchange, LLC, a privately-owned residential mortgage loan trading business. He has served since 2009 as a director and financial expert on the audit committee of First Physicians Capital Group, or FPCG, a privately-owned health care investment company, which was registered with the SEC prior to completion of a going-private transaction in 2015, from 2013 to 2014 as non-executive chairman of its board of directors and since 2013 as the chairman of its audit committee. Since 2013 he has served as a director and Audit Committee Chairman of Five Oaks Investment Company (NYSE: OAKS), a mortgage REIT. He served from 2013 to 2015 as lead independent director and chairman of the audit committee of Tiptree Financial Partners, LP (PINX:TIPTL), or Tiptree, a financial services holding company; and from 2010 to 2013 as lead independent director and chairman of the audit committee for Care Investment Trust (OTCQX: CVTR), a healthcare REIT which merged with Tiptree in 2013. From 2003 to 2010, he was a director of SNL Financial, a privately owned financial information company, and in addition, from 1998 to 2012 he was a director and shareholder of a family-owned commercial real estate investment partnership. He served from 2013 to 2014 as the chief financial officer for Amalgamated Bank, a privately owned bank. From 2001 through 2008, Mr. Houlihan was a private investor while he served as transitional Chief Financial Officer for several distressed financial services companies: Sixth Gear, Inc. from 2007 to 2008; Sedgwick Claims Management Services from 2006 until 2007; Metris Companies from 2004 to 2006; and Hudson United Bancorp from 2001 to 2003. From 1981 until 2000, and for short-term periods in 2004 and 2007, Mr. Houlihan worked for a number of investment banking companies, including UBS (NYSE:UBS), J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM), Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Bear Steams and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). He also held several auditing and accounting positions from 1977 through 1981. In addition he was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant, but his license is currently inactive. Since 2017 has been an adjunct professor for the Feliciano School of Business at Montclair State University. On March 13, 2015, Mr. Houlihan settled an administrative proceeding brought by the SEC regarding his alleged failure to file on a timely basis required Schedule 13D amendments and Section 16(a) reports relating to his beneficial ownership of securities of FPCG. Mr. Houlihan is a member of the board of directors of FPCG and a greater than 10% beneficial owner of FPCG securities. In the settlement, Mr. Houlihan did not admit or deny the SEC’s allegations, consented to the entry of a cease and desist order requiring him not to cause any violation of Sections 13(d)(2) and 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and agreed to pay a civil penalty of $15,000 to the SEC. Mr. Houlihan received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Accounting from Manhattan College and received his M.B.A. in Finance from New York University Graduate School of Business.
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John Wu will be our Chief Investment Officer as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Mr. Wu is a seasoned alternative investment executive with over twenty years of experience investing in technology, media, telecom, and FinTech companies. He has a track record in long/short equity investing in developed and emerging markets. In addition, he has experience investing in macro assets as well as structuring derivative products and developing risk management tools. Since January 2018, Mr. Wu has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Securities Group of SharesPost, overseeing its expansion into digital assets and cryptocurrencies. SharesPost gives private growth companies and their shareholders a platform providing capital markets liquidity. Mr. Wu also serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager of SEGO, LLC, a family office investment firm, since 2014. Previously, Mr. Wu was Managing Partner and Founder of Sureview Capital, a global multisector long-short equity hedge fund, from 2010 to 2014. While at Sureview Capital, he secured a strategic investment from The Blackstone Group and raised approximately $400M in AUM from global institutions. Immediately prior to forming Sureview, Mr. Wu was at Kingdon Capital, a multi-billion dollar long-short hedge fund from 2004 to 2010. At Kingdon, he was a Portfolio Manager, responsible for investing in a cross-section of industries within technology, media, telecom, consumer discretionary, business services, and FinTech. Mr. Wu was the Portfolio Manager of Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC, an asset management firm, from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Wu started his hedge fund career in 1992 at Tiger Management where he spent four years as a macro analyst and trader. He received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from Cornell University.
Mary Anne Gillespie will be our Chief Sales and Marketing Officer as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Ms. Gillespie has been the Executive Vice President of Sales/Product Marketing at EIS Group, a provider of digital-ready, customer-centered core insurance systems, since 2015. She has 35 years of multichannel customer engagement experience. She has executed sales strategies and market growth in national and global territories for companies ranging from start-up to $9 billion in revenue across a broad range of industries. Ms. Gillespie previously served as Executive Vice President at TAS Group, a provider of software solutions for electronic money, payment systems, capital markets and ERP, from 2011 to 2012 and Vice President of Merchant Sales at PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) from 2007 to 2009. Prior to those positions, she was Vice President of Sales at Guidewire Software, a software publisher, from 2005 to 2007. Earlier, she worked in several roles at Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) leading to Senior Vice President of Sales. Ms. Gillespie received an M.B.A. degree from the University of New Hampshire and a B.A. degree from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Angela Mariana Freyre will be our General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Since January 2018, she has been a Principal with the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP, in their Financial Services practice Ms. Freyre has served in the federal government from 2011 to 2017 and was Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 2011 to 2017, and in the Executive Office of the President of the United States as Special Advisor for Cuba Policy in the National Security Council from November 2016 to January 2017. Ms. Freyre has more than 35 years of legal experience. She served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Legal and Strategic Affairs at The Nielsen Company, a global information, data, and measurement company, from 2005 to 2011. Prior to that she was at the law firm Coudert Brothers LLP from 1995 to 2005, as an Associate and later a Partner. She began her legal career as an Associate at the law firm Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon LLP from 1981 to 1995, where she worked in both their New York and Paris offices. Ms. Freyre received her B.A. in History and Political Science from Wellesley College, her D.E.J.G. from Universite de Droit d’Economie et des Sciences Sociales de Paris and her J.D. and LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center.
Robert Hartheimer will be one of our Directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Robert Hartheimer has been an Independent Director of CardWorks, a privately held consumer lender and credit card servicer since 2017 and an Independent Director of Lending Club Asset Management, an investment management subsidiary of fin-tech market lending firm Lending Club (NYSE: LC) since 2016. Mr. Hartheimer is Co-Founder and Chief Regulatory Officer of CreditStacks, a fin-tech credit card originator since 2015 and the Founder and Managing Member of Hartheimer LLC, which provides senior-level consulting services to banks, investment firms and financial services companies on financial, regulatory, strategic and governance matters, since 2008. From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Hartheimer was a Managing Director at Promontory Financial Group, a regulatory consulting firm. In 1991, Mr. Hartheimer joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where he and a small team created the Division of Resolutions to analyze and sell failed banks. He went on to serve as the Director of that division. Mr. Hartheimer’s other past positions include senior roles at investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Friedman Billings Ramsey. Mr. Hartheimer previously served on four Boards of directors: Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE) a financial technology company focused on providing cost-saving solutions to colleges and universities from 2012 to 2016, Sterling Financial Corporation and Sterling Bank (NASDAQ: STSA)
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a recapitalized regional bank in the State of Washington from 2010 to 2014, the three E*Trade Banks (E*Trade Bank, E*Trade Savings Bank and United Medical Bank subsidiaries of online broker E*Trade), where he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee for such bank subsidiaries for part of this tenure (NASDAQ: ETFC) from 2005 to 2008, and Merrick Bank, a Utah based credit card bank, from 1997 to 2003, where he served as Chairman of its Audit Committee. Mr. Hartheimer received his B.A. from Hamilton College and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. We believe that Mr. Hartheimer is well-qualified to serve on our board because he brings to it his extensive experience in the financial services industry, the bank regulatory community and investment banking.
Stewart J. Paperin will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Mr. Paperin currently serves as the managing member of Leopard Rock Property Group, a real property development and investment firm located in Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Mr. Paperin served as Executive Vice President of the Soros Foundation, a worldwide private philanthropic foundation, from 1996 to 2013, where he oversaw financial, administrative and economic development activities. From 1996 to 2005, Mr. Paperin served as a Senior Advisor and portfolio manager for Soros Fund Management LLC, a financial services company, and from 2005 to 2014, he served as a consultant to Soros Fund Management LLC. From 1996 to 2007, Mr. Paperin served as a Director of Penn Octane Corporation (NASDAQ: POCC), a company engaged in the purchase, transportation and sale of liquefied petroleum gas. Prior to joining the Soros organizations, Mr. Paperin served as President of Brooke Group International, an investment firm concentrated on the former Soviet Union, from 1990 to 1993, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Western Union Corporation, a provider of money transfer and message services, which was controlled by Brooke Group, from 1988 to 1990. Prior to Western Union Corporation, Mr. Paperin served as Chief Financial Officer of Timeplex Corporation, a telecommunications equipment provider, from 1986 to 1988 and of Datapoint Corporation, a computer equipment manufacturer, from 1985 to 1986. Prior to Datapoint Corporation, Mr. Paperin served as a financial officer of Pepsico Corporation (NYSE: PEP) from 1980 to 1985 and as a management consultant at Cresap McCormick & Paget from 1975 to 1980. Mr. Paperin has been a director of ARMOUR REIT since 2009. Mr. Paperin served as a member of Enterprise’s Board of Directors, ARMOUR’s predecessor from its inception in 2007 to its merger with ARMOUR in 2009. Mr. Paperin was also a director of JAVELIN from 2012 until the merger in 2016. Mr. Paperin also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Community Bankers Acquisition Corp., a blank check company formed to acquire an operating business in the banking industry (NYSE MKT LLC: BTC). Mr. Paperin holds an M.S. in Management, and a B.A. in Economics Management from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the State University of New York. We believe that Mr. Paperin is well-qualified to serve on our board because he brings to it his extensive experience in the financial services industry, the bank regulatory community and investment banking.
Eugene S. Putnam, Jr. will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Mr. Putnam has been a director of the Community Bankers Trust Corporation since 2005 and served as its Chairman of the Board from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Putnam was President and Chief Financial Officer for Universal Technical Institute, Inc., (NYSE:UTI) a post-secondary education provider based in Scottsdale, Arizona, from 2011 to 2016. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Universal Technical Institute, Inc. from 2008 to 2011, and he served as its interim Chief Financial Officer in 2008. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Putnam was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aegis Mortgage Corporation, a mortgage origination and servicing company that later filed for bankruptcy protection in 2007, five months after his departure. He has been a Principal of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC, since 2017. We believe that Mr. Putnam is well-qualified to serve on our board because of his expertise as chief financial officer of publicly traded companies and experience in risk management and strategic planning and his banking expertise in corporate finance, capital planning and balance sheet management.
Allerd D. Stikker will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Mr. Stikker started his career as a banking consultant in the United States. After moving back to Europe, he became active within the oil and gas sector and was subsequently employed in the financial services sector as Chief Financial Officer for IMC B.V. After a sabbatical period, he joined the BXR Group, an international private investment group, in 2008 as Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for its real estate division and served as Chief Operating Officer of BXR Group from 2011 until 2014. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of BXR Group since 2014. During his tenure at BXR, Mr Stikker served on numerous boards and in many occasions as chairman, such as Green Gas International, a methane processor, Advanced World Transport, a railway transporter in Eastern Europe, Tower Group A/S, a real estate investor in the German residential market and BXR Group BV, the entity within BXR that makes all major decisions. Mr. Stikker has an M.B.A. and a
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B.A. in Business Administration from George Washington University. We believe that Mr. Stikker is well-qualified to serve on our board due to his extensive experience in the financial services industry, the bank regulatory community and investment banking.
Ming Shu, Ph.D. will be one of our directors as of the effective date of the prospectus which is part of this registration statement. Dr. Ming Shu is currently a partner at Lingfeng Capital Management, a private equity firm focused on financial technology, consumer finance, big data, payments, and other technology companies, since 2016. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer of Financial Services and Group Vice President/Head of Strategic M&A at SF Express Co. Ltd., (SHE:002352) a Chinese delivery services company, from 2015 to 2016 where he drove an omni-channel strategy strengthening the financial service platform for individual and SME customers and led the company’s strategic investment and M&A activities. From 2013 to 2015 Dr. Ming Shu was Group Vice President at Alibaba Group/ANT Financial (NYSE: BABA) in Hangzhou. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Henderson Global Investors (formerly LSE:HGG, ASX:HGG) an investment manager, from 2010 to 2013 and as Head of Greater China for Henderson Equity Partners from 2006 to 2013. He started his career as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago and New York. He holds a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and a B.A. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Macalester College. Dr. Ming Shu is also a CFA Charter holder since 2006. We believe that Dr. Ming Shu is well-qualified to serve on our board because he brings to it his extensive experience in the financial services industry and investment banking as well as executive level operating experience.
Number, Terms of Office and Election of Officers and Directors
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we expect that our Board of Directors will consist of seven members. Holders of our founder shares will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination and holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the election 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 at least 90% of our ordinary shares 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 or by a majority of the holders of our founder shares.
Our officers are elected 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 will provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the Board of Directors.
Collectively, through their positions described above, our officers and directors have extensive experience in public companies and in the financial services industry. These individuals will play a key role in identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, selecting the target businesses, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the acquisition.
Director Independence
The NASDAQ listing standards require that a majority of our Board of Directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we expect to have two “independent directors” as defined in the NASDAQ listing standards and applicable SEC rules prior to completion of this offering. Our board has determined that each of Messrs. Hartheimer, Paperin, Putnam, Stikker and Shu are independent directors under applicable SEC and NASDAQ 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 officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NASDAQ through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their 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 fees from the combined company. All of these fees 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 such materials are distributed, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after the initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Upon the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part, our Board of Directors will have two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Each committee will operate under a charter that has been approved by our board and will have the composition and responsibilities described below. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, NASDAQ rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and NASDAQ rules require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
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 Messrs. Hartheimer, Paperin and Putnam. Mr. Hartheimer will serve as chairman of the audit committee.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our Board of Directors has determined that Mr. Hartheimer qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We will adopt an audit committee charter, which will detail the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
• the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent auditors and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;
• pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent auditors or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
• reviewing and discussing with the independent auditors all relationships the auditors have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence;
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• setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent auditors;
• setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
• obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent auditors describing (i) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (ii) 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;
• 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
• reviewing with management, the independent auditors, 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 Messrs. Putnam and Stikker. Mr. Putnam will serve as chairman of the compensation committee. We will adopt a compensation committee charter, which will detail the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
• 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’s based on such evaluation;
• reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other officers;
• reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;
• implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;
• assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;
• approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees;
• producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and
• 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, 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 the NASDAQ and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or NASDAQ rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are
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Messrs. Hartheimer, Paperin, Putnam, Stikker and Shu. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
Prior to our initial business combination, the Board of Directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by holders of our founder shares during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at an annual meeting of shareholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of 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.
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.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, (i) as a member of the compensation committee or Board of Directors of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our compensation committee, or (ii) as a member of the compensation committee of another entity, one of whose executive officers served on our Board of Directors.
Code of Ethics
Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, we will have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We will file a copy of our form of Code of Ethics and our audit committee charter as exhibits to the registration statement. You will be able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K. See “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”
Conflicts of Interest
Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:
• 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;
• duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;
• directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;
• 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
• 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.
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Each of our directors and officers presently has, and in the future any of our directors and our officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an acquisition opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such acquisition opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any officer or director unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to become an officer or director of any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act, until 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. Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:
• None of our officers or directors 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.
• In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities which 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 and Officers.”
• Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to our founder shares and public shares in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, our sponsor, officers and directors 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. 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 sponsor until the earlier of (1) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (2) the date on which we consummate a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization, or other similar transaction after our initial business combination that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the last sale price of our ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, the founder shares will be released from the lock-up. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the ordinary shares underlying such 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 officers and directors may directly or indirectly own ordinary shares and warrants following this offering, our officers and directors 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.
• Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.
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Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors may 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 officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations:
Individual(1) |
|
Entity |
|
Entity’s Business |
|
Affiliation |
Pete J. Kight(2) |
|
Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC |
|
Investment |
|
Principal |
|
|
Commerce Ventures, L.P., Fund I |
|
VC Fund |
|
Limited Partner |
|
|
Commerce Ventures, L.P., Fund II |
|
VC Fund |
|
Limited Partner |
|
|
MX Technologies, Inc. |
|
FinTech |
|
Director |
|
|
Insightpool, LLC |
|
Technology |
|
Director |
|
|
Huntington Bancshares Inc. |
|
Bank |
|
Director |
|
|
Blackbaud, Inc. |
|
FinTech |
|
Director |
|
|
Urjanet, Inc. |
|
Technology |
|
Director |
Gary A. Simanson(3) |
|
Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC |
|
Investment |
|
Officer/Director |
|
|
First Capital Group, LLC |
|
Investment |
|
Managing Director |
William A. Houlihan(4) |
|
Five Oaks Investment Company |
|
Mortgage REIT |
|
Director |
|
|
Max Exchange LLC |
|
Insurance and Trading |
|
Director |
|
|
First Physician Capital Group |
|
Investment services |
|
Director |
John Wu(5) |
|
Sego Capital |
|
Family Office |
|
Managing Member |
|
|
Shares Post |
|
Liquidity Platform |
|
Officer |
Mary Anne Gillespie(6) |
|
EIS Group |
|
Enterprise software |
|
Officer |
Angela Mariana Freyre(7) |
|
Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP |
|
Law Firm |
|
Principal |
Robert Hartheimer(8) |
|
Lending Club Asset Management |
|
Investment Management |
|
Director |
|
|
CardWorks |
|
FinTech |
|
Director |
|
|
Credit Stacks |
|
Credit card issuer |
|
Officer |
|
|
Hartheimer, LLC |
|
Consulting |
|
Managing Member |
Stewart J. Paperin(9) |
|
Leopard Rock Property Group |
|
Real estate investment |
|
Managing Member |
|
|
ARMOUR Residential REIT |
|
REIT |
|
Director |
|
|
Javelin Mortgage REIT |
|
REIT |
|
Director |
|
|
Silvaris Corp. |
|
Trader |
|
Director |
Eugene S. Putnam, Jr.(10) |
|
Community Bankers Trust Corp and subsidiaries |
|
Holding Company |
|
Director |
|
|
Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC |
|
Investment |
|
Principal |
Allerd D. Stikker(11) |
|
BXR Group B.V. |
|
Family Office |
|
Officer |
Ming Shu(12) |
|
Lingfeng Capital Management |
|
Venture Capital |
|
Partner |
|
|
Zhejiang Caitong Security |
|
Brokerage |
|
Director |
____________
(1) Each of the entities listed in this table has priority and preference relative to our company with respect to the performance by each individual listed in this table of his obligations and the presentation by each such individual of business opportunities.
(2) Mr. Kight has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(3) Mr. Simanson has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(4) Mr. Houlihan has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(5) Mr. Wu has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(6) Ms. Gillespie has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(7) Ms. Freyre has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(8) Mr. Hartheimer has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(9) Mr. Paperin has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(10) Mr. Putnam has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(11) Mr. Stikker has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
(12) Mr. Shu has a fiduciary duty with respect to each of the listed entities.
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Accordingly, if any of the above officers or directors 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 or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. We do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination, because, although many of the foregoing entities are involved in the financial services industry broadly defined, the specific industry focuses of a majority of these entities differ from our focus on financial technology businesses and the type or size of the transaction that such companies would most likely consider are of a size and nature substantially different than what we are targeting.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares held by them (and their permitted transferees will agree) and any public shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, 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 will provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud or willful default. We may purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.
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 ordinary shares included in the units offered by this prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in this offering, by:
• each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares;
• each of our officers, directors and director nominees that beneficially own ordinary shares; and
• all our officers, directors 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.
The below assumes that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, that our sponsor forfeits 750,000 founder shares, and that there are 25,000,000 ordinary shares issued and outstanding after this offering. Excludes securities underlying the contingent forward purchase contract.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) |
|
Number of Shares |
|
Approximate Percentage of Outstanding Ordinary Shares |
||||
|
Beneficially Owned(2) |
|
Before |
|
After |
|||
Thunder Bridge Acquisition LLC |
|
5,000,000 |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
20.0 |
% |
Peter J. Kight |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Gary A. Simanson(3) |
|
5,000,000 |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
20.0 |
% |
William A. Houlihan |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
John Wu |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Mary Anne Gillespie |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Angela Mariana Freyre |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Robert Hartheimer |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Stewart J. Paperin |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Eugene S. Putnam, Jr. |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Allerd D. Stikker |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
Ming Shu, PhD. |
|
0 |
|
* |
|
|
* |
|
All officers, directors, officer nominees and director nominees as a group (11 individuals) |
|
5,000,000 |
|
100.0 |
% |
|
20.0 |
% |
____________
* Less than one percent.
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is 9912 Georgetown Pike, Suite D203, Great Falls, Virginia 22066.
(2) Interests shown consist solely of founders 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) Mr. Simanson, our President and Chief Executive Officer, may be deemed to beneficially own shares held by our sponsor by virtue of his control over our sponsor, as its managing member. Mr. Simanson disclaims beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares held by our sponsor other than to the extent of his pecuniary interest in such shares. Each of our officers, officer nominees and director nominees is a member of our sponsor.
Immediately after this offering, our sponsor will beneficially own 20% of the then issued and outstanding ordinary shares and will have the right to elect 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 elect any directors to our Board of Directors prior to our initial business combination. In addition, because of their ownership block, our sponsor 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.
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Our sponsor and Cantor have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (7,500,000 warrants by our sponsor (or 7,800,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and 250,000 warrants by Cantor (including if the over-allotment option is exercised in full)) for an aggregate purchase price of $7,750,000, or $8,050,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The purchase price of the private placement warrants will be added to the proceeds from this offering to be held in the trust account pending our completion of our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, 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 subject to the transfer restrictions described below. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the sponsor, Cantor or their respective permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor, Cantor or their respective permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering. In addition, for as long as the private placement warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. 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.
A member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that such member consents to our initial business combination. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that such member consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Our sponsor and our officers and directors 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 sponsor. Those lock-up provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (i) in the case of the founder shares, until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) 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 following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property, and (ii) 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 or Cantor’s officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of Cantor or our officers or directors, any members of Cantor or our sponsor, or any affiliates of Cantor or our sponsor, (b) in the case
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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 any contingent forward purchase agreement or similar arrangements or in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the shares were originally purchased; (f) in the event of our or Cantor’s liquidation prior to our completion of our initial business combination; or (g) by virtue of the laws of the Cayman Islands or our sponsor’s operating agreement upon dissolution of our sponsor or Cantor’s organizational documents upon dissolution of Cantor; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (e) or (g) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and by the same agreements entered into by our sponsor with respect to such securities (including provisions relating to voting, the trust account and liquidation distributions described elsewhere in this prospectus).
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants, securities issuable pursuant to the contingent forward purchase contract and 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 or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) 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 are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination 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 permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period, which occurs (i) in the case of the founder shares, on the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) 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 following the completion of our initial business combination 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 Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property, and (ii) in the case of the private placement warrants, the ordinary shares and warrants included as part of the contingent forward purchase units and the Class A ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants and the warrants included as part of the contingent forward purchase units, 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
112
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
In September 2017, our sponsor purchased 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. Our sponsor will own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming it does not purchase units in this offering) and will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to our initial business combination. If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a capitalization or share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares of our sponsor prior to this offering at 20% of our issued and ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering.
Our sponsor and Cantor have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (7,500,000 warrants by our sponsor (or 7,800,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and 250,000 warrants by Cantor (including if the over-allotment option is exercised in full)) for an aggregate purchase price of $7,750,000, or $8,050,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder upon exercise to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. 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 by it until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
A member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that such member consents to our initial business combination. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that such member consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
As more fully discussed in “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement with First Capital Group, LLC, an affiliate of our sponsor, pursuant to which we will pay a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services to such affiliate. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of our initial business combination takes the maximum 18 months, an affiliate of our sponsor will be paid a total of $180,000 ($10,000 per month) for office space, administrative and support services and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.
Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will
113
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.
As of the date of this prospectus, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of March 31, 2018, we had borrowed $177,600 under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2018 or the closing of this offering. The loans will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the estimated $1,750,000 of offering proceeds not held in the trust account. The value of our sponsor’s interest in this transaction corresponds to the principal amount outstanding under any such loan.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the placement warrants issued to the initial holder. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our 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 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), which is described under the heading “Principal Shareholders — Registration Rights.”
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 consummation of this offering, we will adopt a 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) 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. A form of the code of ethics that we plan to adopt prior to the consummation of this offering is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.
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. A form of the audit committee charter that we plan to adopt prior to the consummation of this offering is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. We also require each of our directors and executive officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.
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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, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, the following payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
• Repayment of up to an aggregate of up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;
• Payment to an affiliate of our sponsor of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months, for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support;
• 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 officers and directors to 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 warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender.
Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.
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DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company (company number 327126) and our affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law 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, $0.0001 par value each, 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value and 1,000,000 undesignated preference shares, $0.0001 par value each. The following description summarizes the material terms of our shares as set out more particularly in our 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 and one warrant. 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.
Warrants must be exercised for one whole Class A ordinary share. The ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the closing of this offering unless Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. 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. Once the Class A ordinary shares and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into Class A ordinary shares and warrants.
In no event will the Class A ordinary shares and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet 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, which is anticipated to take place three business days after the date of this prospectus. 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 20,000,000 ordinary shares will be issued and outstanding (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 750,000 founder shares by our sponsor), including:
• 20,000,000 Class A ordinary shares underlying the units being offered in this offering; and
• 5,000,000 Class B ordinary shares held by our sponsor.
If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a capitalization or share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares by our sponsor prior to this offering at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering.
A member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units at $10.00 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000,000, on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering. The funds from the sale of these units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds may be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and may provide us with an increased minimum funding level for the initial business combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that such member consents to our initial business combination. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of the funds from the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the contingent forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our
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initial business combination.” for additional information. Provided that such member consents to our initial business combination, we have also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with our initial business combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
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 holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to our initial business combination and holders of our Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on the election 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 at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. Unless specified in the Companies Law, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of our ordinary shares that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our shareholders (other than the election of directors), and the affirmative vote of a majority of our founder shares is required to approve the election 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 elected for a term of two years. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the founder shares voted for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. 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 will 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 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 NASDAQ corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on NASDAQ. There is no requirement under the Companies Law for us to hold annual or general meetings or elect directors. We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We will provide our Class A 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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.10 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Unlike many blank check companies that hold shareholder 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 law, if a shareholder vote is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal 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 prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will 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 law, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, like many 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,
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we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the business combination. However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors or their 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. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but 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.
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 will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the ordinary shares sold in this offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” 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. And, 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 shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than ten business days thereafter, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, 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 (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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining 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 sponsor, officers and directors 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. However, if our sponsor acquires public shares after this offering, 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 are 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.
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Founder Shares
The founder shares are identical to the 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 (i) holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to our initial business combination, (ii) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below, and (iii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (A) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and (B) 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, 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 such time period and (iv) 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 holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholder’s founder shares, we would need only 7,500,001, or 37.5%, of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised).
The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in this offering and related to the closing of the business combination, the ratio at which Class B ordinary shares shall 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, 20% of the sum of all ordinary shares outstanding upon completion of this offering plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination, any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us and any securities issued pursuant to the contingent forward purchase contract). Holders of founder shares may also elect to convert their Class B ordinary shares into an equal number of Class A ordinary shares, subject to adjustment as provided above, at any time. 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. Securities could be “deemed issued” for purposes of the conversion adjustment if such shares are issuable upon the conversion or exercise of convertible securities, warrants or similar securities.
With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to our officers and directors 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 or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equal or exceed $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) 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 following the completion of our initial business combination 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 Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
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Register of Members
Under Cayman Islands law, we must keep a register of members and there shall be entered therein:
• 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;
• the date on which the name of any person was entered on the register as a member; and
• 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.
Preference Shares
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that preference 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 preference 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 preference 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 preference shares outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any preference shares, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No preference shares are being issued or registered in this offering.
Redeemable Warrants
Public Shareholders’ Warrants
Each 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 on the later of 12 months from the closing of this offering or 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. 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 warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration. 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 is available. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In the event that a
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registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the Class A ordinary share underlying such unit.
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 best efforts to file, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. We will use our best efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. No warrants will be exercisable for cash unless we have an effective and current registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to such Class A ordinary shares. Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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.
Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants for redemption:
• in whole and not in part;
• at a price of $0.01 per warrant;
• upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and
• if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equal or exceed $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send to the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.
If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering.
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 warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise his, her or its 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 well as the $11.50 warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his, her or its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our shareholders of issuing the maximum number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their 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) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last 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 redemption is sent to the holders of 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 ordinary shares to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen
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the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. We believe this feature is an attractive option to us if we do not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after our initial business combination. If we call our warrants for redemption and our management does not take advantage of this option, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would still be entitled to exercise their private placement warrants for cash or on a cashless basis using the same formula described above that other warrant holders would have been required to use had all warrant holders been required to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, as described in more detail below.
A holder of a 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 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 outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
If the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares is increased by a capitalization payable in Class A ordinary shares, or by a sub-division of Class A ordinary shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such capitalization, sub-division or similar event, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares. A rights offering to holders of Class A ordinary shares entitling holders to purchase Class A ordinary shares at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a capitalization of a number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the product of (i) 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) multiplied by (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per Class A ordinary share paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) 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 (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of Class A ordinary shares as reported during the ten (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 warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay 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 ordinary shares into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, (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 to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our Class A ordinary shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the 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 split or reclassification of Class A ordinary shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse share split, reclassification or similar event, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each 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 warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the 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 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 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
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any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger 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 warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the 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 of stock or other 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 warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their 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 consolidation or merger, then the kind and amount of securities, cash or other assets for which each 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 consolidation or merger 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) more than 50% of the issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares, the holder of a warrant 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 ordinary shares in such a transaction is payable in the form of Class A 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 warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the 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 warrant.
The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which will be 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 warrants. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants.
The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A ordinary shares and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive Class A ordinary shares. After the issuance of Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by shareholders.
Warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of Class A ordinary shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a
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fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder.
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, among other limited exceptions as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants,” to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with the sponsor) and they will not be redeemable by us and will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the sponsor, Cantor or their permitted transferees. 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 the private placement warrants are held by holders other than the sponsor Cantor or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering. In addition, for as long as the private placement warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.
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 “fair market value” (defined below) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last 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 these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor and its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they 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 prohibit 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 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 such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.
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 a 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 a business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to a 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 capitalizations in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of the offering, in which case we will effect a share capitalization with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares by our sponsor prior to this offering at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent
The transfer agent for our ordinary shares and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its shareholders, directors, officers and employees against all liabilities, including judgments, costs and reasonable counsel fees that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.
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Certain Differences in Corporate Law
Cayman Islands companies are governed by the Companies Law. The Companies Law is modeled on English Law but does not follow recent English Law statutory enactments, and differs from laws applicable to United States corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of the material differences between the provisions of the Companies Law applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders.
Mergers and Similar Arrangements. In certain circumstances, the Companies Law allows for mergers or consolidations between two Cayman Islands companies, or between a Cayman Islands exempted company and a company incorporated in another jurisdiction (provided that is facilitated by the laws of that other jurisdiction).
Where the merger or consolidation is between two Cayman Islands companies, the directors of each company must approve a written plan of merger or consolidation containing certain prescribed information. That plan or merger or consolidation must then be authorized by either (a) a special resolution (usually a majority of 662/3% in value who attend and vote at a general meeting) of the shareholders of each company; or (b) such other authorization, if any, as may be specified in such constituent company’s articles of association. No shareholder resolution is required for a merger between a parent company (i.e., a company that owns at least 90% of the issued shares of each class in a subsidiary company) and its subsidiary company. The consent of each holder of a fixed or floating security interest of a constituent company must be obtained, unless the court waives such requirement. If the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies is satisfied that the requirements of the Companies Law (which includes certain other formalities) have been complied with, the Registrar of Companies will register the plan of merger or consolidation.
Where the merger or consolidation involves a foreign company, the procedure is similar, save that with respect to the foreign company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the merger or consolidation is permitted or not prohibited by the constitutional documents of the foreign company and by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the foreign company is incorporated, and that those laws and any requirements of those constitutional documents have been or will be complied with; (ii) that no petition or other similar proceeding has been filed and remains outstanding or order made or resolution adopted to wind up or liquidate the foreign company in any jurisdictions; (iii) that no receiver, trustee, administrator or other similar person has been appointed in any jurisdiction and is acting in respect of the foreign company, its affairs or its property or any part thereof; (iv) that no scheme, order, compromise or other similar arrangement has been entered into or made in any jurisdiction whereby the rights of creditors of the foreign company are and continue to be suspended or restricted.
Where the surviving company is the Cayman Islands exempted company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are further required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the foreign company is able to pay its debts as they fall due and that the merger or consolidated is bona fide and not intended to defraud unsecured creditors of the foreign company; (ii) that in respect of the transfer of any security interest granted by the foreign company to the surviving or consolidated company (a) consent or approval to the transfer has been obtained, released or waived; (b) the transfer is permitted by and has been approved in accordance with the constitutional documents of the foreign company; and (c) the laws of the jurisdiction of the foreign company with respect to the transfer have been or will be complied with; (iii) that the foreign company will, upon the merger or consolidation becoming effective, cease to be incorporated, registered or exist under the laws of the relevant foreign jurisdiction; and (iv) that there is no other reason why it would be against the public interest to permit the merger or consolidation.
Where the above procedures are adopted, the Companies Law provides for a right of dissenting shareholders to be paid a payment of the fair value of his shares upon their dissenting to the merger or consolidation if they follow a prescribed procedure. In essence, that procedure is as follows (a) the shareholder must give his written objection to the merger or consolidation to the constituent company before the vote on the merger or consolidation, including a statement that the shareholder proposes to demand payment for his shares if the merger or consolidation is authorized by the vote; (b) within 20 days following the date on which the merger or consolidation is approved by the shareholders, the constituent company must give written notice to each shareholder who made a written objection; (c) a shareholder must within 20 days following receipt of such notice from the constituent company, give the constituent company a written notice of his intention to dissent including, among other details, a demand for payment of the fair value of his shares; (d) within seven days following the date of the expiration of the period
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set out in paragraph (b) above or seven days following the date on which the plan of merger or consolidation is filed, whichever is later, the constituent company, the surviving company or the consolidated company must make a written offer to each dissenting shareholder to purchase his shares at a price that the company determines is the fair value and if the company and the shareholder agree the price within 30 days following the date on which the offer was made, the company must pay the shareholder such amount; (e) if the company and the shareholder fail to agree a price within such 30 day period, within 20 days following the date on which such 30 day period expires, the company (and any dissenting shareholder) must file a petition with the Cayman Islands Grand Court to determine the fair value and such petition must be accompanied by a list of the names and addresses of the dissenting shareholders with whom agreements as to the fair value of their shares have not been reached by the company. At the hearing of that petition, the court has the power to determine the fair value of the shares together with a fair rate of interest, if any, to be paid by the company upon the amount determined to be the fair value. Any dissenting shareholder whose name appears on the list filed by the company may participate fully in all proceedings until the determination of fair value is reached. These rights of a dissenting shareholder are not be available in certain circumstances, for example, to dissenters holding shares of any class in respect of which an open market exists on a recognized stock exchange or recognized interdealer quotation system at the relevant date or where the consideration for such shares to be contributed are shares of any company listed on a national securities exchange or shares of the surviving or consolidated company.
Moreover, Cayman Islands law also has separate statutory provisions that facilitate the reconstruction or amalgamation of companies in certain circumstances, schemes of arrangement will generally be more suited for complex mergers or other transactions involving widely held companies, commonly referred to in the Cayman Islands as a “scheme of arrangement” which may be tantamount to a merger. In the event that a merger was sought pursuant to a scheme of arrangement (the procedure of which are more rigorous and take longer to complete than the procedures typically required to consummate a merger in the United States), the arrangement in question must be approved by a majority in number of each class of shareholders and creditors with whom the arrangement is to be made and who must in addition represent three-fourths in value of each such class of shareholders or creditors, as the case may be, that are present and voting either in person or by proxy at a meeting, or meeting summoned for that purpose. The convening of the meetings and subsequently the terms of the arrangement must be sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. While a dissenting shareholder would have the right to express to the court the view that the transaction should not be approved, the court can be expected to approve the arrangement if it satisfies itself that:
• we are not proposing to act illegally or beyond the scope of our corporate authority and the statutory provisions as to majority vote have been complied with;
• the shareholders have been fairly represented at the meeting in question;
• the arrangement is such as a businessman would reasonably approve; and
• the arrangement is not one that would more properly be sanctioned under some other provision of the Companies Law or that would amount to a “fraud on the minority.”
If a scheme of arrangement or takeover offer (as described below) is approved, any dissenting shareholder would have no rights comparable to appraisal rights, which would otherwise ordinarily be available to dissenting shareholders of United States corporations, providing rights to receive payment in cash for the judicially determined value of the shares.
Squeeze-out Provisions. When a takeover offer is made and accepted by holders of 90% of the shares to whom the offer relates is made within four months, the offeror may, within a two-month period, require the holders of the remaining shares to transfer such shares on the terms of the offer. An objection can be made to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands but this is unlikely to succeed unless there is evidence of fraud, bad faith, collusion or inequitable treatment of the shareholders.
Further, transactions similar to a merger, reconstruction and/or an amalgamation may in some circumstances be achieved through other means to these statutory provisions, such as a share capital exchange, asset acquisition or control, through contractual arrangements, of an operating business.
Shareholders’ Suits. Our Cayman Islands counsel is not aware of any reported class action having been brought in a Cayman Islands court. Derivative actions have been brought in the Cayman Islands courts, and the
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Cayman Islands courts have confirmed the availability for such actions. In most cases, we will be the proper plaintiff in any claim based on a breach of duty owed to us, and a claim against (for example) our officers or directors usually may not be brought by a shareholder. However, based both on Cayman Islands authorities and on English authorities, which would in all likelihood be of persuasive authority and be applied by a court in the Cayman Islands, exceptions to the foregoing principle apply in circumstances in which:
• a company is acting, or proposing to act, illegally or beyond the scope of its authority;
• the act complained of, although not beyond the scope of the authority, could be effected if duly authorized by more than the number of votes which have actually been obtained; or
• those who control the company are perpetrating a “fraud on the minority.”
A shareholder may have a direct right of action against us where the individual rights of that shareholder have been infringed or are about to be infringed.
Enforcement of Civil Liabilities. The Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States and provides less protection to investors. Additionally, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the Federal courts of the United States.
We have been advised by our Cayman Islands legal counsel that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, and 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.
Special Considerations for Exempted Companies. We are an exempted company with limited liability (meaning our public shareholders have no liability, as members of the Company, for liabilities of the Company over and above the amount paid for their shares) under the Companies Law. The Companies Law distinguishes between ordinary resident companies and exempted companies. Any company that is registered in the Cayman Islands but conducts business mainly outside of the Cayman Islands may apply to be registered as an exempted company. The requirements for an exempted company are essentially the same as for an ordinary company except for the exemptions and privileges listed below:
• annual reporting requirements are minimal and consist mainly of a statement that the company has conducted its operations mainly outside of the Cayman Islands and has complied with the provisions of the Companies Law;
• an exempted company’s register of members is not open to inspection;
• an exempted company does not have to hold an annual general meeting;
• an exempted company may issue negotiable or bearer shares or shares with no par value;
• an exempted company may obtain an undertaking against the imposition of any future taxation (such undertakings are usually given for 20 years in the first instance);
• an exempted company may register by way of continuation in another jurisdiction and be deregistered in the Cayman Islands;
• an exempted company may register as a limited duration company; and
• an exempted company may register as a segregated portfolio company.
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Our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without a special resolution. As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a resolution is deemed to be a special resolution where it has been approved by either (i) at least two-thirds (or any higher threshold specified in a company’s articles of association) of a company’s shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting for which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special resolution has been given; or (ii) 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 will provide that special resolutions must be approved either by at least two-thirds of our shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting for which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special resolution has been given (i.e., the lowest threshold permissible under Cayman Islands law), or by a unanimous written resolution of all of our shareholders.
Our sponsor, who will beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and will have the discretion to vote in any manner it chooses. Specifically, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide, among other things, that:
• if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, 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 (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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our Board of Directors, liquidate and dissolve;
• prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional ordinary shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination;
• although we do not intend to enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or our officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm, that such a business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view;
• if a shareholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act;
• so long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NASDAQ, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of our assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination;
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• If our shareholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would (i) modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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 (ii) with respect to the other provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their ordinary shares upon such approval 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; and
• we will not effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that under no circumstances 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.
The Companies Law permits a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands to amend its memorandum and articles of association with the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of such company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares. A company’s articles of association may specify that the approval of a higher majority is required but, provided the approval of the required majority is obtained, any Cayman Islands exempted company may amend its memorandum and articles of association regardless of whether its memorandum and articles of association provides otherwise. Accordingly, although we could amend any of the provisions relating to our proposed offering, structure and business plan which are contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we view all of these provisions as binding obligations to our shareholders and neither we, nor our officers or directors, will take any action to amend or waive any of these provisions unless we provide dissenting public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares.
Anti-Money Laundering — Cayman Islands
In order to comply with legislation or regulations aimed at the prevention of money laundering, we are required to adopt and maintain anti-money laundering procedures, and may require subscribers to provide evidence to verify their identity and source of funds. Where permitted, and subject to certain conditions, we may also delegate the maintenance of our anti-money laundering procedures (including the acquisition of due diligence information) to a suitable person.
We reserve the right to request such information as is necessary to verify the identity of a subscriber. In some cases the directors may be satisfied that no further information is required since an exemption applies under the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands, as amended and revised from time to time (the “Regulations”) or any other applicable law. Depending on the circumstances of each application, a detailed verification of identity might not be required where:
(a) the subscriber makes the payment for their investment from an account held in the subscriber’s name at a recognized financial institution; or
(b) the subscriber is regulated by a recognized regulatory authority and is based or incorporated in, or formed under the law of, a recognized jurisdiction; or
(c) the application is made through an intermediary which is regulated by a recognized regulatory authority and is based in or incorporated in, or formed under the law of a recognized jurisdiction and an assurance is provided in relation to the procedures undertaken on the underlying investors.
For the purposes of these exceptions, recognition of a financial institution, regulatory authority or jurisdiction will be determined in accordance with the Regulations by reference to those jurisdictions recognized by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority as having equivalent anti-money laundering regulations.
In the event of delay or failure on the part of the subscriber in producing any information required for verification purposes, we may refuse to accept the application, in which case any funds received will be returned without interest to the account from which they were originally debited.
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We also reserve the right to refuse to make any payment to a shareholder if our directors or officers suspect or are advised that the payment to such shareholder might result in a breach of applicable anti-money laundering or other laws or regulations by any person in any relevant jurisdiction, or if such refusal is considered necessary or appropriate to ensure our compliance with any such laws or regulations in any applicable jurisdiction.
If any person in the Cayman Islands knows or suspects or has reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting that another person is engaged in criminal conduct or money laundering or is involved with terrorism or terrorist financing and property and the information for that knowledge or suspicion came to their attention in the course of business in the regulated sector, or other trade, profession, business or employment, the person will be required to report such knowledge or suspicion to (i) the Financial Reporting Authority (“FRA”) of the Cayman Islands, pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands if the disclosure relates to criminal conduct or money laundering, or (ii) a police officer of the rank of constable or higher, or the FRA, pursuant to the Terrorism Law (2018 Revision) of the Cayman Islands, if the disclosure relates to involvement with terrorism or terrorist financing and property. Such a report shall not be treated as a breach of confidence or of any restriction upon the disclosure of information imposed by any enactment or otherwise.
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
Our authorized but unissued ordinary shares and preference shares are available for future issuances without shareholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved ordinary shares and preference shares could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Securities Eligible for Future Sale
Immediately after this offering we will have 25,000,000 (or 28,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) ordinary shares outstanding. Of these shares, the 20,000,000 Class A ordinary shares (or 23,000,000 shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the remaining 5,000,000 (or 5,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) founder shares and all 7,750,000 (or 8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants are restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering, and are subject to transfer restrictions as set forth elsewhere in this prospectus.
Rule 144
Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted ordinary shares or warrants for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.
Persons who have beneficially owned restricted ordinary shares or warrants for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:
• 1% of the total number of Class A ordinary shares then outstanding, which will equal 200,000 shares immediately after this offering (or 230,000 if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full), on an as converted basis; or
• the average weekly reported trading volume of the ordinary shares during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale.
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Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.
Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies
Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:
• the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company;
• the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;
• the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and material required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and
• at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company.
As a result, our sponsor will be able to sell its founder shares and private placement warrants pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants, securities issuable pursuant to the contingent forward purchase contract and 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 or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) 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 are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination 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 permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period, which occurs (i) in the case of the founder shares, on the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) 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 following the completion of our initial business combination 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 Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property, and (ii) in the case of the private placement warrants, the ordinary shares and warrants included as part of the contingent forward purchase units and the Class A ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants and the warrants included as part of the contingent forward purchase units, 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Listing of Securities
We have applied to list our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants on the NASDAQ under the symbols “TBRGU,” “TBRG” and “TBRGW” on or promptly after the effective date of the registration statement. Following the date the Class A ordinary shares and warrants are eligible to trade separately, we anticipate that the ordinary shares and warrants will be listed separately and as a unit on the NASDAQ. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NASDAQ.
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INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS
The following summary of certain Cayman Islands and U.S. federal income tax considerations relevant to an investment in our units, ordinary shares and warrants is based upon laws and relevant interpretations thereof in effect as of the date of this prospectus, all of which are subject to change. This summary does not deal with all possible tax consequences relating to an investment in our ordinary shares and warrants, such as the tax consequences under state, local and other tax laws.
Prospective investors should consult their professional advisors on the possible tax consequences of buying, holding or selling any securities under the laws of their country of citizenship, residence or domicile.
Cayman Islands Taxation
The following is a discussion on certain Cayman Islands income tax consequences of an investment in our securities. The discussion is a general summary of present law, which is subject to prospective and retroactive change. It is not intended as tax advice, does not consider any investor’s particular circumstances, and does not consider tax consequences other than those arising under Cayman Islands law.
Under Existing Cayman Islands Laws
Payments of dividends and capital in respect of our securities will not be subject to taxation in the Cayman Islands and no withholding will be required on the payment of a dividend or capital to any holder of the securities nor will gains derived from the disposal of the securities be subject to Cayman Islands income or corporation tax. The Cayman Islands currently have no income, corporation or capital gains tax and no estate duty, inheritance tax or gift tax.
No stamp duty is payable in respect of the issue of our securities or on an instrument of transfer in respect of our securities.
The Company has been incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability and, as such, has received an undertaking from the Financial Secretary of the Cayman Islands in the following form:
The Tax Concessions
Law
2018 Revision
Undertaking as to Tax Concessions
In accordance with the provision of section 6 of The Tax Concessions Law (2018 Revision), the Financial Secretary undertakes with Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (“the Company”).
1 That no law which is hereafter enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations shall apply to the Company or its operations; and
2 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:
2.1 On or in respect of the shares, debentures or other obligations of the Company;
OR
2.2 by way of the withholding in whole or part, of any relevant payment as defined in Section 6(3) of the Tax Concessions Law (2011 Revision).
3 These concessions shall be for a period of twenty years from the date hereof.
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Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations
General
The following is a discussion of certain U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to ownership and disposition of our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants, which we refer to collectively as our securities. Because the components of a unit are separable at the option of the holder, the holder of a unit generally should be treated, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as the owner of the underlying Class A ordinary share and one warrant components of the unit, as the case may be. As a result, the discussion below with respect to actual holders of Class A ordinary shares and warrants should also apply to holders of units (as the deemed owners of the underlying Class A ordinary shares and warrants that comprise the units). This discussion applies only to securities that are held as capital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is applicable only to holders who purchased units in this offering and assumes any distributions on our ordinary shares will be paid in U.S. dollars.
This discussion is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and administrative pronouncements, judicial decisions and final, temporary and proposed Treasury regulations as of the date hereof, changes to any of which subsequent to the date of this prospectus may affect the tax consequences described herein. This discussion does not address any aspect of state, local or non-U.S. taxation, or any U.S. federal taxes other than income taxes (such as gift and estate taxes).
This discussion does not describe all of the tax consequences that may be relevant to you in light of your particular circumstances, including the alternative minimum tax, the Medicare tax on certain investment income and the different consequences that may apply if you are subject to special rules that apply to certain types of investors, such as:
• financial institutions;
• insurance companies;
• dealers or traders subject to a mark-to-market method of accounting with respect to the securities;
• persons holding the securities as part of a “straddle,” hedge, integrated transaction or similar transaction;
• U.S. holders (as defined below) whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar;
• partnerships or other pass-through entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes;
• U.S. holders owning or considered as owning 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares; and
• tax-exempt entities.
If you are a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of your partners will generally depend on the status of the partners and your activities.
You are urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the application of U.S. federal tax laws to your particular situation, as well as any tax consequences arising under the laws of any state, local or foreign jurisdiction.
Allocation of Purchase Price and Characterization of a Unit
No statutory, administrative or judicial authority directly addresses the treatment of a unit or instruments similar to a unit for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, therefore, that treatment is not entirely clear. The acquisition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as the acquisition of one share of our Class A ordinary shares and one warrant to acquire one of our Class A ordinary shares. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, each holder of a unit must allocate the purchase price paid by such holder for such unit between the one Class A ordinary share and the one warrant based on the relative fair market value of each at the time of issuance. Under U.S. federal income tax law, each investor must make his or her own determination of such value based on all the relevant facts and circumstances. Therefore, we strongly urge each investor to consult his or her tax adviser regarding the determination of value for these purposes. The price allocated to each Class A ordinary share and the one warrant should be the shareholder’s tax basis in such share or one warrant, as the case may be. Any disposition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a disposition of the Class A ordinary share and
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the one warrant comprising the unit, and the amount realized on the disposition should be allocated between the Class A ordinary share and one warrant based on their respective relative fair market values at the time of disposition (as determined by each such unit holder based on all relevant facts and circumstances). The separation of the Class A ordinary share and the one warrant comprising a unit should not be a taxable event for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
The foregoing treatment of the Class A ordinary shares and warrants and a holder’s purchase price allocation are not binding on the IRS or the courts. Because there are no authorities that directly address instruments that are similar to the units, no assurance can be given that the IRS or the courts will agree with the characterization described above or the discussion below. Accordingly, each prospective investor is urged to consult its own tax advisors regarding tax consequences of an investment in a unit (including alternative characterizations of a unit). The balance of this discussion assumes that the characterization of the units described above is respected for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
U.S. Holders
This section applies to you if you are a “U.S. holder.” A U.S. holder is a beneficial owner of our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants who or that is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:
• an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;
• a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; or
• an estate or trust the income of which is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes regardless of its source.
Taxation of Distributions
Subject to the passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) rules discussed below, a U.S. holder generally will be required to include in gross income any cash distribution paid on our ordinary shares that is treated as a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A cash distribution on such shares generally will be treated as a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent the distribution is paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles). Such dividends paid by us will be taxable to a corporate U.S. holder at regular rates and will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction generally allowed to domestic corporations in respect of dividends received from other domestic corporations.
Distributions in excess of such earnings and profits generally will be applied against and reduce the U.S. holder’s basis in its ordinary shares (but not below zero) and, to the extent in excess of such basis, will be treated as gain from the sale or exchange of such ordinary shares.
With respect to non-corporate U.S. holders, under tax laws currently in effect, dividends generally will be taxed at the lower applicable long-term capital gains rate (see “— Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants” below) only if our ordinary shares are readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States and certain other requirements are met. U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the availability of the lower rate for any dividends paid with respect to our ordinary shares.
Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants
Upon a sale or other taxable disposition of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants which, in general, would include a redemption of Class A ordinary shares or warrants as described below, and including as a result of a dissolution and liquidation in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination within the required time period, and subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, a U.S. holder generally will recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the amount realized and the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in the Class A ordinary shares or warrants.
Any such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares or warrants so disposed of exceeds one year. It is unclear, however, whether the
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redemption rights with respect to the Class A ordinary shares described in this prospectus may suspend the running of the applicable holding period for this purpose. Long-term capital gains recognized by non-corporate U.S. holders will be eligible to be taxed at reduced rates. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations.
Generally, the amount of gain or loss recognized by a U.S. holder is an amount equal to the difference between (i) the sum of the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received in such disposition (or, if the Class A ordinary shares or warrants are held as part of units at the time of the disposition, the portion of the amount realized on such disposition that is allocated to the Class A ordinary shares or warrants based upon the then fair market values of the Class A ordinary shares and the warrants included in the units) and (ii) the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A ordinary shares or warrants so disposed of. A U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A ordinary shares or warrants generally will equal the U.S. holder’s acquisition cost (that is, as discussed above, the portion of the purchase price of a unit allocated to a Class A ordinary share or the one warrant or, as discussed below, the U.S. holder’s initial basis for Class A ordinary shares received upon exercise of warrants) less, in the case of a Class A ordinary share, any prior distributions treated as a return of capital.
Redemption of Class A Ordinary Shares
Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, in the event that a U.S. holder’s Class A ordinary shares are redeemed, including pursuant to the redemption provisions described in this prospectus under “Description of Securities — Ordinary Shares,” or if we purchase a U.S. holder’s Class A ordinary shares in an open market transaction, the treatment of the transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes will depend on whether the redemption qualifies as sale of the Class A ordinary shares under Section 302 of the Code. If the redemption qualifies as a sale of ordinary shares, the U.S. holder will be treated as described under “U.S. holders — Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants” above. If the redemption does not qualify as a sale of Class A ordinary shares, the U.S. holder will be treated as receiving a corporate distribution with the tax consequences described above under “U.S. holders — Taxation of Distributions.” Whether a redemption qualifies for sale treatment will depend largely on the total number of our shares treated as held by the U.S. holder (including any shares constructively owned by the U.S. holder as a result of owning warrants or otherwise) relative to all of our shares outstanding both before and after the redemption. The redemption of Class A ordinary shares generally will be treated as a sale of the Class A ordinary shares (rather than as a corporate distribution) if the redemption (i) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the U.S. holder, (ii) results in a “complete termination” of the U.S. holder’s interest in us or (iii) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the U.S. holder. These tests are explained more fully below.
In determining whether any of the foregoing tests are satisfied, a U.S. holder takes into account not only shares actually owned by the U.S. holder, but also our shares that are constructively owned by it. A U.S. holder may constructively own, in addition to shares owned directly, shares owned by certain related individuals and entities in which the U.S. holder has an interest or that have an interest in such U.S. holder, as well as any shares the U.S. holder has a right to acquire by exercise of an option, which would generally include Class A ordinary shares which could be acquired pursuant to the exercise of the warrants. In order to meet the substantially disproportionate test, the percentage of our outstanding voting shares actually and constructively owned by the U.S. holder immediately following the redemption of Class A ordinary shares must, among other requirements, be less than 80% of the percentage of our outstanding voting shares actually and constructively owned by the U.S. holder immediately before the redemption. Prior to our initial business combination, the Class A ordinary shares will not be voting shares for this purpose and, consequently, this substantially disproportionate test will not be applicable. There will be a complete termination of a U.S. holder’s interest if either (i) all of our shares actually and constructively owned by the U.S. holder are redeemed or (ii) all of our shares actually owned by the U.S. holder are redeemed and the U.S. holder is eligible to waive, and effectively waives in accordance with specific rules, the attribution of shares owned by certain family members and the U.S. holder does not constructively own any other shares. The redemption of the Class A ordinary shares will not be essentially equivalent to a dividend if a U.S. holder’s conversion results in a “meaningful reduction” of the U.S. holder’s proportionate interest in us. Whether the redemption will result in a meaningful reduction in a U.S. holder’s proportionate interest in us will depend on the particular facts and circumstances. However, the IRS has indicated in a published ruling that even a small reduction in the proportionate interest of a small minority shareholder in a publicly held corporation who exercises no control over corporate affairs may constitute such a “meaningful reduction.” A U.S. holder should consult with its own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of a redemption.
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If none of the foregoing tests is satisfied, then the redemption will be treated as a corporate distribution and the tax effects will be as described under “— U.S. Holders — Taxation of Distributions,” above. After the application of those rules, any remaining tax basis of the U.S. holder in the redeemed Class A ordinary shares will be added to the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its remaining shares, or, if it has none, to the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrants or possibly in other shares constructively owned by it.
U.S. holders who actually or constructively own five percent (or, if our Class A ordinary shares are not then publicly traded, one percent) or more of our shares (by vote or value) may be subject to special reporting requirements with respect to a redemption of Class A ordinary shares, and such holders should consult with their own tax advisors with respect to their reporting requirements.
Exercise or Lapse of a Warrant
Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below and except as discussed below with respect to the cashless exercise of a warrant, a U.S. holder generally will not recognize gain or loss upon the acquisition of an ordinary share on the exercise of a warrant for cash. A U.S. holder’s tax basis in a Class A ordinary share received upon exercise of the warrant generally will be an amount equal to the sum of the U.S. holder’s initial investment in the warrant and the exercise price of such warrant. The U.S. holder’s holding period for a Class A ordinary share received upon exercise of the warrant will begin on the date following the date of exercise (or possibly the date of exercise) of the warrants and will not include the period during which the U.S. holder held the warrants. If a warrant is allowed to lapse unexercised, a U.S. holder generally will recognize a capital loss equal to such holder’s tax basis in the warrant.
The tax consequences of a cashless exercise of a warrant are not clear under current law. A cashless exercise may not be taxable, either because the exercise is not a realization event or because the exercise is treated as a recapitalization for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In either situation, a U.S. holder’s tax basis in the Class A ordinary shares received generally will equal the U.S. holder’s tax basis in the warrant. If the cashless exercise was not a realization event, it is unclear whether a U.S. holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares acquired pursuant to the exercise of such warrant will commence on the date of exercise of the warrant or the day following the date of exercise of the warrant. If the cashless exercise were treated as a recapitalization, the holding period of the Class A ordinary shares will generally include the holding period of the warrant. It is also possible that a cashless exercise may be treated as a taxable exchange in which gain or loss would be recognized because a U.S. holder may be deemed to have surrendered a portion of its warrants in a taxable transaction to pay the exercise price for the balance of its warrants that are treated as exercised for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In such event, a U.S. holder would recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the fair market value of the warrants deemed surrendered and the U.S. holder’s tax basis in the warrants deemed surrendered. In this case, a U.S. holder’s tax basis in the Class A ordinary shares received would equal the U.S. holder’s tax basis in the warrants treated as exercised plus the fair market value of the warrants deemed surrendered. It is unclear whether a U.S. holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares would commence on the date of exercise of the warrants or the day following the date of exercise of the warrants.
Due to the absence of authority on the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a cashless exercise, there can be no assurance which, if any, of the alternative tax consequences and holding periods described above would be adopted by the IRS or a court of law. Accordingly, U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of a cashless exercise.
Possible Constructive Distributions
The terms of each warrant provide for an adjustment to the number of ordinary shares for which the warrant may be exercised or to the exercise price of the warrant in certain events, as discussed in the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants.” An adjustment which has the effect of preventing dilution generally is not taxable. The U.S. holders of the warrants would, however, be treated as receiving a constructive distribution from us if, for example, the adjustment increases the warrant holders’ proportionate interest in our assets or earnings and profits (e.g., through an increase in the number of ordinary shares that would be obtained upon exercise) as a result of a distribution of cash to the holders of our ordinary shares which is taxable to the U.S. holders of such ordinary shares as described under “— Taxation of Distributions” above. Such constructive distribution would be subject to tax as described under that section in the same manner as if the U.S. holders of the warrants received a cash distribution from us equal to the
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fair market value of such increased interest. For certain information reporting purposes, we are required to determine the date and amount of any such constructive distributions. Recently proposed Treasury regulations, which we may rely on prior to the issuance of final regulations, specify how the date and amount of constructive distributions are determined.
Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules
A foreign corporation will be a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes if at least 75% of its gross income in a taxable year, including its pro rata share of the gross income of any corporation in which it is considered to own at least 25% of the shares by value, is passive income. Alternatively, a foreign corporation will be a PFIC if at least 50% of its assets in a taxable year of the foreign corporation, ordinarily determined based on fair market value and averaged quarterly over the year, including its pro rata share of the assets of any corporation in which it is considered to own at least 25% of the shares by value, are held for the production of, or produce, passive income. Passive income generally includes dividends, interest, rents and royalties (other than rents or royalties derived from the active conduct of a trade or business) and gains from the disposition of passive assets.
Because we are a blank check company, with no current active business, we believe that it is likely that we will meet the PFIC asset or income test for periods prior to the acquisition of a company or assets in a business combination. Pursuant to a start-up exception, however, a corporation will not be a PFIC for the first taxable year the corporation has gross income (the “start-up year”), if (1) no predecessor of the corporation was a PFIC; (2) the corporation satisfies the IRS that it will not be a PFIC for either of the first two taxable years following the start-up year; and (3) the corporation is not in fact a PFIC for either of those years. The applicability of the start-up exception to us will not be known until after the close of our current taxable year ending August 31, 2018 and, possibly not until after the close of our next taxable year ending August 31, 2019. After the acquisition of a company or assets in a business combination, we may still meet one of the PFIC tests depending on the timing of the acquisition and the amount of our passive income and assets as well as the passive income and assets of the acquired business. If the company that we acquire in a business combination is a PFIC, then we will likely not qualify for the start-up exception and will be a PFIC since our inception. Our actual PFIC status for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Accordingly, there can be no assurance with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year ending August 31, 2018 or any future taxable year.
If we are determined to be a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. holder of our ordinary shares or warrants and, in the case of our ordinary shares, the U.S. holder did not make either a timely qualified electing fund (“QEF”) election for our first taxable year as a PFIC in which the U.S. holder held (or was deemed to hold) ordinary shares or a valid mark-to-market” election, in each case as described below, such holder generally will be subject to special rules with respect to: (i) any gain recognized by the U.S. holder on the sale or other disposition of its ordinary shares or warrants; and (ii) any “excess distribution” made to the U.S. holder (generally, any distributions to such U.S. holder during a taxable year of the U.S. holder that are greater than 125% of the average annual distributions received by such U.S. holder in respect of the ordinary shares during the three preceding taxable years of such U.S. holder or, if shorter, such U.S. holder’s holding period for the ordinary shares).
Under these rules:
• the amount allocated to the U.S. holder’s taxable year in which the U.S. holder recognized gain or received the excess distribution, or to the period in the U.S. holder’s holding period before the first day of our first taxable year in which we are a PFIC, will be taxed as ordinary income;
• the amount allocated to other taxable years (or portions thereof) of the U.S. holder and included in its holding period will be taxed at the highest tax rate in effect for that year and applicable to the U.S. holder; and
• the interest charge generally applicable to underpayments of tax will be imposed in respect of the tax attributable to each such other taxable year of the U.S. holder.
In general, if we are determined to be a PFIC, a U.S. holder will avoid the PFIC tax consequences described above in respect to our ordinary shares by making either (i) a timely QEF election to include in income its pro rata
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share of our net capital gains (as long-term capital gain) and other earnings and profits (as ordinary income), on a current basis, in each case whether or not distributed, in the taxable year of the U.S. holder in which or with which our taxable year ends or (ii) a valid “mark-to-market” election. A U.S. holder may make a separate election to defer the payment of taxes on undistributed income inclusions under the QEF rules, but if deferred, any such taxes will be subject to an interest charge.
A U.S. holder may not make a QEF election with respect to its warrants to acquire our ordinary shares. As a result, if a U.S. holder sells or otherwise disposes of such warrants (other than upon exercise of such warrants), any gain recognized generally will be subject to the special tax and interest charge rules treating the gain as an excess distribution, as described above, if we were a PFIC at any time during the period the U.S. holder held the warrants. If a U.S. holder that exercises such warrants properly makes a QEF election with respect to the newly acquired ordinary shares (or has previously made a QEF election with respect to our ordinary shares), the QEF election will apply to the newly acquired ordinary shares, but the adverse tax consequences relating to PFIC shares, adjusted to take into account the current income inclusions resulting from the QEF election, will continue to apply with respect to such newly acquired ordinary shares (which generally will be deemed to have a holding period for purposes of the PFIC rules that includes the period the U.S. holder held the warrants), unless the U.S. holder makes a purging election under the PFIC rules. The purging election creates a deemed sale of such shares at their fair market value. The gain recognized by the purging election will be subject to the special tax and interest charge rules treating the gain as an excess distribution, as described above. As a result of the purging election, the U.S. holder will have a new basis and holding period in the ordinary shares acquired upon the exercise of the warrants for purposes of the PFIC rules.
The QEF election is made on a shareholder-by-shareholder basis and, once made, can be revoked only with the consent of the IRS. A U.S. holder generally makes a QEF election by attaching a completed IRS Form 8621 (Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund), including the information provided in a PFIC annual information statement, to a timely filed U.S. federal income tax return for the tax year to which the election relates. Retroactive QEF elections generally may be made only by filing a protective statement with such return and if certain other conditions are met or with the consent of the IRS. U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the availability and tax consequences of a retroactive QEF election under their particular circumstances.
In order to comply with the requirements of a QEF election, a U.S. holder must receive a PFIC annual information statement from us. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. holder such information as the IRS may require, including a PFIC annual information statement, in order to enable the U.S. holder to make and maintain a QEF election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information. In addition, there is no assurance that we will have timely knowledge of our status as a PFIC in the future or of the required information to be provided.
If a U.S. holder has made a QEF election with respect to our ordinary shares, and the special tax and interest charge rules do not apply to such shares (because of a timely QEF election for our first taxable year as a PFIC in which the U.S. holder holds (or is deemed to hold) such shares or a purge of the PFIC taint pursuant to a purging election, as described above), any gain recognized on the sale of our ordinary shares generally will be taxable as capital gain and no interest charge will be imposed. As discussed above, U.S. holders of a QEF are currently taxed on their pro rata shares of its earnings and profits, whether or not distributed. In such case, a subsequent distribution of such earnings and profits that were previously included in income generally should not be taxable as a dividend to such U.S. holders. The tax basis of a U.S. holder’s shares in a QEF will be increased by amounts that are included in income, and decreased by amounts distributed but not taxed as dividends, under the above rules. Similar basis adjustments apply to property if by reason of holding such property the U.S. holder is treated under the applicable attribution rules as owning shares in a QEF.
Although a determination as to our PFIC status will be made annually, an initial determination that our company is a PFIC will generally apply for subsequent years to a U.S. holder who held ordinary shares or warrants while we were a PFIC, whether or not we meet the test for PFIC status in those subsequent years. A U.S. holder who makes the QEF election discussed above for our first taxable year as a PFIC in which the U.S. holder holds (or is deemed to hold) our ordinary shares, however, will not be subject to the PFIC tax and interest charge rules discussed above in respect to such shares. In addition, such U.S. holder will not be subject to the QEF inclusion regime with respect to such shares for any taxable year of us that ends within or with a taxable year of the U.S. holder and in which we are not a PFIC. On the other hand, if the QEF election is not effective for each of our taxable years in which we are a PFIC
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and the U.S. holder holds (or is deemed to hold) our ordinary shares, the PFIC rules discussed above will continue to apply to such shares unless the holder makes a purging election, as described above, and pays the tax and interest charge with respect to the gain inherent in such shares attributable to the pre-QEF election period.
Alternatively, if a U.S. holder, at the close of its taxable year, owns shares in a PFIC that are treated as marketable stock, the U.S. holder may make a mark-to-market election with respect to such shares for such taxable year. If the U.S. holder makes a valid mark-to-market election for the first taxable year of the U.S. holder in which the U.S. holder holds (or is deemed to hold) ordinary shares in us and for which we are determined to be a PFIC, such holder generally will not be subject to the PFIC rules described above in respect to its ordinary shares. Instead, in general, the U.S. holder will include as ordinary income each year the excess, if any, of the fair market value of its ordinary shares at the end of its taxable year over the adjusted basis in its ordinary shares. The U.S. holder also will be allowed to take an ordinary loss in respect of the excess, if any, of the adjusted basis of its ordinary shares over the fair market value of its ordinary shares at the end of its taxable year (but only to the extent of the net amount of previously included income as a result of the mark-to-market election). The U.S. holder’s basis in its ordinary shares will be adjusted to reflect any such income or loss amounts, and any further gain recognized on a sale or other taxable disposition of the ordinary shares will be treated as ordinary income. Currently, a mark-to-market election may not be made with respect to warrants.
The mark-to-market election is available only for stock that is regularly traded on a national securities exchange that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the NASDAQ (on which we intend to list the ordinary shares), or on a foreign exchange or market that the IRS determines has rules sufficient to ensure that the market price represents a legitimate and sound fair market value. U.S. holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the availability and tax consequences of a mark-to-market election in respect to our ordinary shares under their particular circumstances.
If we are a PFIC and, at any time, have a foreign subsidiary that is classified as a PFIC, U.S. holders generally would be deemed to own a portion of the shares of such lower-tier PFIC, and generally could incur liability for the deferred tax and interest charge described above if we receive a distribution from, or dispose of all or part of our interest in, the lower-tier PFIC or the U.S. holders otherwise were deemed to have disposed of an interest in the lower-tier PFIC. We will endeavor to cause any lower-tier PFIC to provide to a U.S. holder the information that may be required to make or maintain a QEF election with respect to the lower-tier PFIC. However, there is no assurance that we will have timely knowledge of the status of any such lower-tier PFIC. In addition, we may not hold a controlling interest in any such lower-tier PFIC and thus there can be no assurance we will be able to cause the lower-tier PFIC to provide the required information. U.S. holders are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the tax issues raised by lower-tier PFICs.
A U.S. holder that owns (or is deemed to own) shares in a PFIC during any taxable year of the U.S. holder, may have to file an IRS Form 8621 (whether or not a QEF or market-to-market election is made) and such other information as may be required by the U.S. Treasury Department. Failure to do so, if required, will extend the statute of limitations until such required information is furnished to the IRS.
The rules dealing with PFICs and with the QEF and mark-to-market elections are very complex and are affected by various factors in addition to those described above. Accordingly, U.S. holders of our ordinary shares and warrants should consult their own tax advisors concerning the application of the PFIC rules to our ordinary shares and warrants under their particular circumstances.
Tax Reporting
Certain U.S. holders may be required to file an IRS Form 926 (Return of a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation) to report a transfer of property (including cash) to us. Substantial penalties may be imposed on a U.S. holder that fails to comply with this reporting requirement. Furthermore, certain U.S. holders who are individuals and to the extent provided in future Treasury regulations, certain entities, will be required to report information with respect to such U.S. holder’s investment in “specified foreign financial assets” on IRS Form 8938, subject to certain exceptions. An interest in the Company constitutes a specified foreign financial asset for these purposes. Persons who are required to report specified foreign financial assets and fail to do so may be subject to substantial penalties. Potential Investors are urged to consult with their own tax advisors regarding the foreign
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financial asset reporting obligations and their application to an investment in Class A ordinary shares and warrants. Each U.S. holder is urged to consult with its own tax advisor regarding this reporting obligation.
Non-U.S. Holders
This section applies to you if you are a “Non-U.S. holder.” A Non-U.S. holder is a beneficial owner of our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants who or that is neither a U.S. holder nor a partnership (or entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes), but generally does not include an individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition. If you are such an individual, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of any income derived from, or gain attributable to the sale or other disposition of, our securities.
Dividends (including constructive dividends) paid or deemed paid to a Non-U.S. holder in respect to our Class A ordinary shares generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax, unless the dividends are effectively connected with the Non-U.S. holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base that such holder maintains in the United States). In addition, a Non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain attributable to a sale or other disposition of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants unless such gain is effectively connected with its conduct of a trade or business in the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, is attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base that such holder maintains in the United States).
Dividends and gains that are effectively connected with the Non-U.S. holder’s conduct of a trade or business in the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base in the United States) generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at the same regular U.S. federal income tax rates applicable to a comparable U.S. holder and, in the case of a Non-U.S. holder that is a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, also may be subject to an additional branch profits tax at a 30% rate or a lower applicable income tax treaty rate.
The U.S. federal income tax treatment of a Non-U.S. holder’s exercise of a warrant, or the lapse of a warrant held by a Non-U.S. holder, generally will correspond to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the exercise or lapse of a warrant by a U.S. holder, as described under “U.S. holders — Exercise or Lapse of a Warrant,” above, although to the extent a cashless exercise results in a taxable exchange, the consequences would be similar to those described in the preceding paragraphs above for a Non-U.S. holders gain on the sale or other disposition of our Class A ordinary shares and warrants.
Information Reporting and Backup Withholding
Dividend payments with respect to our Class A ordinary shares and proceeds from the sale, exchange or redemption of our securities may be subject to information reporting to the IRS and possible U.S. backup withholding. Backup withholding will not apply, however, to a U.S. holder who furnishes a correct taxpayer identification number and makes other required certifications, or who is otherwise exempt from backup withholding and establishes such exempt status. A Non-U.S. holder generally will eliminate the requirement for information reporting and backup withholding by providing certification of its foreign status, under penalties of perjury, on a duly executed applicable IRS Form W-8 or by otherwise establishing an exemption.
Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Amounts withheld as backup withholding may be credited against a holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, and a holder generally may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules by timely filing the appropriate claim for refund with the IRS and furnishing any required information.
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UNDERWRITING
Under the terms and subject to the conditions contained in an underwriting agreement dated , 2018 we have agreed to sell to the underwriters named below, for whom Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is acting as representative, the following respective numbers of units:
Underwriter |
|
Number of Units |
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. |
|
|
CLSA Limited |
|
|
Total |
|
20,000,000 |
|
|
|
The underwriting agreement provides that the underwriters are obligated to purchase all the units in the offering if any are purchased, other than those units covered by the over-allotment option described below.
CLSA Limited is not a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and may not make sales in the United States or to U.S. persons. CLSA Limited has agreed that it does not intend to and will not offer or sell any of our units in the United States or to U.S. persons in connection with this offering.
We have granted to the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase on a pro rata basis up to 3,000,000 additional units at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The option may be exercised only to cover any over-allotments of units.
The underwriters propose to offer the units initially at the public offering price on the cover page of this prospectus and to selling group members at that price less a selling concession of $__ per unit. The underwriters and the selling group members may allow a discount of $__ per unit on sales to other broker/dealers. After the initial public offering the underwriters may change the public offering price and concession and discount to broker/dealers.
The following table summarizes the compensation and estimated expenses we will pay. $0.35 per unit, or $7,000,000 (or $8,650,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full), of deferred underwriting commissions will be paid upon the completion of our initial business combination.
|
|
Per Unit(1) |
|
Total(1) |
||||||||
|
|
Without |
|
With |
|
Without |
|
With |
||||
Underwriting Discounts and Commissions paid by us |
|
$ |
0.55 |
|
$ |
0.55 |
|
$ |
11,000,000 |
|
$ |
12,650,000 |
____________
(1) Includes $0.35 per unit, or $7,000,000 in the aggregate payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. If the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised, an additional 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the over-allotment ($0.55 per unit or up to $1,650,000 in the aggregate) will be deposited in the trust account as deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred commissions will be released to the underwriters only on completion of an initial business combinations.
We estimate that our out-of-pocket expenses for this offering will be approximately $750,000. We have agreed to pay for the FINRA-related fees and expenses of the underwriters’ legal counsel, not to exceed $15,000, and the expenses of investigations and background checks, not to exceed $25,000.
The representative has informed us that the underwriters do not intend to make sales to discretionary accounts.
Cantor has committed to purchase 250,000 private placement warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $250,000, or $1.00 per unit, in the private placement that will occur simultaneously with the completion of this offering. The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering except that they will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis for as long as the private placement warrants are held by Cantor or its permitted transferees. Additionally, for so long as the private placement warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. The private placement warrants have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a 180-day lock-up pursuant to Rule 5110(g)(1) of the FINRA Manual commencing on the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(g)(1), these securities will not be 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 effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Additionally, the private placement warrants purchased by Cantor may not be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or
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hypothecated for 180 days following the effective date of this prospectus except to any selected dealer participating in the offering and the bona fide officers or partners of Cantor and any such participating selected dealer. The private placement warrants purchased by Cantor will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under “Principal Stockholders — Transfers of Ordinary Shares and 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 with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”).
We, our sponsor and our officers and directors have agreed that we will not offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, without the prior written consent of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, any units, warrants, ordinary shares or any other securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, ordinary shares; provided, however, that we may (1) issue and sell the private placement warrants, (2) issue and sell the additional units to cover our underwriters’ over-allotment option (if any), (3) register with the SEC pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, the resale of the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and the founder shares, and (4) issue securities in connection with our initial business combination. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. in its sole discretion may release any of the securities subject to these lock-up agreements at any time without notice.
Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of its founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) 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 following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A 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 sponsor with respect to any founder shares.
We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities under the Securities Act, or contribute to payments that the underwriters may be required to make in that respect.
We expect our units to be listed on the NASDAQ, under the symbol “TBRGU” and, once the Class A ordinary shares and warrants begin separate trading, to have our Class A ordinary shares and warrants listed on the NASDAQ under the symbols “TBRG” and “TBRGW,” respectively.
Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our securities. Consequently, the initial public offering price for the units was determined by negotiations between us and the representative.
The determination of our per unit offering price was more arbitrary than would typically be the case if we were an operating company. Among the factors considered in determining initial public offering price were the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies, prior offerings of those companies, our management, our capital structure, and currently prevailing general conditions in equity securities markets, including current market valuations of publicly traded companies considered comparable to our company. We cannot assure you, however, that the price at which the units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants will sell in the public market after this offering will not be lower than the initial public offering price or that an active trading market in our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants will develop and continue after this offering.
If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, the trustee and the underwriters have agreed that: (i) they will forfeit any rights or claims to their deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, including any accrued interest thereon, then in the trust account; and (ii) that the deferred underwriters’ discounts and commissions will be distributed on a pro rata basis, together with any accrued interest thereon (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) to the public shareholders.
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In connection with the offering the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, over-allotment transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act.
• Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum.
• Over-allotment involves sales by the underwriters of units in excess of the number of units the underwriters are obligated to purchase, which creates a syndicate short position. The short position may be either a covered short position or a naked short position. In a covered short position, the number of units over-allotted by the underwriters is not greater than the number of units that they may purchase in the over-allotment option. In a naked short position, the number of units involved is greater than the number of units in the over-allotment option. The underwriters may close out any covered short position by either exercising their over-allotment option and/or purchasing units in the open market.
• Syndicate covering transactions involve purchases of the units in the open market after the distribution has been completed in order to cover syndicate short positions. In determining the source of units to close out the short position, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of units available for purchase in the open market as compared to the price at which they may purchase units through the over-allotment option. If the underwriters sell more units than could be covered by the over-allotment option, a naked short position, the position can only be closed out by buying units in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there could be downward pressure on the price of the units in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchase in the offering.
• Penalty bids permit the representative to reclaim a selling concession from a syndicate member when the units originally sold by the syndicate member are purchased in a stabilizing or syndicate covering transaction to cover syndicate short positions.
These stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of our units or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the units. As a result the price of our units may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market. These transactions may be effected on the NASDAQ or otherwise and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.
We are not under any contractual obligation to engage any of the underwriters to provide any services for us after this offering, and have no present intent to do so. However, any of the underwriters may introduce us to potential target businesses or assist us in raising additional capital in the future. If any of the underwriters provide services to us after this offering, we may pay such underwriter fair and reasonable fees that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with any of the underwriters and no fees for such services will be paid to any of the underwriters prior to the date that is 90 days from the date of this prospectus, unless FINRA determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this offering and we may pay the underwriters of this offering or any entity with which they are affiliated a finder’s fee or other compensation for services rendered to us in connection with the completion of a business combination.
Some of the underwriters and their affiliates have engaged in, and may in the future engage in, investment banking and other commercial dealings in the ordinary course of business with us or our affiliates, including in connection with acting in an advisory capacity or as a potential financing source in conjunction with our potential acquisition of a company. They have received, or may in the future receive, customary fees and commissions for these transactions.
In addition, in the ordinary course of their business activities, the underwriters and their affiliates may make or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities) and financial instruments (including bank loans) for their own account and for the accounts of their customers. Such investments and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments of ours or our affiliates. The underwriters and their affiliates may also make investment recommendations and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such securities or financial instruments and may hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in such securities and instruments.
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A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the web sites maintained by one or more of the underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in this offering and one or more of the underwriters participating in this offering may distribute prospectuses electronically. The representative may agree to allocate a number of units to underwriters and selling group members for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the underwriters and selling group members that will make internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.
The units are offered for sale in those jurisdictions in the United States, Europe, Asia and elsewhere where it is lawful to make such offers.
Each of the underwriters has represented and agreed that it has not offered, sold or delivered and will not offer, sell or deliver any of the units directly or indirectly, or distribute this prospectus or any other offering material relating to the units, in or from any jurisdiction except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations thereof and that will not impose any obligations on us except as set forth in the underwriting agreement.
We do not currently intend to register as a broker/dealer, merge with or acquire a registered broker/dealer, or otherwise become a member of FINRA. However, in the event that we acquire a FINRA member or an entity affiliated with a FINRA member in the future, we have confirmed for the underwriters that FINRA Rule 5121 would apply.
Directed Unit Program
At our request, the underwriters have reserved up to _____ of the units for sale at the initial public offering price to _________, a subsidiary of CLSA B.V., the parent company of CLSA Limited, one of the underwriters in this offering, through a directed unit program. The number of units available for sale to the general public will be reduced by the number of directed units purchased by _______. Any directed units not purchased will be offered by the underwriters to the general public on the same basis as all other units offered. We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities and expenses, including liabilities under the Securities Act, in connection with the sales of the directed units.
European Economic Area
In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a “Relevant Member State”), each Underwriter represents and agrees that with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that Relevant Member State (the “Relevant Implementation Date”) it has not made and will not make an offer of units to the public in that Relevant Member State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the units which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant Member State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant Member State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant Member State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Directive, except that it may, with effect from and including the Relevant Implementation Date, make an offer of units to the public in that Relevant Member State at any time,
(a) to legal entities which are authorized or regulated to operate in the financial markets or, if not so authorized or regulated, whose corporate purpose is solely to invest in securities;
(b) to any legal entity which has two or more of (1) an average of at least 250 employees during the last financial year; (2) a total balance sheet of more than €43,000,000 and (3) an annual net turnover of more than €50,000,000, as shown in its last annual or consolidated accounts;
(c) to fewer than 100 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Directive) subject to obtaining the prior consent of the manager for any such offer; or
(d) in any other circumstances which do not require the publication by the Issuer of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive.
For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of units to the public” in relation to any units in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the units to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the units, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State and the expression Prospectus Directive means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each Relevant Member State;
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Notice to Investors in the United Kingdom
Each of the underwriters severally represents, warrants and agrees as follows:
(a) it has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of section 21 of FSMA) to persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling with Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 or in circumstances in which section 21 of FSMA does not apply to the company; and
(b) it has complied with, and will comply with all applicable provisions of FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the units in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom;
Notice to Residents of Japan
The underwriters will not offer or sell any of our units directly or indirectly in Japan or to, or for the benefit of any Japanese person or to others, for re-offering or re-sale directly or indirectly in Japan or to any Japanese person, except in each case pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Securities and Exchange Law of Japan and any other applicable laws and regulations of Japan. For purposes of this paragraph, “Japanese person” means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan;
Notice to Residents of Hong Kong
The underwriters and each of their affiliates have not (i) offered or sold, and will not offer or sell, in Hong Kong, by means of any document, our units other than (a) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32 of Hong Kong) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance or (ii) issued or had in its possession for the purposes of issue, and will not issue or have in its possession for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere any advertisement, invitation or document relating to our units which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to our securities which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance and any rules made under that Ordinance. The contents of this document have not been reviewed by any regulatory authority in Hong Kong. You are advised to exercise caution in relation to the offer. If you are in any doubt about any of the contents of this document, you should obtain independent professional advice;
Notice to Residents of Singapore
This prospectus or any other offering material relating to our units has not been and will not be registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the units will be offered in Singapore pursuant to exemptions under Section 274 and Section 275 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “Securities and Futures Act”). Accordingly our units may not be offered or sold, or be the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, nor may this prospectus or any other offering material relating to our units be circulated or distributed, whether directly or indirectly, to the public or any member of the public in Singapore other than (a) to an institutional investor or other person specified in Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, (b) to a sophisticated investor, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the Securities and Futures Act or (c) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the Securities and Futures Act;
Notice to Residents of Germany
Each person who is in possession of this prospectus is aware of the fact that no German sales prospectus (Verkaufsprospekt) within the meaning of the Securities Sales Prospectus Act (Wertpapier-Verkaufsprospektgesetz, the “Act”) of the Federal Republic of Germany has been or will be published with respect to our units. In particular, each underwriter has represented that it has not engaged and has agreed that it will not engage in a public offering in
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(offentliches Angebot) within the meaning of the Act with respect to any of our units otherwise than in accordance with the Act and all other applicable legal and regulatory requirements;
Notice to Residents of France
The units are being issued and sold outside the Republic of France and that, in connection with their initial distribution, it has not offered or sold and will not offer or sell, directly or indirectly, any units to the public in the Republic of France, and that it has not distributed and will not distribute or cause to be distributed to the public in the Republic of France this prospectus or any other offering material relating to the units, and that such offers, sales and distributions have been and will be made in the Republic of France only to qualified investors (investisseurs qualifiés) in accordance with Article L.411-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code and decrét no. 98-880 dated 1st October, 1998; and
Notice to Residents of the Netherlands
Our units may not be offered, sold, transferred or delivered in or from the Netherlands as part of their initial distribution or at any time thereafter, directly or indirectly, other than to, individuals or legal entities situated in The Netherlands who or which trade or invest in securities in the conduct of a business or profession (which includes banks, securities intermediaries (including dealers and brokers), insurance companies, pension funds, collective investment institution, central governments, large international and supranational organizations, other institutional investors and other parties, including treasury departments of commercial enterprises, which as an ancillary activity regularly invest in securities; hereinafter, “Professional Investors”), provided that in the offer, prospectus and in any other documents or advertisements in which a forthcoming offering of our units is publicly announced (whether electronically or otherwise) in The Netherlands it is stated that such offer is and will be exclusively made to such Professional Investors. Individual or legal entities who are not Professional Investors may not participate in the offering of our units, and this prospectus or any other offering material relating to our units may not be considered an offer or the prospect of an offer to sell or exchange our units.
Notice to Prospective Investors in the Cayman Islands
No invitation, whether directly or indirectly may be made to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for our shares.
Notice to Canadian Residents
Resale Restrictions
The distribution of units in Canada is being made only in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia on a private placement basis exempt from the requirement that we prepare and file a prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each province where trades of these securities are made. Any resale of the units in Canada must be made under applicable securities laws which may vary depending on the relevant jurisdiction, and which may require resales to be made under available statutory exemptions or under a discretionary exemption granted by the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authority. Purchasers are advised to seek legal advice prior to any resale of the securities.
Representations of Canadian Purchasers
By purchasing units in Canada and accepting delivery of a purchase confirmation, a purchaser is representing to us and the dealer from whom the purchase confirmation is received that:
• the purchaser is entitled under applicable provincial securities laws to purchase the units without the benefit of a prospectus qualified under those securities laws as it is an “accredited investor” as defined under National Instrument 45-106 — Prospectus Exemptions,
• the purchaser is a “permitted client” as defined in National Instrument 31-103 — Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations,
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• where required by law, the purchaser is purchasing as principal and not as agent, and
• the purchaser has reviewed the text above under Resale Restrictions.
Conflicts of Interest
Canadian purchasers are hereby notified that Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is relying on the exemption set out in section 3A.3 or 3A.4, if applicable, of National Instrument 33-105 — Underwriting Conflicts from having to provide certain conflict of interest disclosure in this document.
Statutory Rights of Action
Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if the prospectus (including any amendment thereto) such as this document contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser of these securities in Canada should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.
Enforcement of Legal Rights
All of our directors and officers as well as the experts named herein may be located outside of Canada and, as a result, it may not be possible for Canadian purchasers to effect service of process within Canada upon us or those persons. All or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of those persons may be located outside of Canada and, as a result, it may not be possible to satisfy a judgment against us or those persons in Canada or to enforce a judgment obtained in Canadian courts against us or those persons outside of Canada.
Taxation and Eligibility for Investment
Canadian purchasers of units should consult their own legal and tax advisors with respect to the tax consequences of an investment in the units in their particular circumstances and about the eligibility of the units for investment by the purchaser under relevant Canadian legislation.
147
LEGAL MATTERS
Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, New York, New York, is acting as counsel in connection with the registration of our securities under the Securities Act, and as such, will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this prospectus with respect to units and warrants. Maples and Calder, Cayman Islands, will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this prospectus with respect to the ordinary shares and matters of Cayman Islands law. Certain legal matters will be passed upon on behalf of the underwriters by Graubard Miller, New York, New York.
EXPERTS
The financial statements included in this prospectus and elsewhere in the registration statement have been so included in reliance upon the report of Grant Thornton LLP, independent registered public accountants, upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act with respect to the securities we are offering by this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information included in the registration statement. For further information about us and our securities, you should refer to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed with the registration statement. Whenever we make reference in this prospectus to any of our contracts, agreements or other documents, the references are materially complete but may not include a description of all aspects of such contracts, agreements or other documents, and you should refer to the exhibits attached to the registration statement for copies of the actual contract, agreement or other document.
Upon completion of this offering, we will be subject to the information requirements of the Exchange Act and will file annual, quarterly and current event reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You can read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the Internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference facility at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.
You may also obtain copies of the documents at prescribed rates by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities.
148
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
INDEX
TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(UNAUDITED)
|
|
Page |
Financial Statements: |
|
|
|
F-2 |
|
|
F-3 |
|
|
F-4 |
|
|
F-5 |
|
|
F-6 |
F-1
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
BALANCE
SHEET
AS OF March 31, 2017
(UNAUDITED)
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets – cash |
|
$ |
3,763 |
|
|
|
|
3,763 |
|
|
|
Other assets – deferred offering costs |
|
|
193,507 |
|
|
|
$ |
197,270 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDER’S EQUITY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities – promissory note payable |
|
$ |
177,600 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shareholder’s Equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
575 |
|
|
|
|
|
24,425 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(5,330 |
) |
|
|
Total Shareholder’s Equity |
|
|
19,670 |
|
|
|
|
$ |
197,270 |
|
|
____________
(1) Includes an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters (see Note 7).
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-2
THUNDER
BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
For the period from September
18, 2017 (date of inception) through March 31, 2018
(UNAUDITED)
Formation costs and other operating expenses |
|
$ |
5,330 |
|
|
|
$ |
(5,330 |
) |
|
|
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted(1) |
|
|
4,948,719 |
|
|
Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
____________
(1) Excludes an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters (see Note 7).
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDER’S
EQUITY
For the period from
September 18, 2017 (date of inception) through March 31, 2018
(UNAUDITED)
|
|
Ordinary shares(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
Shares |
|
Amount |
|
Additional |
|
Accumulated |
|
Total |
||||||
Balance
– September 18, 2017 |
|
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to sponsor(1) |
|
5,750,000 |
|
|
575 |
|
|
24,425 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
25,000 |
|
Net loss (unaudited) |
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
(5,330 |
) |
|
|
(5,330 |
) |
Balance – March 31, 2018 (unaudited) |
|
5,750,000 |
|
$ |
575 |
|
$ |
24,425 |
|
$ |
(5,330 |
) |
|
$ |
19,670 |
|
____________
(1) Includes an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters (see Note 7).
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
For the period September
18, 2017 (date of inception) through March 31, 2018
(UNAUDITED)
Cash flow from operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
(5,330 |
) |
|
|
|
|
(5,330 |
) |
|
|
Cash flows from financing activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
25,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
177,600 |
|
|
|
|
|
(171,513 |
) |
|
|
|
|
31,087 |
|
|
|
Net change in cash |
|
|
25,757 |
|
|
Cash at the beginning of the period |
|
|
— |
|
|
Cash at the end of the period |
|
$ |
25,757 |
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Organization and Plan of Business Operations
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (the “Company”) is a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on September 18, 2017. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (a “Business Combination”). The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”).
All activity for the period from September 18, 2017 (inception) through March 31, 2018 relates to the Company’s formation and the Proposed Public Offering (as defined below). The Company has selected August 31 as its fiscal year end.
The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources through a proposed public offering of 20,000,000 units (the “Proposed Public Offering”) at $10.00 per unit, or up to 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (the “Units”) (see Note 3), and the sale of an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) (the “Private Placement Warrants”), at a price of $1.00 per warrant, to Thunder Bridge Acquisition LLC (the “Sponsor”) and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”) in a private placement. Each Unit consists of one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Shares”), and one warrant (the “Warrants”). Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A Share. The Class A Shares sold as part of the Units in the Proposed Public Offering are sometimes referred to herein as the “public shares.” The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination. Upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, management anticipates that $10.10 per Unit sold in the Proposed Public Offering will be held in a trust account (the “Trust Account”). The funds in the Trust Account will be invested only in specified U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, until the earlier of (i) the consummation of the Business Combination and (ii) the Company’s failure to consummate a Business Combination within the prescribed time. Placing funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third party claims against the Company. Although the Company will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities it engages execute agreements with the Company waiving any claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account, there is no guarantee that such persons will execute such agreements. The Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to the Company under certain circumstances if and to the extent any claims by such persons reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account below a specified threshold. The Company has not independently verified whether the Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believes that the Sponsor’s only assets are securities of the Company. Therefore, the Sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations should they arise. The remaining net proceeds (not held in the Trust Account) may be used to pay for business, legal and accounting due diligence on prospective acquisitions and continuing general and administrative expenses as well as any taxes.
The Company will provide the holders of the public shares (the “Public Shareholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of the Business Combination, either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer, in either case at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of the Business Combination and the Company does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, 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 in Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), will be restricted
F-6
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Organization and Plan of Business Operations (cont.)
from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the public shares. In connection with any shareholder vote required to approve any Business Combination, the Sponsor and any other shareholder of the Company prior to the consummation of the Public Offer Sponsor (collectively with the Sponsor, the “Initial Shareholders”) and the Company’s directors and officers will agree (i) to vote any of their respective Ordinary Shares (as defined below) in favor of the initial Business Combination and (ii) not to redeem any of their Ordinary Shares in connection therewith.
As a result of the foregoing redemption rights, the Class A Shares will be recorded at redemption amount and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity. The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if it has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon consummation of the Business Combination and, in the case of a shareholder vote, a majority of the outstanding Ordinary Shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per public share ($202,000,000 held in the Trust Account divided by 20,000,000 public shares or $232,300,000 divided by 23,000,000 public shares if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full).
The NASDAQ rules require that the Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the Trust Account (less any Deferred Commissions (as defined below) and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of the Company signing a definitive agreement in connection with the Business Combination.
If the Company has not completed a Business Combination within 18 months of the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (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 the rights of the Public Shareholders as Shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining shareholders and its Board of Directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In the event of a liquidation, the Public Shareholders will be entitled to receive a full pro rata interest in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be approximately $10.10 per share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the Trust Fund not previously released to the Company and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses). There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Founder Shares (as defined below) or the Private Placement Warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the 18-month time period.
Going Concern Consideration
At March 31, 2018, the Company had $3,763 in cash and a working capital deficit of $173,837. Further, the Company expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its financing and acquisition plans. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management plans to address this uncertainty through a Proposed Public Offering as discussed in Note 3. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to raise capital or to consummate a Business Combination will be successful or successful within the target business acquisition period. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
F-7
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 2 — Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”) and pursuant to the accounting and disclosure rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The accompanying unaudited financial statements as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2018 have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP for interim financial information and Article 8 of Regulation S-X. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal accruals) considered for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the period from inception September 18, 2017 through March 31, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending August 31, 2018.
Loss Per Share
Loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average number of Ordinary Shares outstanding during the period, excluding shares subject to forfeiture (Note 7). The Company had no dilutive securities outstanding at March 31, 2018.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are carried at cost, which approximates fair value.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, Income Taxes (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2018. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position.
There is currently no taxation imposed on income by the Government of the Cayman Islands.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
F-8
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 2 — Significant Accounting Policies (cont.)
Emerging Growth Company
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. The Company has 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, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which at times, may exceed the Federal depository insurance coverage of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.
Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under FASB ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet.
Subsequent Events
Management of the Company evaluates events that have occurred after the balance sheet date of March 31, 2018 through the date which these financial statements were issued. Based upon the review, management did not identify any recognized or non-recognized subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
In April 2018, a member of the Sponsor agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with the Company, pursuant to which such member would purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of a Business Combination, 5,000,000 Units (the “Forward Units”) for gross proceeds of $50,000,000 on substantially the same terms as the sale of Units in Proposed Public Offering. The funds from the sale of Forward Units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in a Business Combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their Public Shares and may provide the Company with a minimum funding level for a Business Combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that the member consents to the Company’s Business Combination. The member granting its consent to the Business Combination is entirely within such member’s sole discretion. Accordingly, if it does not consent to the Business Combination, it will not be obligated to purchase the Forward Units. Provided that such member consents to the Company’s Business Combination, the Company has also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with the Company’s Business Combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering
Pursuant to the Proposed Public Offering, the Company intends to offer for public sale 20,000,000 Units, plus up to an additional 3,000,000 Units solely to cover over-allotments, if any, at a price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one Class A Share and one Warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A Share at a price of $11.50 per share. The Warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after completion of the Business Combination or 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering and will expire five years
F-9
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering (cont.)
from the completion of the Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. The Company may redeem the Warrants at a price of $0.01 per Warrant upon 30 days’ notice, only in the event that the last sale price of the Class A Shares is at least $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which notice of redemption is given. The Company will not redeem the Warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares is available throughout the 30 day redemption period, unless the Warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If the Company redeems the Warrants as described above, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise their Warrants to do so on a cashless basis; provided that an exemption from registration is available. No Warrants will be exercisable for cash unless the Company has an effective registration statement covering the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, holders will be permitted to exercise their Warrants on a cashless basis. However, no Warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and the Company will not be obligated to issue any Class A Shares to holders seeking to exercise their Warrants, unless the issuance of the Class A Shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption is available.
Note 4 — Deferred Offering Costs
Deferred offering costs consist principally of legal and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Proposed Public Offering. Such costs, together with the underwriting discount, will be charged to shareholder’s equity upon the receipt of the capital raised. Should the Proposed Public Offering prove to be unsuccessful, these deferred costs as well as additional offering costs to be incurred will be charged to operations.
Note 5 — Note Payable to Sponsor
The Company issued to the Sponsor on September 20, 2017, an unsecured promissory note pursuant to which the Company may borrow up to $300,000 in the aggregate. As of March 31, 2018, the Company has borrowed $177,600 respectively, under the promissory note. The note is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier to occur of (i) December 31, 2018 and (ii) the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. Due to the short-term nature of the note, the fair value of the note approximates the carrying amount. A related party advanced an aggregate of $5,100 for costs associated with the formation of the Company. The advances are non-interest bearing, unsecured and due on demand.
Note 6 — Commitments
The Company anticipates entering into an agreement with the underwriters (the “Underwriters”) of the Proposed Public Offering (“Underwriting Agreement”). It is anticipated that the Underwriting Agreement will require the Company to pay an underwriting discount of 2.0% of the gross proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering to the Underwriters at the time of the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. It is also anticipated that the Company will pay the Underwriters a deferred underwriting discount of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering (and 5.5% from the gross proceeds of the over-allotment option) (“Deferred Commissions”) at the time of the closing of the Business Combination. The Deferred Commission will be placed in the Trust Account and will only be payable to the Underwriters if the Business Combination is consummated.
The Company presently occupies office space provided by an affiliate of the Sponsor. The affiliate has agreed that, until the Company consummates a Business Combination, it will make such office space, as well as certain administrative and support services, available to the Company, as may be required by the Company from time to time. The Company will pay the affiliate an aggregate of $10,000 per month for such office space, administrative and support services. The Company’s Sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any
F-10
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 6 — Commitments (cont.)
out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on their behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on behalf of the Company.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If the Company completes its initial business combination, it would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from its trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to the Sponsor.
The Sponsor and Cantor have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 Private Placement Warrants at $1.00 per warrant (for an aggregate purchase price of $7.75 million) from the Company in a private placement that will take place concurrently with the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be placed into the Trust Account. The Sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, they will purchase an additional number of Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (up to a maximum of 300,000 Private Placement Warrants) necessary to maintain in the Trust Account an amount equal to $10.10 per Unit Sold in the Proposed Public Offering. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one Class A Share at a price of $11.50 per share. The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Warrants included in the Units to be sold in the Proposed Public Offering except that the Private Placement Warrants: (i) will not be redeemable by the Company; (ii) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, as described in the registration statement relating to the Proposed Public Offering, so long as they are held by the Sponsor, Cantor or any of their permitted transferees and (iii) are (including the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants) entitled to registration rights. Additionally, the Sponsor and Cantor have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Private Placement Warrants, including the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants (except to certain permitted transferees), until 30 days after the completion of the Business Combination. In addition, for as long as the Private Placement Warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement for the Proposed Public Offering.
Note 7 — Shareholder’s Equity
Preferred Shares
The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 preferred shares with a par value of $0.0001. The Company’s 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. The 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.
At March 31, 2018, there were no preferred shares issued or outstanding.
Ordinary Shares
The Company is authorized to issue 200,000,000 Class A Shares, with a par value of $0.0001 each, and 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, with a par value of $0.0001 each (the “Class B Shares” and, together with the Class A Shares, the “Ordinary Shares”). Holders of the Ordinary Shares are entitled to one vote for each Ordinary Share; provided that only holders of the Class B Shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the Business Combination. The Class B Shares will automatically convert into Class A Shares at the time of
F-11
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 7 — Shareholder’s Equity (cont.)
the Business Combination, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A Shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in the Proposed Public Offering and related to the closing of the Business Combination, the ratio at which the Class B Shares shall convert into Class A Shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the 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 Shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B Shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the sum of all Ordinary Shares outstanding upon completion of the Proposed Public Offering plus all Class A Shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the Business Combination, excluding any Ordinary Shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the Business Combination, any Private Placement-equivalent Warrants issued to the Sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to the Company or any securities issued pursuant to the Forward Purchase Contract. Holders of Founder Shares may also elect to convert their Class B Shares into an equal number of Class A Shares, subject to adjustment as provided above, at any time.
At March 31, 2018, there were 5,750,000 Class B Shares issued and outstanding.
Founder Shares
On September 20, 2017, an aggregate of 5,750,000 Class B Shares (the “Founder Shares”) were sold to the Sponsor at a price of approximately $0.004 per share, for an aggregate price of $25,000 and the original share issued was surrendered by the Sponsor. This number included an aggregate of up to 750,000 Founder Shares that were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the Underwriters in order to maintain the Initial Shareholders’ ownership at 20% of the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares upon completion of the Proposed Public Offering. The Founder Shares are identical to the Class A Shares included in the Units being sold in the Proposed Public Offering, except that the Founder Shares (i) have the voting rights described in Note 7, (ii) are subject to certain transfer restrictions described below and (iii) are convertible into Class A Shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions contained therein. The Founder Shares may not be transferred, assigned or sold until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of the Business Combination and (ii) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction after the Business Combination that results in all of the Public Shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A Shares for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the last sale price of the Class A Shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Business Combination, the Founder Shares will be released from the lock-up.
F-12
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
|
|
Page |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm |
|
F-14 |
Financial Statements: |
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|
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F-15 |
|
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F-16 |
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F-17 |
|
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F-18 |
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F-19 |
F-13
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Board of Directors and Shareholders
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd.
Opinion on the financial statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2017, the related statements of operations, changes in shareholder’s equity, and cash flows for the period from September 18, 2017 (date of inception) through December 31, 2017, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2017 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from September 18, 2017 (date of inception) through December 31, 2017, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has no present revenue, its business plan is dependent on the completion of a financing transaction and the Company’s cash and working capital as of December 31, 2017 are not sufficient to complete its planned activities for the upcoming year. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans regarding these matters are also described in Notes 1 and 3. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ Grant Thornton LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2017.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 1, 2018
F-14
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
BALANCE SHEET
AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2017
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
Current asset – cash |
|
$ |
25,817 |
|
|
|
25,817 |
|
|
Other assets – deferred offering costs |
|
|
150,513 |
|
|
$ |
176,330 |
|
|
LIABILITIES AND shareholder’s equity |
|
|
|
|
Current liability – promissory note payable |
|
$ |
156,600 |
|
Shareholder’s Equity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
— |
|
|
|
|
575 |
|
|
|
|
24,425 |
|
|
|
$ |
(5,270 |
) |
|
Total Shareholder’s Equity |
|
|
19,730 |
|
|
|
$ |
176,330 |
|
____________
(1) Includes an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters (see Note 7).
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-15
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION
LTD.
STATEMENT OF
OPERATIONS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 (DATE OF
INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017
Formation costs |
|
$ |
5,270 |
|
|
$ |
(5,270 |
) |
|
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted(1) |
|
|
4,904,762 |
|
Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share |
|
$ |
(0.00 |
) |
____________
(1) Excludes an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters (see Note 7).
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-16
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDER’S EQUITY
FOR THE PERIOD FROM SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 (DATE OF INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017
|
|
Ordinary shares(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
Shares |
|
Amount |
|
Additional Paid in Capital |
|
Accumulated Deficit |
|
Total Shareholder’s |
||||||
Balance – September 18, 2017 (date of inception) |
|
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
$ |
— |
|
|
$ |
— |
|
Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to sponsor(1) |
|
5,750,000 |
|
|
575 |
|
|
24,425 |
|
|
— |
|
|
|
25,000 |
|
Net loss |
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
(5,270 |
) |
|
|
(5,270 |
) |
Balance – December 31, 2017 |
|
5,750,000 |
|
$ |
575 |
|
$ |
24,425 |
|
$ |
(5,270 |
) |
|
$ |
19,730 |
|
____________
(1) Includes an aggregate of up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters (see Note 7).
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-17
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 (DATE OF INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2017
Cash flow from operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
(5,270 |
) |
|
|
|
(5,270 |
) |
|
Cash flows from financing activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
25,000 |
|
|
|
|
156,600 |
|
|
|
|
(150,513 |
) |
|
|
|
31,087 |
|
|
Net change in cash |
|
|
25,817 |
|
Cash at the beginning of the period |
|
|
— |
|
Cash at the end of the period |
|
$ |
25,817 |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-18
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Organization and Plan of Business Operations
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (the “Company”) is a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on September 18, 2017. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (a “Business Combination”). The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”).
All activity for the period from September 18, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2017 relates to the Company’s formation and the Proposed Public Offering (as defined below). The Company has selected August 31 as its fiscal year end.
The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources through a proposed public offering of 20,000,000 units (the “Proposed Public Offering”) at $10.00 per unit, or up to 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (the “Units”) (see Note 3), and the sale of an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) (the “Private Placement Warrants”), at a price of $1.00 per warrant, to Thunder Bridge Acquisition LLC (the “Sponsor”) and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. (“Cantor”) in a private placement. Each Unit consists of one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Shares”), and one warrant (the “Warrants”). Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A Share. The Class A Shares sold as part of the Units in the Proposed Public Offering are sometimes referred to herein as the “public shares.” The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination. Upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, management anticipates that $10.10 per Unit sold in the Proposed Public Offering will be held in a trust account (the “Trust Account”). The funds in the Trust Account will be invested only in specified U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, until the earlier of (i) the consummation of the Business Combination and (ii) the Company’s failure to consummate a Business Combination within the prescribed time. Placing funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third party claims against the Company. Although the Company will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities it engages execute agreements with the Company waiving any claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account, there is no guarantee that such persons will execute such agreements. The Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to the Company under certain circumstances if and to the extent any claims by such persons reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account below a specified threshold. The Company has not independently verified whether the Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believes that the Sponsor’s only assets are securities of the Company. Therefore, the Sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations should they arise. The remaining net proceeds (not held in the Trust Account) may be used to pay for business, legal and accounting due diligence on prospective acquisitions and continuing general and administrative expenses as well as any taxes.
The Company will provide the holders of the public shares (the “Public Shareholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of the Business Combination, either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer, in either case at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of the Business Combination and the Company does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, 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 in Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), will be restricted
F-19
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Organization and Plan of Business Operations (cont.)
from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the public shares. In connection with any shareholder vote required to approve any Business Combination, the Sponsor and any other shareholder of the Company prior to the consummation of the Public Offer Sponsor (collectively with the Sponsor, the “Initial Shareholders”) and the Company’s directors and officers will agree (i) to vote any of their respective Ordinary Shares (as defined below) in favor of the initial Business Combination and (ii) not to redeem any of their Ordinary Shares in connection therewith.
As a result of the foregoing redemption rights, the Class A Shares will be recorded at redemption amount and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity. The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if it has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon consummation of the Business Combination and, in the case of a shareholder vote, a majority of the outstanding Ordinary Shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per public share ($202,000,000 held in the Trust Account divided by 20,000,000 public shares or $232,300,000 divided by 23,000,000 public shares if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full).
The NASDAQ rules require that the Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the Trust Account (less any Deferred Commissions (as defined below) and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of the Company signing a definitive agreement in connection with the Business Combination.
If the Company has not completed a Business Combination within 18 months of the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (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 the rights of the Public Shareholders as Shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining shareholders and its Board of Directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In the event of a liquidation, the Public Shareholders will be entitled to receive a full pro rata interest in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be approximately $10.10 per share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the Trust Fund not previously released to the Company and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses). There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Founder Shares (as defined below) or the Private Placement Warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the 18-month time period.
Going Concern Consideration
At December 31, 2017, the Company had $25,817 in cash and a working capital deficit of $130,783. Further, the Company expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its financing and acquisition plans. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management plans to address this uncertainty through a Proposed Public Offering as discussed in Note 3. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to raise capital or to consummate a Business Combination will be successful or successful within the target business acquisition period. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
F-20
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 2 — Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”) and pursuant to the accounting and disclosure rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Loss Per Share
Loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average number of Ordinary Shares outstanding during the period, excluding shares subject to forfeiture (Note 7). The Company had no dilutive securities outstanding during the period from September 18, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2017.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are carried at cost, which approximates fair value.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, Income Taxes (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2017. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position.
There is currently no taxation imposed on income by the Government of the Cayman Islands.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
Emerging Growth Company
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
F-21
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 2 — Significant Accounting Policies (cont.)
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. The Company has 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, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which at times, may exceed the Federal depository insurance coverage of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.
Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under FASB ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet.
Subsequent Events
Management of the Company evaluates events that have occurred after the balance sheet date of December 31, 2017 through May 1, 2018, the date which these financial statements were issued. Based upon the review, management did not identify any recognized or non-recognized subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
In April 2018, a member of the Sponsor agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with the Company, pursuant to which such member would purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of a Business Combination, 5,000,000 Units (the “Forward Units”) for gross proceeds of $50,000,000 on substantially the same terms as the sale of Units in Proposed Public Offering. The funds from the sale of Forward Units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in a Business Combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for the working capital needs of the post-transaction company. This agreement is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their Public Shares and may provide the Company with a minimum funding level for a Business Combination. The contingent forward purchase contract is subject to conditions, including that the member consents to the Company’s Business Combination. The member granting its consent to the Business Combination is entirely within such member’s sole discretion. Accordingly, if it does not consent to the Business Combination, it will not be obligated to purchase the Forward Units. Provided that such member consents to the Company’s Business Combination, the Company has also agreed to provide such member with a right of first refusal to provide up to 51% of any necessary debt financing in connection with the Company’s Business Combination and to act as lead agent and arranger in connection thereto.
Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering
Pursuant to the Proposed Public Offering, the Company intends to offer for public sale 20,000,000 Units, plus up to an additional 3,000,000 Units solely to cover over-allotments, if any, at a price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one Class A Share and one Warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A Share at a price of $11.50 per share. The Warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after completion of the Business Combination or 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering and will expire five years from the completion of the Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. The Company may redeem the Warrants at a price of $0.01 per Warrant upon 30 days’ notice, only in the event that the last sale price of the Class A Shares is at least $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period
F-22
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering (cont.)
ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which notice of redemption is given. The Company will not redeem the Warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares is available throughout the 30 day redemption period, unless the Warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If the Company redeems the Warrants as described above, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise their Warrants to do so on a cashless basis; provided that an exemption from registration is available. No Warrants will be exercisable for cash unless the Company has an effective registration statement covering the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants and a current prospectus relating to such shares. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, holders will be permitted to exercise their Warrants on a cashless basis. However, no Warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and the Company will not be obligated to issue any Class A Shares to holders seeking to exercise their Warrants, unless the issuance of the Class A Shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption is available.
Note 4 — Deferred Offering Costs
Deferred offering costs consist principally of legal and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Proposed Public Offering. Such costs, together with the underwriting discount, will be charged to shareholder’s equity upon the receipt of the capital raised. Should the Proposed Public Offering prove to be unsuccessful, these deferred costs as well as additional offering costs to be incurred will be charged to operations.
Note 5 — Note Payable to Sponsor
The Company issued to the Sponsor on September 20, 2017, an unsecured promissory note pursuant to which the Company may borrow up to $300,000 in the aggregate. As of December 31, 2017, the Company has borrowed $156,600 under the promissory note. The note is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier to occur of (i) December 31, 2018 and (ii) the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. Due to the short-term nature of the note, the fair value of the note approximates the carrying amount. A related party advanced an aggregate of $5,100 for costs associated with the formation of the Company. The advances are non-interest bearing, unsecured and due on demand.
Note 6 — Commitments
The Company anticipates entering into an agreement with the underwriters (the “Underwriters”) of the Proposed Public Offering (“Underwriting Agreement”). It is anticipated that the Underwriting Agreement will require the Company to pay an underwriting discount of 2.0% of the gross proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering to the Underwriters at the time of the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. It is also anticipated that the Company will pay the Underwriters a deferred underwriting discount of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering (and 5.5% from the gross proceeds of the over-allotment option) (“Deferred Commissions”) at the time of the closing of the Business Combination. The Deferred Commission will be placed in the Trust Account and will only be payable to the Underwriters if the Business Combination is consummated.
The Company presently occupies office space provided by an affiliate of the Sponsor. The affiliate has agreed that, until the Company consummates a Business Combination, it will make such office space, as well as certain administrative and support services, available to the Company, as may be required by the Company from time to time. The Company will pay the affiliate an aggregate of $10,000 per month for such office space, administrative and support services. The Company’s Sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on their behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on behalf of the Company.
F-23
THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 6 — Commitments (cont.)
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If the Company completes its initial business combination, it would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from its trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to the Sponsor.
The Sponsor and Cantor have committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 Private Placement Warrants at $1.00 per warrant (for an aggregate purchase price of $7.75 million) from the Company in a private placement that will take place concurrently with the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be placed into the Trust Account. The Sponsor has also agreed that if the over-allotment is exercised by the underwriters in full or in part, they will purchase an additional number of Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (up to a maximum of 300,000 Private Placement Warrants) necessary to maintain in the Trust Account an amount equal to $10.10 per Unit Sold in the Proposed Public Offering. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one Class A Share at a price of $11.50 per share. The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Warrants included in the Units to be sold in the Proposed Public Offering except that the Private Placement Warrants: (i) will not be redeemable by the Company; (ii) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, as described in the registration statement relating to the Proposed Public Offering, so long as they are held by the Sponsor, Cantor or any of their permitted transferees and (iii) are (including the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants) entitled to registration rights. Additionally, the Sponsor and Cantor have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Private Placement Warrants, including the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants (except to certain permitted transferees), until 30 days after the completion of the Business Combination. In addition, for as long as the Private Placement Warrants are held by Cantor or its designees or affiliates, they may not be exercised after five years from the effective date of the registration statement for the Proposed Public Offering.
Note 7 — Shareholder’s Equity
Preferred Shares
The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 preferred shares with a par value of $0.0001. The Company’s 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. The 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.
At December 31, 2017, there were no preferred shares issued or outstanding.
Ordinary Shares
The Company is authorized to issue 200,000,000 Class A Shares, with a par value of $0.0001 each, and 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, with a par value of $0.0001 each (the “Class B Shares” and, together with the Class A Shares, the “Ordinary Shares”). Holders of the Ordinary Shares are entitled to one vote for each Ordinary Share; provided that only holders of the Class B Shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the Business Combination. The Class B Shares will automatically convert into Class A Shares at the time of the Business Combination, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A Shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in the Proposed Public Offering and related to the closing of the Business Combination, the
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THUNDER BRIDGE ACQUISITION LTD.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 7 — Shareholder’s Equity (cont.)
ratio at which the Class B Shares shall convert into Class A Shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the 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 Shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B Shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the sum of all Ordinary Shares outstanding upon completion of the Proposed Public Offering plus all Class A Shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the Business Combination, excluding any Ordinary Shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the Business Combination, any Private Placement-equivalent Warrants issued to the Sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to the Company or any securities issued pursuant to the Forward Purchase Contract. Holders of Founder Shares may also elect to convert their Class B Shares into an equal number of Class A Shares, subject to adjustment as provided above, at any time.
At December 31, 2017, there were 5,750,000 Class B Shares issued and outstanding.
Founder Shares
On September 20, 2017, an aggregate of 5,750,000 Class B Shares (the “Founder Shares”) were sold to the Sponsor at a price of approximately $0.004 per share, for an aggregate price of $25,000 and the original share issued was surrendered by the Sponsor. This number included an aggregate of up to 750,000 Founder Shares that were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the Underwriters in order to maintain the Initial Shareholders’ ownership at 20% of the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares upon completion of the Proposed Public Offering. The Founder Shares are identical to the Class A Shares included in the Units being sold in the Proposed Public Offering, except that the Founder Shares (i) have the voting rights described in Note 7, (ii) are subject to certain transfer restrictions described below and (iii) are convertible into Class A Shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions contained therein. The Founder Shares may not be transferred, assigned or sold until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of the Business Combination and (ii) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction after the Business Combination that results in all of the Public Shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A Shares for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the last sale price of the Class A Shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Business Combination, the Founder Shares will be released from the lock-up.
F-25
$200,000,000
200,000,000 Units
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd.
_________________________________
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
_________________________________
, 2018
Cantor CLSA
Until , 2018 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade our Class A ordinary shares, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.
PART II
INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS
Item 13. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution.
The estimated expenses payable by us in connection with the offering described in this registration statement (other than the underwriting discount and commissions) will be as follows:
Legal fees and expenses |
|
|
275,000 |
Accounting fees and expenses |
|
|
40,000 |
SEC/FINRA Expenses |
|
|
63,638 |
Travel and road show |
|
|
20,000 |
NASDAQ listing and filing fees |
|
|
75,000 |
Director and Officer liability insurance premiums(1) |
|
|
125,000 |
Printing and engraving expenses |
|
|
40,000 |
Miscellaneous expenses |
|
|
111,362 |
Total offering expenses |
|
$ |
750,000 |
____________
(1) This amount represents the approximate amount of annual director and officer liability insurance premiums the registrant anticipates paying following the completion of its initial public offering and until it completes a business combination.
Item 14. 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 officers and directors, 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, civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud or willful default. We may purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.
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.
Item 15. Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities.
On September 20, 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares, for an aggregate offering price of $25,000 at an average purchase price of approximately $0.004 per share. Such securities were issued in connection with our organization pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. Our sponsor is an accredited investor for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D.
In addition, our sponsor and Cantor have agreed to purchase an aggregate of 7,750,000 warrants (or 8,050,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant (7,500,000 warrants by our sponsor (or 7,800,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) and 250,000 warrants by Cantor (including if the over-allotment option is exercised in full)) for an aggregate purchase price of $7,750,000, or $8,050,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. This purchase will take place on a private placement basis simultaneously with the completion of our initial public offering. This issuance will be made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sales.
A member of our sponsor has agreed to enter into a contingent forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 5,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit for aggregate gross
II-1
proceeds of $50,000,000. All such securities will be issued pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
Item 16. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a) Exhibits. The list of exhibits following the signature page of this registration statement is incorporated herein by reference.
(b) Financial Statements. See page F-1 for an index to the financial statements and schedules included in the registration statement.
Item 17. Undertakings.
(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to provide to the underwriter at the closing specified in the underwriting agreements, certificates in such denominations and registered in such names as required by the underwriter to permit prompt delivery to each purchaser.
(b) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.
(c) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that:
(1) For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective.
(2) For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(3) For the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser, if the registrant is subject to Rule 430C, each prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) as part of a registration statement relating to an offering, other than registration statements relying on Rule 430B or other than prospectuses filed in reliance on Rule 430A, shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the date it is first used after effectiveness. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such first use, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such date of first use.
(4) For the purpose of determining liability of a registrant under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of an undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the
II-2
undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:
(i) Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;
(ii) Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by an undersigned registrant;
(iii) The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and
(iv) Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.
II-3
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the Town of Great Falls, State of Virginia, on the 14th day of May, 2018.
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|
Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. |
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|
|
|
|
|
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By: |
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/s/ Gary A. Simanson |
|
|
|
|
Name: Gary A. Simanson |
|
|
|
|
Title: President and Chief Executive Officer |
Each person whose individual signature appears below hereby authorizes and appoints Gary A. Simanson, with full power of substitution and resubstitution and full power to act without the other, as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent to act in his name, place and stead and to execute in the name and on behalf of each person, individually and in each capacity stated below, and to file any and all amendments to this registration statement, including post-effective amendments, and any registration statement relating to the same offering as this Registration Statement that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462 under the Securities Act of 1933, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in order to effectuate the same as fully, to all intents and purposes, as they, he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them or their or his substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue thereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities on May 14, 2018.
Name |
|
Position |
|
|
|
/s/ Gary A. Simanson |
|
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director |
Gary A. Simanson |
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(Principal Executive Officer) |
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|
|
/s/ William A. Houlihan |
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Chief Financial Officer |
William A. Houlihan |
|
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Authorized
Representative in the
United States:
|
|
/s/ Gary A. Simanson |
Name: |
|
Gary A. Simanson |
Title: |
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President, Chief Executive |
|
|
Officer and Director |
Date: |
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May 14, 2018 |
II-4
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit No. |
|
Description |
1.1 |
|
Form of Underwriting Agreement.** |
3.1 |
|
|
3.2 |
|
Form of Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association.** |
4.1 |
|
Specimen Unit Certificate.** |
4.2 |
|
Specimen Class A Ordinary Share Certificate.** |
4.3 |
|
Specimen Warrant Certificate.** |
4.4 |
|
Form of Warrant Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant.** |
5.1 |
|
Opinion of Maples and Calder, Cayman Islands counsel to the Registrant.** |
5.2 |
|
Opinion of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, counsel to the Registrant.** |
10.1 |
|
Promissory Note, dated as of September 20, 2017 issued to Thunder Bridge Acquisition LLC.* |
10.2 |
|
Form of Letter Agreement among the Registrant and its officers, directors and Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd.** |
10.3 |
|
Form of Investment Management Trust Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant.** |
10.4 |
|
Form of Registration Rights Agreement between the Registrant and certain security holders.** |
10.5 |
|
|
10.6 |
|
|
10.7 |
|
Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement between the Registrant and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.* |
10.8 |
|
Form of Indemnity Agreement.** |
10.9 |
|
Form of Administrative Services Agreement, by and between the Registrant and First Capital Group, LLC.** |
10.10 |
|
Contingent Forward Purchase Contract by and among the Registrant and Monroe Capital LLC.* |
14 |
|
Form of Code of Ethics.** |
23.1 |
|
|
23.2 |
|
Consent of Maples and Calder (included on Exhibit 5.1).** |
23.3 |
|
Consent of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP (included on Exhibit 5.2).** |
24 |
|
Power of Attorney (included on signature page of this Registration Statement).* |
99.1 |
|
Form of Audit Committee Charter.** |
99.2 |
|
Form of Compensation Committee Charter.** |
99.3 |
|
Consent of Peter Kight.** |
99.4 |
|
Consent of Robert Hartheimer.** |
99.5 |
|
Consent of Stewart J. Paperin** |
99.6 |
|
Consent of Eugene S. Putnam, Jr.** |
99.7 |
|
Consent of Allerd D. Stikker.** |
99.8 |
|
Consent of Ming Shu, PhD.** |
____________
* Previously filed.
** To be filed by amendment.
*** Filed herewith.
II-5
Exhibit 23.1
CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
We have issued our report dated May 1, 2018, with respect to the financial statements of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. contained in the Registration Statement and Prospectus. We consent to the use of the aforementioned report in the Registration Statement and Prospectus, and to the use of our name as it appears under the caption “Experts.”
/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 14, 2018