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ITEM 1A. 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 Annual Report before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.
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RISKS RELATING TO OUR SEARCH FORisks Relating to our Search for, CONSUMMATION OF, OR INABILITY TO CONSUMMATE, A BUSINESS COMBINATION AND POST-BUSINESS COMBINATION RISKSonsummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
We are a recently 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 recently incorporated exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until we complete our initial Business Combination. 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. If we fail to complete our initial Business Combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our Public Shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed 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 if we decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons. Examples of transactions that would not ordinarily require shareholder approval under Cayman Islands law include asset acquisitions and capital stock or share purchases, while transactions such as direct mergers with our Company would require shareholder approval. Therefore, we may need to seek shareholder approval of the Business Combination depending on how we structure such transaction. Except as required by applicable law, 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.
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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 rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a certain amount of cash. If we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination, our Public Shareholders may, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share, which is based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, on the liquidation of our Trust Account. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants.
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.
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Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities due to the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increasing, it may increase the cost of our initial Business Combination or could even result in our inability to consummate our initial Business Combination. If we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period under our Articles, our Public Shareholders may, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share, or less in certain circumstances, in connection with the liquidation of our Trust Account, and there will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants.
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 the IPO 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, the resources available to us for our initial Business Combination may be reduced. 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share (or less in certain circumstances) on the liquidation of our Trust Account. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants. In certain circumstances, our Public Shareholders may receive, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, less than $11.892.43 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 $11.892.43 per share, which is the estimated per share amount held in our Trust Account as of December 31, 20245 and other risk factors herein.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for SPACs have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many SPACs seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial Business Combination.
In addition, because there are more SPACs seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial Business Combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial Business Combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
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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 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 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 under our Articles 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 the Combination Period. 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 end of the Combination Period. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial Business Combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete our initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame and/or we may not elect to further extend our Combination Period, 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and there will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants.
Our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial Business Combination within such time period. Our Articles initially provided that we will have only 15 months (or up to 18 months or 21 months, as applicable) following the effectiveness of the IPO to consummate our initial Business Combination. However, on May 25, 2023, we held the May 2023 Meeting, where shareholders approved, among other things, an amendment to our Articles to extend the date by which the Company must consummate our initial Business Combination from June 3, 2023 to September 3, 2023 and to allow us, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the Board of Directors, to elect to further extend the Combination Period until up to March 3, 2025. The extension to the Combination Period required a $420,000 deposit into the Trust Account by the Contributors and the election to further extend the Combination Period requires us to (i) cause the deposit of $140,000 each month into the Trust Account and (ii) approve the extension by the resolution of the Board of Directors.
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On June 3, 2024, we held the June 2024 Meeting, where shareholders approved an amendment to our Articles to further extend the date by which the Company must consummate our initial Business Combination from June 3, 2024 for an initial two month period to August 3, 2024 and to allow us, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the Board of Directors, to elect to further extend the Combination Period until up to March 3, 2026. The extension to the Combination Period required the Sponsor or its designees deposit into the Trust Account (i) on June 4, 2024, with respect to the initial extension, an amount equal to the lesser of (x) $60,000 or (y) $0.03 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding and (ii) one business day following the public announcement by the Company that the Board of Directors has elected to further extend such date for an additional month, an amount equal to (x) $30,000 or (y) $0.0015 15 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding.
On February 27, 2026, we held the February 2026 Meeting, where shareholders approved an amendment to our Articles to further extend the date by which the Company must consummate our initial Business Combination from March 3, 2026 for an initial two month period to May 3, 2026 and to allow us, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the Board of Directors, to elect to further extend the Combination Period until up to March 3, 2027. The extensions to the Combination Period required the Sponsor or its designees deposit into the Trust Account (i) on March 4, 2026, with respect to the initial extension, an amount equal to the lesser of (x) $56,000 or (y) $0.06 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding. and (ii) one business day following the public announcement by the Company that the Board of Directors has elected to further extend such date for an additional month, an amount equal to (x) $28,000 or (y) $0.03 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding. Our Board of Directors has discretion to decide if we will not further extend the Combination Period.
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If we have not completed our initial Business Combination within the Combination 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 and net of taxes payablee) 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants. In certain circumstances, our Public Shareholders may receive less than $11.892.43 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 $11.8912.43 per share, which is the estimated per share amount held in our Trust Account as of December 31, 20245 and other risk factors herein.
Our current life term is on a month-to-month basis and our existence is subject to our Board of Directors sole discretion, as well as contingent on the deposit of monthly New Current Extension Contributions into the Trust Account. If the Board of Directors elects not to extend the Combination Period, or the Sponsor fails to deposit the NewCurrent Extension Contribution, we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our Public Shares and liquidate.
At the JuneFebruary 20246 Meeting, the Companys shareholders approved an amendment to the Articles to extend the date by which the Company has to consummate an initial Business Combination from JuneMarch 3, 20246 for an initial two month period to AugustMay 3, 20246 and to permit the Company, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the board of directors, to elect to further extend such date up to nineteten (190) additional times for an additional one (1) month each time, up to March 3, 20267, provided that the Sponsor or its designees deposit a NewCurrent Extension Contribution of (i) $56,02227,794.28 for the initial two-month period and (ii) $28,01113,897.14 per month thereafter into the Trust Account.
Such monthly extensions of the Combination Period are therefore subject to the discretion of the Board of Directors and subject to our Sponsor depositing into the Trust Account the NewCurrent Extension Contribution. The Sponsor is not obligated to do so and may choose at any time not to. In either event, the Company would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and would redeem its Public Shares and liquidate.
Our search for a Business Combination, and any target business with which we may ultimately consummate a Business Combination, may be materially adversely affected by difficult market and geopolitical conditions.
The United States and global markets are experiencing volatility and disruption resulting from, among other things, the ongoing geopolitical tensions and conflict from the Russian-Ukraine war and Israel-Hamas conflict. These conflicts and the resulting measures that have been taken, and could be taken in the future, by NATO, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other countries have created global security concerns that could have a lasting impact on regional and global economies.
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In addition, concerns over potential increases in inflation, economic recession, as well as interest rate volatility and fluctuations in commodity prices, have exacerbated market volatility. Market uncertainty and volatility have also been magnified as a result actual and potential shifts in U.S. and foreign trade, economic and other policies, including with respect to treaties and tariffs.
Any such events may cause significant volatility and declines in the global markets, disproportionate impacts to certain industries or sectors, disruptions to commerce (including to economic activity, travel and supply chains), loss of life and property damage, and may adversely affect the global economy or capital markets, and the business of any potential target with which we may consummate a Business Combination could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by these and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, our Sponsor, directors and officers and their affiliates may elect to purchase Public Shares or Public Warrants from shareholders, which may reduce the public float of the Class A ordinary shares and Public Warrants.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors and officers, and their affiliates may purchase Public Shares or Public Warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market prior to the completion of an initial Business Combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of Public Shares or Public Warrants our Sponsor, the directors and officers, and their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial Business Combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material non-public information), our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire Public Shares, vote their Public Shares in favor of our initial Business Combination or not redeem their Public Shares. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase Public Shares or Public Warrants in such transactions. Such purchases may include a contractual acknowledgment 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 and officers, and their affiliates purchase Public Shares in privately negotiated transactions from Public Shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling Public Shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their Public Shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to increase the amount of cash at the closing of an initial Business Combination. The purpose of any such purchases of Public Warrants could be to reduce the number of Public Warrants outstanding or to vote such Public Warrant on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with an initial Business Combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of an initial Business Combination that may not otherwise have been possible. We expect any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public float of the Public Shares or Public Warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
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In the event our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates were to purchase public shares from Public Shareholders, such purchases would be structured in compliance with the requirements of Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act including, in pertinent part, through adherence to the following:
| Our registration statement/proxy statement filed for our Business Combination transaction would disclose the possibility that our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may purchase Public Shares from Public Shareholders outside the redemption process, along with the purpose of such purchases; |
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| if our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates were to purchase Public Shares from Public Shareholders, they would do so at a price no higher than the price offered through our redemption process; |
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| our registration statement/proxy statement filed for our Business Combination transaction would include a representation that any of our securities purchased by our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates would not be voted in favor of approving the Business Combination transaction; |
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| our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates would not possess any redemption rights with respect to our securities or, if they do acquire and possess redemption rights, they would waive such rights; and |
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| we would disclose in a Form 8-K, before our security holder meeting to approve the Business Combination transaction, the following material items: |
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| the amount of our securities purchased outside of the redemption offer by our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates, along with the purchase price; |
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| the purpose of the purchases by our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates; |
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| the impact, if any, of the purchases by our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates on the likelihood that the Business Combination transaction will be approved; |
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| the identities of our security holders who sold to our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates (if not purchased on the open market) or the nature of our security holders (e.g., 5% security holders) who sold to our Sponsor, Initial Shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates; and |
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| the number of our securities for which we have received redemption requests pursuant to our redemption offer. |
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If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem its 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.
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 Public 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 redemption of any Public Shares properly tendered in connection with 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 Articles (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our Public Shares in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to the rights of Public Shareholders and (iii) the redemption of all of our Public Shares if we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a Public Shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Holders of Public Warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the Trust Account with respect to the Public Warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or Public Warrants, potentially at a loss.
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You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of the IPO 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 we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419.
Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means we have a longer period of time to complete our initial Business Combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if the IPO 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.
If the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of Private Placement Warrants not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the Combination Period, we may be unable to complete our initial Business Combination.
As of December 31, 20245, $61,0371,481 was available to us outside the Trust Account to fund our working capital requirements. While we believe that such funds, together with funds available from loans from our Sponsor, its affiliates, or our management team, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the duration of the Combination Period, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate and our Sponsor, its affiliates or our management team are under no obligation to loan or advance funds to us. The funds available to us outside of the Trust Account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the Combination Period, assuming that our initial Business Combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Managements plans to address this need for capital through the IPO and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this Annual Report titled Managements 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. See -We have no operating history and are subject to a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution requirement if we do not complete our initial Business Combination by the Combination Period. As such, there is a risk that we will be unable to continue as a going concern if liquidity needs arise or if we do not consummate an initial Business Combination by the applicable deadline and our independent registered public accounting firms report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to effect our initial Business Combination by the deadline, we will be forced to liquidate. for additional information regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.
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We believe we have access to capital that will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the Combination Period; 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share (or less in certain circumstances) on the liquidation of our Trust Account. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants. In certain circumstances, our Public Shareholders may receive less than $11.892.43 per share on the redemption of their shares.
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.
While we intend to 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. 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.
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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 $11.892.43 per share, which is the estimated per share amount held in our Trust Account as of December 31, 20245.
Our placing of funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered accounting firm), 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 partys 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 $11.892.43 per share currently held in the Trust Account, estimated as of December 31, 20245, due to claims of such creditors.
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Pursuant to the letter agreement which is filed as an exhibit to this Annual Report, 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 registered accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a letter of intent, confidentiality, or other similar agreement for a Business Combination, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (i) $10.00 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 the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy their indemnity obligations and believe that our Sponsors 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 $10.00 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) $10.00 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, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment 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 $10.00 per share.
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If, after we distribute the proceeds in the Trust Account to our Public Shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our Board of Directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our Board of Directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the Trust Account to our Public Shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a preferential transfer or a fraudulent conveyance. As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency 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 or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our Public Shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy or insolvency estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy or insolvency 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.
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Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing themselves and our Company to claims, by paying Public Shareholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable to a fine of up to $18,292 and to imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the consummation of our initial Business Combination. Our Public Shareholders will not have the right to appoint directors prior to the consummation of our initial Business Combination.
There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings in order to appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, Public Shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to discuss Company affairs with management. Currently, our Initial Shareholders own approximately 75% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. In addition, prior to our initial Business Combination, only holders of our Founder Shares, all of which are held by our Initial Shareholders, will have the right to vote on the appointment of our directors. Our Initial Shareholders have agreed that, subject to applicable law, neither of our Initial Shareholders will vote their Founder Shares to change the size of our Board of Directors or, without the others consent, with respect to appointment of directors. As holders of our Class A ordinary shares, our Public Shareholders will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors prior to consummation of our initial Business Combination. These provisions of our Articles 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, holders of Public Shares will not have any influence over the appointment of directors prior to our initial Business Combination.
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 or force us to abandon our efforts to complete an initial Business Combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
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In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless it can qualify for an exclusion, a company must ensure that it is engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that its activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading investment securities constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis.
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The SEC recently provided guidance that the determination of whether a SPAC, like us, is an investment company under the Investment Company Act is a facts and circumstances determination requiring individualized analysis and depends on a variety of factors, including a SPACs duration, asset composition, business purpose and activities. When applying these factors to us we do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the Company was formed for the purpose of completing an initial Business Combination with one or more businesses. Since our inception, our business has been and will continue to be focused on identifying and completing an initial Business Combination, and thereafter, operating the post-transaction business for the long term. Further, we do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale and we do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor. In addition, the proceeds held in the Trust Account were invested in United States government securities within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations from the consummation of our IPO until March 1, 2024, when, to mitigate the potential risk that we might be deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, the trustee, pursuant to Amendment No. 1 the IMTA, liquidated such investments and moved the proceeds to an interest-bearing demand deposit account. As a result, the remaining proceeds from the IPO and sale of Private Placement Warrants are no longer invested in U.S. government securities or money market funds. Pursuant to the IMTA, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds in this manner, and by focusing our directors and officers time toward, and operating our business for the purpose of, acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund or investing in assets for the purpose of achieving investment returns on such assets), we intend to avoid being deemed an investment company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. Further, investing in our securities is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. Instead, the Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial Business Combination; (ii) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our Articles (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to the rights of Public Shareholders; or (iii) absent an initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, our return of the funds held in the Trust Account to our Public Shareholders as part of our redemption of the Public Shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as described above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act.
If we were deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would need to register as such under the Investment Company Act and 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. We may also be forced to abandon our efforts to complete an initial Business Combination and instead be required to liquidate the Trust Account. In which case, our investors would not be able to realize the benefits of owning shares in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our securities following such a transaction. For illustrative purposes, in connection with the liquidation of our Trust Account, our Public Shareholders may receive approximately $11.892.43 per Public Share, which is based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, or less in certain circumstances. There will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants.
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 businesss operations.
Although we expect to focus our search for a suitable initial Business Combination with companies that are either developing breakthrough technology in life sciences or advancing a platform for sustainable technology, we may pursue acquisition opportunities in any one of numerous industries, except that we will not, under our Articles, be permitted to effectuate our Business Combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet identified 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 operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects.
To the extent we complete our Business Combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or an early stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a 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 unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the tender offer materials or proxy statement relating to the Business Combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
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We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our managements areas of expertise.
We will consider a Business Combination outside of our managements 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 managements expertise, our managements expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report regarding the areas of our managements 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.
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 registered public 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.
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 meet certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international 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.
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 beginningannually in connection with our Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 2024ts. 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 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 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.
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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete a Business Combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our Articles does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold. 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 Public 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 Initial Shareholders, directors, officers or advisors, or their respective 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.
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 further amend our Articles 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 further amend our Articles or governing instruments or to further extend the time in which we have to consummate a Business Combination through amending our Articles, such actions will require at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of at least two-thirds of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the Company, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least a majority of the number of the then outstanding Public Warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the Private Placement Warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the Private Placement Warrants, a majority of the number of the then outstanding Private Placement Warrants (except for provisions of the warrant agreement enabling amendments without shareholder or warrant holder approval that are necessary in the good faith determination of our Board of Directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements). In addition, our Articles require us to provide our Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our Articles (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within the Combination Period or any further extensions or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to the rights of Public Shareholders.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial Business Combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.
In connection with our initial Business Combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.
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The provisions of our Articles that relate to our pre-initial Business Combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account), may be amended with the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote 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 Articles and the IMTA 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 companys pre-initial business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the companys shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the companys public shareholders. Our Articles provides that any of its provisions, including those related to pre-initial Business Combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of the IPO and the Private Placement 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 Articles 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 memorandum and articles of association 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 IMTA governing the release of funds from our Trust Account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our ordinary shares. As of the date of this Annual Report, our Initial Shareholders collectively beneficially own approximately 75% of our ordinary shares, and will participate in any such vote. Accordingly, our Initial Shareholders can approve the amendment of our Articles and our IMTA without the vote of any holders of Public Shares. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our Articles which govern our pre-initial 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.
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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 the IPO 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 the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial Business Combination, 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 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account. There will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants. In certain circumstances, our Public Shareholders may receive less than $11.8912.43 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 $11.892.43 per share, which is the estimated per share amount held in our Trust Account as of December 31, 20245 and other risk factors below.
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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245 receive approximately $11.892.43 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and there will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial Business Combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial Business Combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination, our Public Shareholders may, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account. There will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants. 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 $11.892.43 per share, which is the estimated per share amount held in our Trust Account as of December 31, 20245 and other risk factors.
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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 post-transaction 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.
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We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial Business Combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial Business Combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the targets management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the targets 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 targets 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 candidates 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.
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:
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| costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations; |
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| rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
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| complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
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| laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
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| tariffs and trade barriers; |
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| regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
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| longer payment cycles; |
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| tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
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| currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
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| rates of inflation; |
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| challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
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| cultural and language differences; |
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| employment regulations; |
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| crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks and wars; and |
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| deterioration of political relations with the United States. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
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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 Annual Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial Business Combination. We 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; |
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| acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
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| our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; |
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| 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; |
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| our inability to pay dividends on our ordinary shares; |
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| using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
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| limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
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| increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
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| limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
We may only be able to complete one Business Combination with the proceeds of the IPO 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 the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, following redemptions made in connection with our extensions and Initial Extension Contributions , Second Extension Contributions and NewCurrent Extension Contributions, $22,206,637 wthere is approximately $5.8 mill beion available to complete our Business Combination in the Trust Account and pay related fees and expenses as of the date of this Annual Report (which includes $8,105,480 for the payment of deferred underwriting commissions).
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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 |
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| dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial Business Combination.
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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 do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial Business Combination.
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.
Because we intend to seek a Business Combination with a target business or businesses in the healthcare industry and whose principal business operations are based in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong and Macau), we expect our future operations to be subject to risks associated with this industry.
While we may pursue an acquisition or a target in any business or industry or across any geography, we intend to focus our search for a target business in healthcare industry and with companies whose principal business operations are based in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong and Macau).
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Life science related companies (e.g., healthcare, biopharmaceuticals, and digital health) are typically subject to greater governmental regulation than most other industries whether in the U.S. or global. Industries such as biopharmaceuticals are also the most research-intensive industries. Many of the risks mentioned associated with these industries involve regulation around research and development (RD) of a product or technical risk factors. For example, a healthcare-related company must receive government approval before introducing new drugs and medical devices or procedures. Drug development and the probability of success through the stages of development are key concerns when considering pharmaceutical companies as most studies show that a drug development programs probability of success from Phase I trials to U.S. FDA approval was only 9.6% as of the time of our IPO, based on a study from BIO. Any potential regulatory or policy changes can impact such success rates to even lower probabilities. Failure to obtain governmental approval of a key drug or device or other regulatory action could have a material adverse effect on the business of a target company. Such changes may impact the demand for or costs of certain products and services as changes may delay the introduction of these products and services to the marketplace, resulting in increased development costs, delayed cost recovery and loss of competitive advantage to the extent that rival companies have developed competing products or procedures, adversely affecting the companys revenues and profitability. These types of risks are unique to each company but typically found across most life science focused companies. Other risks can involve other areas of regulatory compliance such as monitoring drug safety even after approval. Finally, expansion of facilities by healthcare related providers is subject to determinations of need by the appropriate government authorities. This process not only increases the time and cost involved in these expansions, but also makes expansion plans uncertain, limiting the revenue and profitability growth potential of healthcare related facilities operators There also exists potential regulatory risk due to changes to laws, regulations or interpretations that can cause compliance costs or cause disruptions to companies productivity as a business. Overall, these firms are exposed to greater financial risk than other industries and can also be sensitive to policy changes that could potentially affect industry-wide profitability. These risks are considered systematic as policy changes can impact industry-wide RD spending or go-to-market strategies as well as impact cash flow and product sales. For instance, as of the time of our IPO, governmental budgets across developing countries came under pressure to reduce spending and control healthcare costs, which could both adversely affect regulatory processes and public funding available for healthcare products, services and facilities. These healthcare reforms may institute regulatory mandates and other measures designed to constrain medical costs, including coverage and reimbursement for healthcare services, drugs, or devices. Potential regulatory changes include drug price caps or access and healthcare cost transparency, all of which can potentially become a risk to profitability for these companies. The ultimate effects of healthcare reform or any future legislation, regulation, or healthcare initiatives, if any, on the healthcare sector, whether implemented at the federal or state level or internationally, cannot be predicted with certainty and such reform, legislation, regulation, or initiatives may adversely affect the performance of a potential Business Combination.
Technical expertise is also crucial in the life science industry as the products produced in these sectors are complex - it would take the average investor significant time to understand the factors that affect the products chances of success. Even large, well-established financial institutions typically have a poor track record when it comes to forecasting the performance of companies in the biopharmaceuticals or healthcare space. Therefore, technical expertise is crucial in these industries, especially at the management level of companies. There is risk with certain companies in this sector that may not have the right level of technical expertise at the management level or management is valuation-driven with stronger focus on profitability than having the technical expertise of understanding how research findings (e.g., regarding side effects or comparative benefits of one or more particular treatments, services or products) and technological innovation (together with patent expirations) may make any particular treatment, service or product less attractive if previously unknown or underappreciated risks are revealed, or if a more effective, less costly or less risky solution is or becomes available. Any such development could have an adverse effect on the companies that are target businesses for investment.
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Finally, certain healthcare related companies depend on the exclusive rights or patents for the products they develop and distribute. Patents have a limited duration and, upon expiration, other companies may market substantially similar generic products that are typically sold at a lower price than the patented product, causing the original developer of the product to lose market share and/or reduce the price charged for the product, resulting in lower profits for the original developer. As a result, the expiration of patents may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. The profitability of healthcare related companies may also be affected, among other factors, by restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising or falling costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, a limited product offering, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. Finally, because the products and services of healthcare related companies affect the health and well-being of many individuals, these companies are especially susceptible to product liability lawsuits.
In addition, risks inherent in investments in the sustainability sector include, but are not limited to, the following:
| difficulty in competing against established companies who may have greater financial resources and/or a more effective or established localized business presence and/or an ability to introduce and sell sustainable technology at minimal or negative operating margins for sustained periods of time; |
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| difficulty in establishing and implementing a commercial and operational approach adequate to address the specific needs of the markets we are pursuing; |
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| the speculative nature of and high degree of risk involved in investments in sustainability sector; |
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| availability of key inputs, such as strategic consumables, raw materials and necessary equipment; |
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| changes in global supply and demand and prices for commodities; |
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| impact of energy conservation efforts; |
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| technological advances affecting energy production and consumption; |
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| denial or delay of receiving requisite regulatory approvals and/or permits; |
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| governmental or regulatory actions in any or all of our chosen markets, even if well intentioned from a climate perspective, could have an immediate and dramatic effect on our business operations and opportunities; |
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| difficulty in identifying effective local partners and developing any necessary partnerships with local businesses on commercially and environmentally acceptable terms; |
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| inability to comply with governmental regulations or obtain governmental approval for our products and/or business operations; |
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| difficulty in competing successfully with improved technologies introduced subsequent to our own; |
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| the possibility of applying an ineffective commercial approach to targeted markets, including product offerings that may not meet market needs with respect to their environmental or non-environmental attributes; |
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| inability to build strong brand identity, environmental credibility or reputation for exceptional customer satisfaction and service; |
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| difficulty in generating sufficient sales volumes at economically sustainable profitability levels; and |
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| difficulty in timely identifying, attracting, training, and retaining qualified sales, technical, and other personnel. |
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel.
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. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our 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. 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.
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We may seek Business Combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek Business Combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the Business Combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial Business Combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular partner business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our Business Combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a partner business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
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RISKS RELATING TO OUR SPONSOR AND MANAGEMENT TEAMisks Relating to our Sponsor and Management Team
Our ability to successfully effect our initial Business Combination will be 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.
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, Sung Yoon Woo, our Chief Executive Officer; Sungwoo (Andrew) Hyung, our Chief Financial Officer; Sungsik (Sung) Lee, our President; Gene Young Cho, our Chief Operating Officer; and our 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.
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Since our Initial Shareholders, executive 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 target is appropriate for our initial Business Combination.
The Sponsor and our Companys officers and directors have interests that may be different from, or in addition to, the Public Shareholders interests. For example:
| If we do not consummate a Business Combination and we liquidate, the 5,502,490 Founder Shares held by the Sponsor will be worthless, as the Sponsor has waived liquidation rights with respect to such shares, as will the 2,666,667 Private Placement Warrants held by the Sponsor and 4,000,000 Private Placement Warrants held by Valuence Partners LP. The Sponsor and Valuence Partners LP purchased the Founder Shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.00043 per share, and purchased the Private Placement Warrants for $1.50 per warrant, or $10,000,000 in the aggregate. |
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| For extensions beginning on January 3, 2024 through May 3, 2024, Sponsor and its affiliate invested a total of $700,000 of Initial Extension Contributions. The Sponsor and its affiliate also invested $56,022 for an initial two month period of June 3, 2024 to August 3, 2024 and thereafter eight additional deposits of $28,011 for an aggregate principal amount of $280,110 into our Trust Account as |
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| The Sponsor and the Companys officers and directors and their respective affiliates are entitled to reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them related to identifying, investigating, negotiating and completing a Business Combination. If we do not consummate a Business Combination, they will not have any claim against the Trust Account for reimbursement. As of the date of this Annual Report, there are no reimbursable out-of-pocket expenses outstanding. |
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| All rights specified in the Articles relating to the right of officers and directors to be indemnified by the Company, and of the Companys officers and directors to be exculpated from monetary liability with respect to prior acts or omissions, will continue after a Business Combination. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination and liquidates, the Company will not be able to perform its obligations to its officers and directors under those provisions. |
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| In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a letter of intent, confidentiality, or other similar agreement for a Business Combination, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (i) $10.00 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. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and will not apply as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. |
Accordingly, if we do not consummate a Business Combination, the Sponsor may lose its entire investment in us, and the potential loss of this investment could incentivize the Sponsor and its affiliates to pursue a Business Combination on unfavorable terms in order to avoid a liquidation and a loss of its investment. In addition, the personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the Combination Period nears March 3, 20267, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial Business Combination.
Certain of 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 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. Our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs, and certain of our officers are engaged in other business endeavors for which they may be entitled to substantial compensation. 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.
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.
After the IPO 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 Initial Shareholders 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.
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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. As a result, they will have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to certain clients or other entities. Accordingly, our officers and directors 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.
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 a target business that is affiliated with our Initial Shareholders, our directors or officers. 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.
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We may engage in a Business Combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our Initial Shareholders, officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for Business Combination opportunities. 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 and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent 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 Initial Shareholders, officers or directors, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the Business Combination may not be as advantageous to our Public Shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
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 issued and outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests 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 portion of the companys shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our officers and directors.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the Trust Account and to not seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the Trust Account or (ii) we consummate an initial Business Combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers and directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholders investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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Any negative developments involving our management, directors and persons or companies with which they are currently or have been affiliated, including civil disputes, litigation, government or other investigations or other actual or alleged misconduct, unrelated to our business affairs could materially impact our ability to consummate an initial Business Combination.
Our members of our management team, our directors, and persons or companies with which they are affiliated have been, and in the future will continue to be, involved in a wide variety of business and other activities. As a result of such involvement, we may be exposed to the risk of negative developments relating to members of our management, directors and persons or companies with which they are affiliated, including civil disputes, litigation, governmental or other investigations or other actual or alleged misconduct relating to their affairs unrelated to our Company. Any such development, including any negative publicity related thereto, may be detrimental to our reputation, negatively affect our ability to identify and complete an initial Business Combination in a material manner and may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
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RISKS RELATING TO OUR SECURITIESisks Relating to our Securities
Nasdaq has delisted 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.
Nasdaq rule IM-5101-2 requires that a SPAC complete one or more business combinations within 36 months of the effectiveness of its initial public offering registration statement, which, in our case, was February 28, 2025. We did not complete an initial Business Combination by that date and so Nasdaq determined to delist our Units, Class A ordinary shares and Public Warrants from trading on March 11, 2025. Our securities are quoted on an over-the-counter market. As a result, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
| a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
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| reduced liquidity for our securities; |
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| a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a penny stock which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
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| a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
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| a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as covered securities. While our units, Class A Ordinary Shares and public warrants were listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A Ordinary Shares and public warrants were considered 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. Since our securities may no longer be covered securities, we may be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities, including in connection with our initial Business Combination.
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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 as issued in the IPO.
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 Articles provides that a Public Shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a group (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, 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. As a result, you would 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.
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We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial Business Combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial Business Combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the 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 Articles. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our Articles authorize the issuance of up to 180,000,000 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. We have 7,369,890 Class A ordinary shares, 2 Class B ordinary shares, and 17,939,643 warrants issued and outstanding. Warrants are exercisable at $11.50 beginning 30 days after an initial Business Combination. 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 Articles. Since the IPO, there is no preference shares issued and outstanding.
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 Articles. However, our Articles 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 the IPO; |
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| may subordinate the rights of holders of ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our ordinary shares; |
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| 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 |
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| may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Units, Class A ordinary shares and/or Public Warrants. |
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We did not register the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under federal or any state securities laws, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We did not register the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under any federal or state securities laws. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 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 post-effective amendment to the registration statement for the IPO or a new 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. 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 Public 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 Public 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 the IPO.
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The grant of registration rights to our Initial Shareholders and holders of our Private Placement Warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial Business Combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Our Initial Shareholders and their 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 Initial Shareholders, holders of our Private Placement Warrants or holders of our Working Capital Loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
Provisions in our Articles 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 Articles contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include 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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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial Business Combination, regardless of how our Public Shareholders vote. In addition, our Initial Shareholders hold substantial interest in us and, as a result, may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
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 Initial Shareholders, 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, as well as any Public Shares purchased during or after the IPO, in favor of our initial Business Combination. Based on the share ownership of our Initial Shareholders as of the date of this Annual Report, we expect that our Initial Shareholders and their permitted transferees will own approximately 75% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares at the time of any such shareholder vote. As a result, our Initial Shareholders can approve the amendment of our Articles without the vote of any holders of Public Shares. 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.
In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our Company, our Initial Shareholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our Articles and approval of major corporate transactions. Accordingly, our Initial Shareholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a shareholder vote at least until the completion of our initial Business Combination.
We have the right to extend the Combination Period, on a monthly basis, up to March 3, 20267 without providing our shareholders a corresponding vote or redemption right provided that our Sponsor or its designee deposits $28,0117,794.28 each month into our Trust Account. If we choose not to extend the Combination Period on the month-to-month basis, 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and there will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants.
We initially had until 15 months (or up to 18 months or 21 months, as applicable) following the effectiveness of the IPO to consummate an initial Business Combination. However, on May 25, 2023, we held the May 2023 Meeting, where shareholders approved, among other things, an amendment to our Articles to extend the date by which the Company must consummate our initial Business Combination from June 3, 2023 to the Combination Period and to allow us, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the Board of Directors, to elect to further extend the Combination Period until up to March 3, 2025. The extension to the Combination Period required a $420,000 deposit into the Trust Account by the Contributors and the election to further extend the Combination Period requires us to (i) cause the deposit of $140,000 each month into the Trust Account and (ii) approve the extension by the resolution of the Board of Directors.
On June 3, 2024, we held the June 2024 Meeting, where shareholders approved an amendment to our Articles to further extend the date by which the Company must consummate our initial Business Combination from June 3, 2024 for an initial two month period to August 3, 2024 and to allow us, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the Board of Directors, to elect to further extend the Combination Period until up to March 3, 2026. The extensions to the Combination Period required the Sponsor or its designees deposit into the Trust Account (i) on June 4, 2024, with respect to the initial extension, an amount equal to the lesser of (x) $60,000 or (y) $0.03 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding and (ii) one business day following the public announcement by the Company that the Board of Directors has elected to further extend such date for an additional month, an amount equal to (x) $30,000 or (y) $0.0015 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding.
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On February 27, 2026, we held the February 2026 Meeting, where shareholders approved an amendment to our Articles to further extend the date by which the Company must consummate our initial Business Combination from March 3, 2026 for an initial two month period to May 3, 2026 and to allow us, without another shareholder vote, by resolution of the Board of Directors, to elect to further extend the Combination Period until up to March 3, 2027. The extensions to the Combination Period required the Sponsor or its designees deposit into the Trust Account (i) on March 4, 2026, with respect to the initial extension, an amount equal to the lesser of (x) $56,000 or (y) $0.06 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding and (ii) one business day following the public announcement by the Company that the Board of Directors has elected to further extend such date for an additional month, an amount equal to (x) $28,000 or (y) $0.03 per public share multiplied by the number of Public Shares outstanding. Our Board of Directors has discretion to decide if we will not further extend the Combination Period. We can provide no assurance that our Board of Directors will continue to extend the Combination Period.
If we have not completed our initial Business Combination within the Combination 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, based on estimates as of December 31, 20245, receive approximately $11.892.43 per share. There will be no liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants. In certain circumstances, our Public Shareholders may receive less than the currently estimated $11.892.43 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 $11.8912.43 per share, which is the estimated per share amount held in our Trust Account as of December 31, 20245 and other risk factors herein. This feature is different from some other special purpose acquisition companies, in which any extension of the companys period to consummate an initial business combination would require a vote of the companys shareholders and in connection with such vote shareholders would have the right to redeem their Public Shares.
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A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial Business Combination.
If:
(i) | we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial Business Combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share; |
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(ii) | the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial Business Combination on the date of the consummation of our initial Business Combination (net of redemptions), and |
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(iii) | the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, |
then the exercise price of the Public Warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial Business Combination with a target business.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our Company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a foreign action) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an enforcement action), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holders counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holders ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our Company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management team.
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We may amend certain agreements related to the IPO without shareholder approval. We may also amend the terms of the Public Warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of Public Warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants.
Certain agreements, including the underwriting agreement relating to the IPO, the IMTA between us and Continental Stock Transfer Trust Company, the letter agreement among us and our Initial Shareholders, officers, directors and director nominees, and the registration rights agreement among us and our Initial Shareholders, 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 the IPO 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 Nasdaq. While we do not expect our Board of Directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial Business Combination, it may be possible that our Board of Directors, 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.
Our Public Warrants have been 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 Public 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 50% 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 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Public Warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding Public Warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the Public Warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
The Public Warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial Business Combination, the Public Warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your Public Warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the Public Warrants within twenty business days of the closing of an initial Business Combination.
To the extent our warrants ever become exercisable, we may redeem your unexpired Public Warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your Public Warrants worthless.
To the extent our warrants ever become exercisable, we have the ability to redeem outstanding Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per Public Warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, 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 Public Warrant holders. If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares upon exercise of the Public 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 Public Warrants were offered by us in the IPO. Redemption of the outstanding Public Warrants could force you (i) to exercise your Public Warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your Public Warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your Public Warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding Public Warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your Public Warrants. None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us.
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Our managements ability to require holders of our Public Warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer Class A ordinary shares upon their exercise of the Public 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 Annual Report have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his or her Public Warrants to do so on a cashless basis. If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their Public 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 or her warrant for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential upside of the holders investment in our Company.
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 have issued Public Warrants to purchase 10,000,000 of our Class A ordinary shares, at a price of $11.50 per share, as part of the Units sold in our IPO and, simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 6,666,667 Private Placement Warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. Following our IPO, our Initial Shareholders owned an aggregate of 5,502,490 Founder Shares. As of December 31, 20245, of the 5,502,490 Founder Shares, all but two have been converted into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis. In addition, if our Initial Shareholders make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The Sponsor and its affiliate have entered into the Initial Extension Contribution Notes in connection with required monthly Contributions into the Trust Account in connection with extensions of the Combination Period. The Initial Extension Contribution Notes have an aggregate principal amount of up to approximately $2,564,151, and up to $1.5 million of such amount may be converted into warrants at the option of the Contributors. To the extent we issue Class A ordinary shares to effectuate a Business Combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants or conversion rights could make us a less attractive 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.
If we are unable to consummate our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, our Public Shareholders may be forced to wait beyond the Combination Period before redemption from our Trust Account.
If we are unable to consummate our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account (less up to $100,000 of the interest earned thereon to pay dissolution expenstaxes and net of taxes payable), pro rata to our Public Shareholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs, as further described herein. Any redemption of Public Shares from the Trust Account shall be effected automatically by function of our Articles prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the Trust Account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our Public Shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond the Combination Period before the redemption proceeds of our Trust Account become available to them and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our Trust Account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless 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.
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GENERAL RISK FACTORSeneral Risk Factors
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 and you may lose all or part of your invested capital. Additionally, in the course of their respective careers, members of our management team have been involved in businesses and deals that were unsuccessful. Our officers and directors have not had management experience with blank check companies or special purpose acquisition companies in the past.
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Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us or third parties could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early-stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We also lack sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have material adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
We may be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder of our 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. 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 ordinary shares and warrants.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor internal controls 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 ofholding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A 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.
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Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used. Additionally, we are a smaller reporting company as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non- affiliates equals to or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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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 Articles, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.
We have been advised by Walkers (Hong Kong), 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.
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We may seek acquisition opportunities in foreign countries that are subject to political, economic, and other uncertainties.
We may seek acquisitions opportunities that have operations outside the United States. As a result, we could face political and economic risks and other uncertainties with respect these potential international operations. These risks may include the following, among other things:
| loss of revenue, property, and equipment or delays in operations as a result of hazards such as expropriation, war, piracy, acts of terrorism, insurrection, civil unrest, and other political risks, including tension and confrontations among political parties; |
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| transparency issues in general and, more specifically, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption compliance laws and issues; |
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| increases in taxes and governmental royalties; |
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| unilateral renegotiation of contracts by governmental entities; |
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| redefinition of international boundaries or boundary disputes; |
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| difficulties enforcing our rights against a governmental agency because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity and foreign sovereignty over international operations; |
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| difficulties enforcing our rights against a governmental agency in the absence of an appropriate and adequate dispute resolution mechanism to address contractual disputes, such as international arbitration; |
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| changes in laws and policies governing operations of foreign-based companies; |
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| foreign-exchange restrictions; and |
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| international monetary fluctuations and changes in the relative value of the U.S. dollar as compared to the currencies of other countries in which we conduct business. |
Outbreaks of civil and political unrest and acts of terrorism have occurred in countries in Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East, including countries close to or where we may seek an acquisition. Continued or escalated civil and political unrest and acts of terrorism in the countries in which we may operate could result in our curtailing operations or delays in project completions. In the event that countries in which we may operate experience civil or political unrest or acts of terrorism, especially in events where such unrest leads to an unseating of the established government, our operations could be materially impaired. Our potential international operations may also be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by laws, policies, and regulations of the United States affecting foreign trade and taxation, including U.S. trade sanctions. Realization of any of the factors listed above could materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.
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.
Corporate governance standards in non-US countries may not be as strict or developed as in the United States and such weakness may hide issues and operational practices that are detrimental to a target business.
General corporate governance standards in non-US countries are weaker than those in the United States. This could result in unfavorable related party transactions, over-leveraging, improper accounting, family company interconnectivity and poor management. Local laws often do not go far enough to prevent improper business practices. Therefore, shareholders may not be treated impartially and equally as a result of poor management practices, asset shifting, conglomerate structures that result in preferential treatment to some parts of the overall company, and cronyism. The lack of transparency and ambiguity in the regulatory process also may result in inadequate credit evaluation and weakness that may precipitate or encourage financial crisis. In our evaluation of a Business Combination we will have to evaluate the corporate governance of a target and the business environment, and in accordance with United States laws for reporting companies take steps to implement practices that will cause compliance with all applicable rules and accounting practices. Notwithstanding these intended efforts, there may be endemic practices and local laws that could add risk to an investment we ultimately make and that result in an adverse effect on our operations and financial results.
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If the government of the country in which we effect our initial Business Combination finds that the agreements we entered into to acquire control of a target business through contractual arrangements with one or more operating businesses do not comply with local governmental restrictions on foreign investment, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to significant penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.
Some countries in Asia currently prohibit and/or restrict foreign ownership in certain important industries, including technology, entertainment and others. There are uncertainties under certain regulations whether obtaining a majority interest through contractual arrangements will comply with regulations prohibiting or restricting foreign ownership in certain industries. In addition, there can be restrictions on the foreign ownership of businesses that are determined from time to time to be in important industries that may affect the national economic security or those having famous brand names or well-established brand names.
If we or any of our potential future target businesses are found to be in violation of any existing or future local laws or regulations (for example, if we are deemed to be holding equity interests in certain of our affiliated entities in which direct foreign ownership is prohibited), the relevant regulatory authorities might have the discretion to:
| revoke the business and operating licenses of the potential future target business; |
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| confiscate relevant income and impose fines and other penalties; |
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| discontinue or restrict the operations of the potential future target business; |
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| require us or the potential future target business to restructure the relevant ownership structure or operations; |
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| restrict or prohibit our use of the proceeds of the IPO to finance our businesses and operations in the relevant jurisdiction; or |
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| impose conditions or requirements with which we or the potential future target business may not be able to comply. |
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 team could resign from their positions as officers of our 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.
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. We will not pursue or consummate our initial Business Combination with any entity with its principal business operations in China, Hong Kong or Macau. 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 countrys 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.
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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.
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Changes to laws or regulations or in how such laws or regulations are interpreted or applied, or a failure to comply with any laws, regulations, interpretations or applications may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination.
We are subject to laws and regulations, and interpretations and applications of such laws and regulations, of national, regional, state and local governments and applicable non-U.S. jurisdictions. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and potentially other legal and regulatory requirements, and our consummation of an Initial Business Combination may be contingent upon our ability to comply with certain laws, regulations, interpretations and applications and any post-Business Combination company may be subject to additional laws, regulations, interpretations and applications. Compliance with, and monitoring of, the foregoing 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, including our ability to negotiate and complete an initial Business Combination. A failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination.
On January 24, 2024, the SEC issued final rules (the 2024 SPAC Rules), effective as of July 1, 2024, that formally adopted some of the SECs proposed rules for SPACs that were released on March 30, 2022. The 2024 SPAC Rules, among other items, impose additional disclosure requirements in initial public offerings by SPACs and business combination transactions involving SPACs and private operating companies; amend the financial statement requirements applicable to business combination transactions involving such companies; update and expand guidance regarding the general use of projections in SEC filings, as well as when projections are disclosed in connection with proposed business combination transactions; increase the potential liability of certain participants in proposed business combination transactions; and could impact the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act. The 2024 SPAC Rules may materially adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete, and the costs associated with, our initial Business Combination, and results of operations.
There may be tax consequences to our Business Combination that may adversely affect us.
While we expect to undertake any Business Combination transaction so as to minimize taxes to us, the target, the acquired business and/or assets, and the respective shareholders of our Company and target, such Business Combination might not meet the applicable statutory requirements of a tax-free reorganization in all applicable jurisdictions, or the parties might not obtain the intended tax-free treatment upon a transfer of shares or assets or other Business Combination transaction. A non-qualifying reorganization could result in the imposition of substantial taxes on us, the target, the acquired business and/or assets, and the respective shareholders of our Company and target.
The new 1% U.S. federal excise tax on stock buybacks could be imposed on redemptions of our stock if we were to become a covered corporation in the future.
On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the IR Act), which, among other things, generally imposes a 1% U.S. federal excise tax (the Excise Tax) on certain repurchases of stock by covered corporations (which include publicly traded domestic (i.e., U.S.) corporations and certain domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) corporations) occurring on or after January 1, 2023. The Excise Tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its stockholders from which the stock is repurchased. The amount of the Excise Tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the Excise Tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the Excise Tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the Treasury) has authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of the Excise Tax. On December 27, 2022, the Treasury issued a notice that provides interim operating rules for the Excise Tax, including rules governing the calculation and reporting of the Excise Tax, on which taxpayers may rely until the forthcoming proposed Treasury regulations addressing the Excise Tax are published. Although such notice clarifies certain aspects of the Excise Tax, the interpretation and operation of other aspects of the Excise Tax remain unclear, and such interim operating rules are subject to change.
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We are currently not a covered corporation for purposes of the Excise Tax. If we were to become a covered corporation in the future, whether in connection with the consummation of our Business Combination with a U.S. company (including if we were to redomicile as a U.S. corporation in connection therewith) or otherwise, whether and to what extent we would be subject to the Excise Tax on a redemption of our stock would depend on a number of factors, including (i) whether the redemption is treated as a repurchase of stock for purposes of the Excise Tax, (ii) the fair market value of the redemption treated as a repurchase of stock, (iii) the structure of our Business Combination, (iv) the nature and amount of any PIPE or other equity issuances (whether in connection with our Business Combination or otherwise) issued within the same taxable year of a redemption treated as a repurchase of stock and (v) the content of forthcoming regulations and other guidance from the Treasury. As noted above, the Excise Tax would be payable by the repurchasing corporation, and not by the redeeming holder, and only limited guidance on the mechanics of any required reporting and payment of the Excise Tax on which taxpayers may rely have been issued to date. If we were to become a covered corporation in the future, the per-share redemption amount payable from the Trust Account (including any interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account) to our public stockholders in connection with a redemption of our stock is not expected to be reduced by any Excise Tax imposed on us. The imposition of the Excise Tax on us could, however, cause a reduction in the cash available on hand to complete our Business Combination and may affect our ability to complete our Business Combination or fund future operations.
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We may be exposed to liabilities under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and any determination that we violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We are subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or FCPA, and other laws that prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties by U.S. persons and issuers as defined by the statute for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. We will have operations, agreements with third parties and make sales in Asia, which may experience corruption. Our proposed activities in Asia create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of the employees, consultants, or sales agents of our Company, because these parties are not always subject to our control. It will be our policy to implement safeguards to discourage these practices by our employees. Also, our existing safeguards and any future improvements may prove to be less than effective, and the employees, consultants, or sales agents of our Company may engage in conduct for which we might be held responsible. Violations of the FCPA may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, the government may seek to hold our Company liable for successor liability FCPA violations committed by companies in which we invest or that we acquire.
Our ability to complete a Business Combination with a U.S. target company may be impacted if such Business Combination is subject to U.S. foreign investment regulations and review by a U.S. government entity, such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), and ultimately prohibited.
Our Business Combination may be subject to regulatory review and approval requirements by governmental entities, or ultimately prohibited. For example, CFIUS has authority to review certain direct or indirect foreign investments in U.S. companies. Among other things, CFIUS is empowered to require certain foreign investors to make mandatory filings, to charge filing fees related to such filings, and to self-initiate national security reviews of foreign direct and indirect investments in U.S. companies if the parties to that investment choose not to file voluntarily. If CFIUS determines that an investment subject to its jurisdiction threatens national security, CFIUS has the power to impose restrictions on the investment or recommend that the President prohibit it or order divestment. Whether CFIUS has jurisdiction to review an acquisition or investment transaction depends on, among other factors, the nature and structure of the transaction, the nationality of the parties, the level of beneficial ownership interest and the nature of any information or governance rights involved.
The Sponsor is controlled (as defined in 31 CFR 800.208) by one or more foreign persons, such that the Sponsors involvement in any initial Business Combination may be a covered transaction (as defined in 31 CFR 800.213). For so long as the Sponsor retains a material ownership interest in us, we may be deemed a foreign person under the regulations relating to CFIUS. As such, an initial Business Combination with a U.S. business or foreign business with U.S. operations that we may wish to pursue may be subject to CFIUS review. It is possible that non-U.S. persons could be involved in our initial Business Combination, which may increase the risk that our initial Business Combination becomes subject to regulatory review. If a particular proposed initial Business Combination with a U.S. business falls within CFIUSs jurisdiction, we may determine that we are required to make a mandatory filing or that we will submit to CFIUS review on a voluntary basis, or to proceed with the transaction without submitting to CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the transaction. In such circumstances, CFIUS may decide to delay or recommend that the President of the United States block our proposed initial Business Combination, require conditions with respect to such Business Combination or recommend that the President of the United States order us to divest all or a portion of the U.S. target business of our Business Combination that we acquired without first obtaining CFIUS approval, which may limit the attractiveness of, or delay or prevent us from pursuing, certain target companies that we believe would otherwise be beneficial to us and our shareholders. In addition, certain types of U.S. businesses may be subject to rules or regulations that limit or impose requirements with respect to foreign ownership. If CFIUS determines it has jurisdiction, CFIUS may decide to recommend a block or delay our initial Business Combination, or require conditions with respect to it, which may delay or prevent us from consummating a potential transaction.
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The process of government review, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy. Because we have only a limited time to complete our Business Combination, our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period may require us to liquidate. If we are unable to consummate our Business Combination by the Combination Period, including as a result of extended regulatory review, we will redeem the Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the Trust Account and 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 event, our shareholders will miss the opportunity to benefit from an investment in a target company and the potential appreciation in value of such investment. There will be no liquidating distributions from our Trust Account with respect to our warrants.
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We have no operating history and are subject to a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution requirement if we do not complete our initial Business Combination by the Combination Period. As such, there is a risk that we will be unable to continue as a going concern if liquidity needs arise or if we do not consummate an initial Business Combination by the applicable deadline and our independent registered public accounting firms report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to effect our initial Business Combination by the deadline, we will be forced to liquidate.
We are a blank check company, and as we have no operating history and are subject to a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution requirement. As of December 31, 20245, $61,0371,481 was available to us outside the Trust Account to fund our working capital requirements. Although the Company plans to complete an initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to consummate an initial Business Combination by such date. If a Business Combination is not consummated by up to March 3, 20267, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Further, the Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its financing and acquisition plans. If the Companys estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence, and negotiating a Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, the Company may have insufficient funds available to operate its business prior to an initial business combination. The liquidation deadline for the Company is also within the next twelve months if an initial Business Combination is not consummated. The Company cannot assure that its plans to consummate an initial Business Combination will be successful.
As a result of the above, in connection with the Companys assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-15, Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entitys Ability to Continue as a Going Concern, management has determined that the liquidity conditions raise substantial doubt about the Companys ability to continue as a going concern through approximately one year from the date of filing. These financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
If the Company is unable to consummate an initial Business Combination by the end of the Combination Period, it 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 earned on the funds held in the Trust Account, less taxes payable up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses, di, 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) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our Board of Directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject, in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants if we fail to complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period.
ITEM IB. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.
None.