New Horizon Aircraft Ltd 10-K, filed Mar 30, 2023
New Horizon Aircraft Ltd. (HOVR)
About this 10-K
New Horizon Aircraft Ltd filed this 10-K on March 30, 2023, covering the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
For
the fiscal year ended
Commission
File Number
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| N/A | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(IRS Employer Identification No.) |
Telephone:
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
N/A
(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
| The Stock Market LLC | ||||
| The Stock Market LLC | ||||
| The Stock Market LLC |
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2)
has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule
405 of Regulation S-T (Section 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the registrant was
required to submit such files).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:
| Large accelerated filer ☐ | Accelerated filer ☐ |
| Smaller
reporting company | |
| Emerging
growth company |
If
an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying
with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness
of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered
public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
As
of June 30, 2022, the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the Registrant’s
securities were
As of March 28, 2023, there were of the registrant’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, of the registrant’s Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 12,065,375 units issued and outstanding.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| 2 |
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS; SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS
Some of the statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may constitute “forward-looking statements.” Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may include, for example, statements about:
| ● | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
| ● | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
| ● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
| ● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by current or anticipated military conflict, including between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally, the COVID-19 pandemic, including new variant strains of the underlying virus, and the status of debt and equity markets. |
| ● | negative interest rate for securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account; |
| ● | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
| ● | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
| ● | our financial performance following the initial public offering. |
| 3 |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. Future developments affecting us may not be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
| ● | Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination. | |
| ● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote. | |
| ● | Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash. | |
| ● | 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. | |
| ● | 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. | |
| ● | 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. | |
| ● | The requirement that we complete an initial business combination within the period to consummate the initial business combination may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which 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. | |
| ● | We may not be able to complete an initial business combination within the period to consummate the initial business combination, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.25 per unit, or less than such amount in certain circumstances. | |
| ● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors and their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares. |
| 4 |
| ● | If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed. | |
| ● | You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies. | |
| ● | 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. | |
| ● | The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. | |
| ● | Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business. | |
| ● | We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate. | |
| ● | Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. | |
| ● | Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions. | |
| ● | Our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,206, or approximately $0.005 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class A ordinary shares. | |
| ● | Since our sponsor paid only approximately $0.005 per share for the founder shares, our officers and directors could potentially make a substantial profit even if we acquire a target business that subsequently declines in value. | |
| ● | 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. | |
| ● | Past performance by our sponsor and our management team including their affiliates and including the businesses referred to herein, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us or in the future performance of any business that we may acquire. |
| 5 |
PART I
Item 1. Business.
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Form 10-K”), references to the “Company” and to “we,” “us,” “our” and refer to Pono Capital Three, Inc.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated on March 11, 2022, as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. On October 14, 2022, we redomiciled in the Cayman Islands. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) and the private placement of the placement units, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination, shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing.
Our management team is led by our Chief Executive Officer, Davin Kazama, an entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in the fields of finance, real estate development, financial advising, and tax-efficient investment strategies. He is a seasoned professional in raising capital from angel investors and venture capitalists alike. Since 2012, Mr. Kazama has been the Founder and Manager of Driven PV LLC, which develops and manages clean energy systems. In this position, he educates and consults parties on clean energy products and the benefits of such products, including tax incentives and business structuring. He also manages relationships with investors and offtakes, oversees maintenance of the Company, and performs accounting responsibilities. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Kazama served as an Advisor to Kai Medical, Inc. In these roles, he was responsible for raising angel and venture capital investment, managing relationships with the investor base, advising investors on tax-efficient strategies, and preparing financial reports. From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Kazama served as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) of Kai Medical, Inc., an award-winning developer of state-of-the-art medical technology. As the Founder and Manager of Kai Clothing LLC from 2004 to 2009, Mr. Kazama established numerous strategic partnerships with some of Hawaii’s most reputable companies and ultimately negotiated the sale of the Company in 2009. Mr. Kazama holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Puget Sound (1998), an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (2003), and a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Extension Studies in Finance at Harvard University (2022). Mr. Kazama’s management experience paired with his entrepreneurial skills in a diverse array of industries makes him a valuable member of our management team and board of directors.
The Company’s sponsor is Mehana Capital LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”). The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 9, 2023. On February 14, 2023, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 10,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000 (see Note 6). The Company granted the underwriter a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 Units at the Initial Public Offering price to cover over-allotments, if any.
Simultaneously with the consummation of the closing of the Offering, the Company consummated the private placement of an aggregate of 511,375 units (the “Placement Units”) to the Sponsor at a price of $10.00 per Placement Unit, generating total gross proceeds of $5,113,750 (the “Private Placement”).
On February 14, 2023, the underwriters exercised the over-allotment option in full, and the closing of the issuance and sale of the additional Units occurred (the “Over-allotment Option Units”). The total aggregate issuance by the Company of 1,500,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit resulted in total gross proceeds of $15,000,000. On February 14, 2023, simultaneously with the sale of the Over-allotment Option Units, the Company consummated the private sale of an additional 54,000 Placement Units, generating gross proceeds of $540,000. The Placement Units were issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as the transactions did not involve a public offering.
A total of $117,875,000, comprised of the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering and the proceeds of private placements that closed on February 14, 2023, net of the underwriting commissions, discounts, and offering expenses, was deposited in a trust account established for the benefit of the Company’s public shareholders.
| 6 |
Our Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify and complete our initial business combination with a company that can benefit from (i) the managerial and operational experience of our management team, (ii) additional capital, and (iii) access to public securities markets. We plan to leverage our management team’s network of growing companies where we believe a combination of our relationships, knowledge and experience in the technology sector could effect a positive transformation or augmentation of existing businesses to improve their overall value.
The Company’s focus is on emerging growth technology companies that are well positioned for the recent changes in how businesses operate or how and what consumers buy. These changes have accelerated over the past year. Industries that fit this well, include but are not limited to, enterprise security and operations applications, cloud-based content and digital streaming services, drone technology and service, AI companies, consumer healthcare and wellness, biomedical technology, entertainment/gaming companies, distance learning, online retail and e-sports companies.
We believe that the way businesses and consumers operate, make decisions, and spend has forever been changed because of the pandemic. These changes have accelerated an already growing digital transformation trend in businesses and reshaped consumer behavior. In particular, we have seen significant changes to distributed work, entertainment, and services that push value points from physical locations to more distant endpoints, most often homes.
There is no geographic limitation to the location of targets, as these types of opportunities are not necessarily bound by geography. We do believe that there are attractive business combination candidates in East Asia, particularly Japan. There are many growing technology companies there that are looking to the US for both opportunities and capital. We believe that a US-based company with a listing and capital would be an ideal fit for one of those companies. Such a connection would unlock value and increase growth opportunities for the right growing technology company.
We have existing relationships with a number of growing companies looking for an opportunity to create liquidity for current investors and currency to acquire other companies. This provides us numerous opportunities and we would be well positioned given the difficulty in bridging technology and/or capital opportunities between the East and West. Further, we believe that the management team and board member’s extensive background, careers, reputations, and relationships in cross border business experience gives us the insight and position to identify the ideal targets for a business combination that creates long-term opportunity and value growth and to complete the business combination.
We believe that many of the companies in our target industries understand the risks of delay and uncertainty in their given markets and would welcome the opportunity to raise capital and have a US public listing sooner. Further, like in many rapidly growing industries, many of these companies operate in fragmented markets and see an opportunity to consolidate and grow value within their vertical through acquisition using their publicly traded stock as a currency.
Our Acquisition Criteria
Our acquisition philosophy is rooted in several core tenets, consistent with those that have been utilized in the past by members of our management team as they have evaluated investment opportunities:
| ● | Large and Growing Addressable Market: Our management team will prioritize investing in large and growing industries that are poised for disruption by new technologies. We look for both large problems amenable to technology solutions as well as businesses able to scale to meet the market. | |
| ● | Proprietary Technology Advantage: We seek businesses protected by proprietary technology advantages, especially scientific breakthroughs and intellectual property. We believe that significant technology innovation provides for years of durable, compounding growth and expanding margins. | |
| ● | Scaling Business with Compelling Growth Opportunity: While we are primarily focused on the topline growth potential, we will seek to acquire a company which has achieved sufficient technology and business maturity while still maintaining significant runway to capture share in a large addressable market. We look for favorable secular trends and attractive unit economics which can be further enhanced as the business grows. | |
| ● | World Class Management Teams: We seek to partner with creative and ambitious management teams that have a track record of success to help them execute their vision. |
| 7 |
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a potential target business, we expect to conduct a comprehensive due diligence review to seek to determine a company’s quality and its intrinsic value. That due diligence review may include, among other things, financial statement analysis, detailed document reviews, technology diligence, multiple meetings with management, consultations with relevant industry and academic experts, competitors, customers and suppliers, as well as a review of additional information that we will seek to obtain as part of our analysis of a target company.
We expect to place significant emphasis on a business combination target’s technology and intellectual property as part of our acquisition evaluation process, consistent with the investment approach of our management team. This due diligence may include the engagement of multiple technical experts across both industry and academia to review the technology, participation in joint due diligence meetings with these technical experts and management, as well as detailed intellectual property due diligence, to determine the nature and quality of a company’s technology innovation.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from either an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, in the event that we seek such a business combination, we expect that the independent members of our board of directors would be involved in the process for considering and approving the transaction.
Members of our management team, including our officers and directors, directly or indirectly own our securities following the Initial Public Offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target company is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors, as well as our management team, may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination, including if the retention or resignation of any such officers, directors, and management team members was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to such business combination.
Each of our directors and officers presently have and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our Company, and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our founder, Sponsor, officers, and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination and their respective participation in any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in respect of determining to which such company a particular business combination opportunity should be presented, particularly in the event there is overlap among the investment mandates of such companies.
| 8 |
Moreover, because our management team has significant experience in identifying and executing multiple acquisition opportunities simultaneously and we are not limited by industry or geography in terms of the acquisition opportunities we can pursue, except with respect to our prohibition from seeking target acquisitions in China and Hong Kong. In addition, our founder, Sponsor, 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.
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we complete one or more initial business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination.
If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business for the post-acquisition company to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires an interest in the target or assets sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for the purposes of a tender offer or for seeking shareholder approval, as applicable.
The net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the placement units released to us from the trust account upon the closing of our initial business combination may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we complete our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemption of our public shares, we may use the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account following the closing for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital. In addition, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination to be used following the closing for general corporate purposes as described above.
| 9 |
There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds through the issuance of equity or equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise. None of our Sponsors, officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. We may also obtain financing prior to the closing of our initial business combination to fund our working capital needs and transaction costs in connection with our search for and completion of our initial business combination.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, following the Initial Public Offering and prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will be prohibited from issuing additional securities that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account; or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares: (a) on any initial business combination, or (b) to approve an amendment to our second amended and restated memorandum of association to: (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or (y) amend the foregoing provisions, unless (in connection with any such amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association) we offer our public shareholders the opportunity to redeem their public shares.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company on February 14, 2023, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock, shares or other equity interests in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost-effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”.) As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved, If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
| 10 |
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the Initial Public Offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time), or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
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 any fiscal year for so long as either (1) the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates did not equal or exceed $250.0 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues did not exceed $100.0 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates did not equal or exceed $700.0 million as of the prior June 30.
Financial Position
With funds available after our Initial Business Combination initially in the amount of $114,425,000 after payment of $3,450,000 of deferred underwriting fees, before fees and expenses associated with our Initial Business Combination (other than deferred underwriting fees), we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt leverage ratio. Because were able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following the Initial Public Offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering, the private placements of the placement units, our equity, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.
| 11 |
Sources of Target Businesses
Our process of identifying acquisition targets will leverage our Sponsor and our management team’s industry experiences, proven deal sourcing capabilities and broad and deep network of relationships in numerous industries, including executives and management teams, private equity groups and other institutional investors, large business enterprises, lenders, investment bankers and other investment market participants, restructuring advisers, consultants, attorneys and accountants, which we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. We expect that the collective experience, capability and network of our Sponsor, our directors and officers, combined with their individual and collective reputations in the investment community, will help to create prospective business combination opportunities.
In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and private investment funds. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read the final prospectus for our Initial Public Offering filed with the SEC and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their respective affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates of which they become aware through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions.
We also expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction; in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our Sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation by the Company prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). None of our Sponsor, executive officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated acquisition of such target by us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from either an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, in the event that we seek such a business combination, we expect that the independent members of our board of directors would be involved in the process for considering and approving the transaction.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our Sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
| 12 |
Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we consummate an initial business combination with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting commissions). The fair market value of our initial business combination will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation, a valuation based on trading multiples of comparable public businesses or a valuation based on the financial metrics of merger and acquisition transactions of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operation.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of fair market value test.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors as described in more detail in our Registration Statement filed on SEC Form S-1.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the initial business combination transaction.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The Company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
| ● | subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and |
| ● | cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services. |
| 13 |
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our second amended and restated memorandum of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
| ● | we issue Class A ordinary shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our Class A ordinary shares then outstanding (other than in a public offering); |
| ● | any of our directors, officers or substantial shareholders (as defined by the Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of ordinary shares could result in an increase in outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 5% or more; or |
| ● | the issuance or potential issuance of ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and legal reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
| ● | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine shareholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek shareholder approval or doing so would place the Company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the Company; |
| ● | the expected cost of holding a shareholder vote; |
| ● | the risk that the shareholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination; |
| ● | other time and budget constraints of the Company; and |
| ● | additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to shareholders. |
| 14 |
Permitted Purchases of Our Securities
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately-negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares or warrants our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. 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. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination.
Subsequent to the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, we have adopted an insider trading policy which requires insiders to: (i) refrain from purchasing our securities during certain blackout periods when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (ii) clear all trades of Company securities with a compliance officer prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases. Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.
The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our Sponsor, officers, directors and/or any of their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately-negotiated purchases by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests tendered by shareholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination. Such persons would select the shareholders from whom to acquire shares based on the number of shares available, the negotiated price per share and such other factors as any such person may deem relevant at the time of purchase. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public shareholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
| 15 |
Any purchases by our Sponsor, officers, directors and/or their respective affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our Sponsor, officers, directors and/or their respective affiliates will not make purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. 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. Additionally, in the event our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates were to purchase shares or warrants 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, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may purchase shares, rights or warrants from public shareholders outside the redemption process, along with the purpose of such purchases; | |
| ● | if our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates were to purchase shares or warrants from public shareholders, they would do so at a price no higher than the price offered through our redemption process; | |
| ● | our registration statement/proxy statement filed for our business combination transaction would include a representation that any of our securities purchased by our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates would not be voted in favor of approving the business combination transaction; | |
| ● | our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of 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 | |
| ● | we would disclose in a Form 8-K, before our security holder meeting to approve the business combination transaction, the following material items: |
| ● | the amount of our securities purchased outside of the redemption offer by our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates, along with the purchase price; | |
| ● | the purpose of the purchases by our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates; | |
| ● | the impact, if any, of the purchases by our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates on the likelihood that the business combination transaction will be approved; | |
| ● | the identities of our security holders who sold to our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of 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, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates; and | |
| ● | the number of our securities for which we have received redemption requests pursuant to our redemption offer. |
| 16 |
Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially $10.25 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters.
The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Our Sponsor, directors and each member of our management have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect 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 have not completed an initial business combination within the period to consummate the initial business combination. However, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the 18-month time period.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $950,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the trust account to pay any tax obligations we may owe. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our Company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our second amended and restated memorandum of association would require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with Nasdaq rules.
| 17 |
If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our second amended and restated memorandum of association:
| ● | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and |
| ● | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holder present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the Company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial shareholders will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our Sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering, in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding ordinary shares voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
These quorums and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial shareholders, may make it more likely that we will complete our initial business combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or whether they were a shareholder on the record date for the shareholder meeting held to approve the proposed transaction. In addition, our Sponsor, directors and each member of our management, have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination.
If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our second amended and restated memorandum of association:
| ● | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and |
| ● | file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, we or our Sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, we will not redeem any public shares unless our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
| 18 |
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we may not redeem our public shares unless our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Shareholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our Initial Public Offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” Such restriction shall also be applicable to our affiliates. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed initial business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in this our without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
Public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the initial business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the initial vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
| 19 |
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the initial business combination was approved, the Company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the initial business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the Company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the Company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the initial business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming shareholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the initial business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (or up to 18 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering at the election of the Company in six separate one month extensions subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, including the deposit of up $379,500 ($0.033 per unit) for each one month extension, into the trust account, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our second amended and restated memorandum of association).
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that we will have only 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering to complete our initial business combination. We may seek an ordinary resolution of the public shareholders for any extension beyond 12 months at a meeting called for such purpose. Public shareholders will be offered the opportunity to vote on and/or redeem their shares in connection with the approval of such extension. Alternatively, or in the event that there is an unsuccessful effort to obtain public shareholder approval for the proposed extensions(s), we may, but are not obligated to, extend the period in which we must complete our initial business combination six times, for an additional one month each time, up to 18 months by depositing into the trust account on or prior to the applicable deadline for each one month extension $379,500 ($0.033 per unit in either case). Public shareholders, in this situation, will not be offered the opportunity to vote on and/or redeem their shares in connection with such extension. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 12-month period (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association), 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released (which shall be net of taxes payable and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), 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, dissolve and liquidate, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) above to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
| 20 |
There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the 12-month time period (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association).
Our Sponsor, directors and each member of our management have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association). However, if our Sponsor, directors or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association).
Our Sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the Initial Public Offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association) or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released (which shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares unless our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $950,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the trust account to pay any tax obligations we may owe. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering, the sale of the placement units, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.25. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.25. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.25. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
| 21 |
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver.
In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Our Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.25 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.25 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. We have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure you that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.25 per public share.
| 22 |
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our Sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our Sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $950,000 from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the placement unit with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.25 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and our Company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association) or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our business combination within 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this Annual Report, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association), subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the initial business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights as described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended by special resolution.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic business combinations. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the initial business combination of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
| 23 |
Employees
We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters, but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the initial business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We have registered our Class A ordinary shares and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, this annual report contains financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.
We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to shareholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023, as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
We filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination.
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act.
As discussed above, we are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
| 24 |
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the Initial Public Offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time), or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at 643 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 and our telephone number is (808) 892-6611.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
As a smaller reporting company, as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, we are not required to provide the information required by this Item. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in this Annual Report are any of the risks described in our final prospectus for our Initial Public Offering filed with the SEC. Any of these factors could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Additional risk factors not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business or results of operations. As of the date of this Annual Report, there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in our final prospectus for our Initial Public Offering filed with the SEC and declared effective by the SEC on February 9, 2023. We may disclose changes to such factors or disclose additional factors from time to time in our future filings with the SEC.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.
Item 2. Properties.
Our executive offices are located at 643 Ilalo Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 and our telephone number is (808) 892-6611. After the Initial Public Offering, we have agreed to pay Mehana Capital LLC, our Sponsor, a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support and the use of this office location is included in such $10,000 monthly payment. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
From time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings relating to claims arising from the ordinary course of business. Our management believes that there are currently no claims or actions pending against us, the ultimate disposition of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not Applicable.
| 25 |
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Market Information
Our units are each traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “PTHRU”. Our units commenced public trading on February 10, 2023.
Holders
On March 28, 2023, there were two holders of record of our units, three holders of record of our Class A ordinary shares, 1 holder of record of our Class B ordinary shares and 0 holders of record of our warrants (on a stand-alone basis, apart from our units).
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
Simultaneously with the closing of our Initial Public Offering, pursuant to the Private Units Purchase Agreement, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 565,375 private units, including 54,000 private units issued in connection with the exercise in full of the underwriters’ over-allotment option (the “Private Units”), to our Sponsor and the underwriters at a purchase price of $10.00 per Private Unit, generating gross proceeds to us of $5,653,750. A total of 565,375 Private Units were purchased by our Sponsor pursuant to that certain Private Units Purchase Agreement. The Private Units are identical to the units sold as part of the units in our Initial Public Offering, except as otherwise disclosed in our prospectus, dated February 9, 2023 (the “Prospectus”), filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) of the Securities Act, on February 10, 2023. The issuance of the Private Units was made pursuant to an exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Use of Proceeds from the Initial Public Offering
As previously reported, on February 14, 2023, Pono Capital Three, Inc. (the “Company”) completed its initial public offering (the “Offering”) of 10,000,000 units (“Units”). Each Unit consists of one share of Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class A ordinary shares”), and one redeemable warrant (“Warrant”), each whole Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A ordinary shares at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, pursuant to the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-268283). The Units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000.
| 26 |
Subsequently, on February 14, 2023, the underwriters exercised the over-allotment option in full and the closing of the issuance and sale of the additional Units occurred (the “Overallotment Option Units”). The total aggregate issuance by the Company of 1,500,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit resulted in total gross proceeds of $15,000,000. On February 14, 2023, simultaneously with the sale of the Overallotment Option Units, the Company consummated the private sale of an additional 54,000 Placement Units, generating gross proceeds of $540,000. The Placement Units were issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as the transactions did not involve a public offering.
No payments for our expenses were made in the Offering described above directly or indirectly to (i) any of our directors, officers or their associates, (ii) any person(s) owning 10% or more of any class of our equity securities or (iii) any of our affiliates, except in connection with the repayment of outstanding loans and pursuant to the administrative support agreement disclosed herein which we entered into with our Sponsor. There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from our Offering as described in our final prospectus filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) related to the Initial Public Offering.
Item 6. Reserved.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
References in this report (the “Annual Report”) to “we,” “us” or the “Company” refer to Pono Capital Three, Inc. References to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our officers and directors, and references to the “Sponsor” refer to Mehana Capital LLC. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Annual Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on March 11, 2022 (subsequently redomiciled in the Cayman Islands on October 14, 2022) formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) and the sale of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase agreements (or backstop agreements we may enter into or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing or other sources.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022 were organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for our Initial Public Offering, described below. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on investments held in our trust account after the Initial Public Offering. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses after the Initial Public Offering.
For the for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, we had a net loss of $8,687, which consisted of formation and operating costs of $8,687.
| 27 |
Liquidity and Capital Resources
For the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, net cash used in operating activities was $10,059, which was due to our net loss of $8,687 and prepaid expenses of $1,372.
For the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, net cash provided by financing activities was $98,336, which was due to the proceeds from the promissory note - related party of $300,000 and the proceeds from the issuance of Class B ordinary shares to the Sponsor of $25,000, partially offset by the payment of offering costs of $226,664.
The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 9, 2023. On February 14, 2023, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 11,500,000 units, (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), including 1,500,000 Units issued pursuant to the exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option in full, generating gross proceeds of $115,000,000, which is discussed in Note 3.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 565,375 units (the “Placement Units”) at a price of $10.00 per Placement Unit in a private placement to Mehana Capital LLC (the “Sponsor”), including 54,000 Placement Units issued pursuant to the exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option in full, generating gross proceeds of $5,653,750, which is described in Note 4.
Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on February 14, 2023, an amount of $117,875,000 ($10.25 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Placement Units was placed in a trust account.
We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and excluding deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay our taxes, if any. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and other income earned on the amounts held in the trust account. We expect the interest earned on the amount in the trust account will be sufficient to pay our taxes. We expect the only taxes payable by us out of the funds in the trust account will be income and franchise taxes, if any. To the extent that our ordinary shares or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following the offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination.
| 28 |
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), which contemplates continuation of the Company as a going concern and the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of the Company’s financing and acquisition plans. Management plans to address this uncertainty with the successful closing of the Business Combination. The Company will have until February 14, 2024 (or up to August 14, 2024, as applicable) to consummate a Business Combination. If a Business Combination is not consummated by February 14, 2024, less than one year after the date these financial statements are issued, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution, raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 14, 2024. The Company intends to complete the initial Business Combination before the mandatory liquidation date. However, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to consummate any Business Combination by February 14, 2024.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of December 31, 2022, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements.
Contractual Obligations
Registration Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares and Placement Units (including securities contained therein) and Units (including securities contained therein) that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans, and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Placement Warrants and any Class A ordinary shares and warrants (and underlying Class A ordinary shares) that may be issued upon conversion of the Units issued as part of the working capital loans and extension loans and Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of the Founder Shares, will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed prior on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering, requiring the Company to register such securities for resale (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion to the Class A ordinary shares). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company registers such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act.
Promissory Notes - Related Party
On April 25, 2022, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Promissory Note”). This loan is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) March 31, 2023 or (ii) the date on which Company consummates the Initial Public Offering. Prior to the Initial Public Offering, the Company had borrowed $300,000 under the Promissory Note. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance under the Promissory Note was $300,000. On February 15, 2023, the outstanding balance under the Promissory Note of $300,000 was repaid.
Underwriters Agreement
Simultaneously with the Initial Public Offering, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 1,500,000 Units at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of $15,000,000.
The underwriters were paid a cash underwriting discount of $0.11 per Unit, or $1,265,000 in the aggregate, upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.30 per unit, or $3,450,000 in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
| 29 |
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company evaluates its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). For derivative financial instruments that are accounted for as liabilities, the derivative instrument is initially recorded at its fair value on the grant date and is then re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations. For derivative instruments that are classified as equity, the derivative instruments are initially measured at fair value (or allocated value), and subsequent changes in fair value are not recognized as long as the contracts continue to be classified in equity.
Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
All of the Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the Units in the Initial Public Offering contain a redemption feature which allows for the redemption of such Public Shares in connection with the Company’s liquidation, if there is a shareholder vote or tender offer in connection with the Business Combination and in connection with certain amendments to the Company’s Amended and Restated Articles of Association. In accordance with ASC 480, conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. Ordinary liquidation events, which involve the redemption and liquidation of all of the entity’s equity instruments, are excluded from the provisions of ASC 480. Although the Company did not specify a maximum redemption threshold, its charter provides that currently, the Company will not redeem its Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets (shareholders’ equity) to be less than $5,000,001. However, the threshold in its charter would not change the nature of the underlying shares as redeemable and thus Public Shares would be required to be disclosed outside of permanent equity. The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of redeemable ordinary shares to equal the redemption value ($10.25 per share) at the end of each reporting period. Such changes are reflected in additional paid-in capital, or in the absence of additional paid-in capital, in accumulated deficit.
Net Loss Per Share
Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding for the period. The calculation of diluted net loss per share does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering and Placement Warrants since the exercise of the warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events.
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt - Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-0) and Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-convened method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 effective March 11, 2022 (inception). The adoption of ASU 2020-06 did not have a material impact on the financial statements.
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
| 30 |
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.
Not required for smaller reporting companies.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2022. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15 (e) and 15d-15 (e) under the Exchange Act) were effective.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Item 9B. Other Information.
Not applicable.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections.
Not applicable.
| 31 |
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Directors and Executive Officers
Our current directors and executive officers are as follows:
| Name | Age | Position | ||
| Davin Kazama | 46 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
| Gary Miyashiro | 54 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
| Dustin Shindo | 49 | Chairman of the Board | ||
| Kotaro Chiba | 48 | Independent Director | ||
| Mike Sayama | 68 | Independent Director | ||
| Trisha Nomura | 43 | Independent Director and Chairwoman of the Audit Committee |
Davin Kazama, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Kazama is an entrepreneur with a wealth of experience in the fields of finance, real estate development, financial advising, and tax-efficient investment strategies. He is a seasoned professional in raising capital from angel investors and venture capitalists alike. Since 2012, Mr. Kazama has been the Founder and Manager of Driven PV LLC, which develops and manages clean energy systems. In this position, he educates and consults parties on clean energy products and the benefits of such products, including tax incentives and business structuring. He also manages relationships with investors and offtakes, oversees maintenance of the company, and performs accounting responsibilities. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Kazama served as an Advisor to Kai Medical, Inc. In these roles, he was responsible for raising angel and venture capital investment, managing relationships with the investor base, advising investors on tax-efficient strategies, and preparing financial reports. From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Kazama served as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) of Kai Medical, Inc., an award-winning developer of state-of-the-art medical technology. As the Founder and Manager of Kai Clothing LLC from 2004 to 2009, Mr. Kazama established numerous strategic partnerships with some of Hawaii’s most reputable companies and ultimately negotiated the sale of the company in 2009. Mr. Kazama holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Puget Sound (1998), an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (2003), and a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Extension Studies in Finance at Harvard University (2022). Mr. Kazama’s management experience paired with his entrepreneurial skills in a diverse array of industries makes him a valuable member of our management team and board of directors.
Gary Miyashiro, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Miyashiro is a skilled Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) with over 30 years of experience. Since January 2011, Mr. Miyashiro has served as a President at MC Group Hawaii, Inc., Manoa Consulting Group’s successor, where he performs professional services to the public in the areas of assurance, taxation, and accounting. He also served as a Member of Manoa Consulting Group, LLC from November 2002 to December 2010, where Mr. Miyashiro performed the same functions. From May 2001 to October 2002, Mr. Miyashiro served as CFO and Treasurer of Island Title Corporation, during which he directed all financial operations and maintained the internal control structure. From March 1999 to April 2001, Mr. Miyashiro then served as Vice President of GE Capital Hawaii, Inc., where he was responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the company’s financial reporting, accounting, and tax operations. From August 1990 to March 1999, Mr. Miyashiro began his career with Grant Thornton LLP where he performed and coordinated financial statement attest services, supervised audits, performed multiple-level consolidations, tax accruals, and the presentation of financial statements. Mr. Miyashiro holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Hawaii Association of Public Accountants, the Hawaii Society of Public Accountants, the National Society of Accountants, and the State of Hawaii Board of Public Accountancy. Mr. Miyashiro’s accounting experience makes him an invaluable asset to the management team.
| 32 |
Dustin Shindo, Chairman of the Board
Mr. Shindo is an entrepreneur, executive, technologist, and a seasoned advisor with more than 25 years of industry experience. Mr. Shindo currently serves as the management member of our Sponsor. Mr. Shindo also currently serves as the managing member of Pono Capital Corp’s Sponsor, Mehana Equity LLC. Mr. Shindo has also been retained for a number of consulting positions since July 2014 for companies working in the health care, travel, technology, construction, and non-profit industries through Mehana LLC. Recently, Mr. Shindo started Joynable Corporation, a software company. Mr. Shindo is also the Vice President and director of Perfect Game Hawaii, a non-profit entity supporting baseball. Mr. Shindo served as the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Junify Corporation from September 2016 to June 2022, a company operating in California and Japan to offer zero trust network access software (software defined border) to help companies better secure their cloud resources. From December 2012 to December 2018, Mr. Shindo served as the Chief Executive Officer of Pono Health based in California, Washington, and Hawaii, where he provided consulting, data management, analytics, and software development services. Pono Health was the primary entity of Pono Corporation, founded in December 2012. Mr. Shindo managed healthcare data for individuals in Hawaii and for clinics in Washington, Oregon and Arizona. Mr. Shindo also developed an analytics platform used to calculate gaps in care, cost savings, and other health metrics.
From March 2001 to March 2010, Mr. Shindo served as the Chief Executive Officer of Hoku Scientific based in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he led the company through an initial public offering on the NASDAQ Global Market and signed customer contracts totaling $2+ billion. From December 1995 to August 1997, Mr. Shindo served as the President of Mehana Brewing Company based in Hilo, Hawaii. In June 1995, Mr. Shindo received his Bachelor of Art’s degree in Accounting/Finance/Marketing at University of Washington based in Seattle, Washington. In May 1999, Mr. Shindo received his Master’s in Business Administration at Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia based in Charlottesville, Virginia. In August 2015, Mr. Shindo completed the SEP program at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Mr. Shindo’s entrepreneurial, executive, and advising experience, paired with his public company experience through Pono Capital Corp, Pono Capital Two, Inc. and Hoku Scientific, make him a valuable member of our board of directors.
Our Independent Directors
Our efforts to seek a suitable business combination target will be complemented and augmented by the expertise and network of relationships of our directors, who each have extensive experience in business and financial matters. In addition to our seasoned executive team, we have assembled a strong group of directors. The board is comprised of five individuals. These individuals bring together a breadth of operating experience, industry connectivity and proprietary access to leading companies that enhance our value proposition. Our board will be a driving force in our efforts to identify a target and effect a business combination and may invest personal capital in the transaction. The Company’s independent director bios are presented here.
Kotaro Chiba, Independent Director
Kotaro Chiba currently serves as an Independent Director of Pono Capital Two, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTWO). Mr. Chiba is also the founder and General Partner of Chiba Dojo Fund, a venture capital based fund in Tokyo focusing its investing on Internet and IOT related start-ups since September 2019. Before launching the Chiba Dojo Fund, Mr. Chiba founded and continues to serve as the General Partner of the Drone Fund since in June 2017. The Drone Fund is a venture capital-based fund in Tokyo focusing its investment on drones and air mobility start-ups. The Drone Fund aims to create a drone and air-mobility enabled society. One of the Drone Fund’s portfolio companies went public on the Tokyo Mothers Market in December 2019—the first drone company to make an initial public offering in Japan. As an angel investor, Mr. Chiba has invested in more than 60 startups and 40 VC funds in Internet markets and other fields. Mr. Chiba also currently serves as Director of various mobility and technology companies, including: Aeronext since April 2017, A.L.I. Technologies, Inc. since December 2017, Prodrone Co. Ltd. since October 2020, teTra aviation since May 2020, and VFR since October 2021.
| 33 |
Prior to that, Mr. Chiba was the co-founder, Executive Vice President and director from January 2009 to July 2016 with COLOPL Inc., which focused on mobile gaming services on smartphone applications as well as VR services and location data analysis consulting services, research service dedicated to smartphones. In 2012, he helped lead the company’s listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Mothers) and then in 2014 led the company to a US$4 billion initial public offering on the Tokyo Exchange market (first section). Prior to that, Mr. Chiba was the founder and director from January 2000 to March 2007 for K Laboratory Inc. (now KLab Inc.) that develops mobile games and online games. Before joining KLab Inc., Mr. Chiba was a mobile web media planner from April 1997 to December 1999 for Recruit Co. Ltd., which is Japan’s largest recruitment company and provides services such as job advertising, temporary staffing, sales promotion, and IT solution.
Since April 2019, Mr. Chiba has been a guest Professor at Keio University, a research-oriented campus located in the city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan where he teaches students to become technology innovators. Mr. Chiba is Keio University, SFC Campus graduate, in March 1997, with a Bachelor of Arts in Environment and Information Studies. He is also the first domestic customer of Honda Jet in Japan and holds a private pilot license (FAA Japan). Mr. Chiba’s extensive experience and knowledge in developing start-ups and working in venture capital provides him with a unique perspective and makes him a valuable addition to our board of directors.
Mike Sayama, Ph.D., Independent Director
Dr. Mike Sayama currently serves as an independent director of AERWINS Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AWIN). Dr. Samaya was formerly the Executive Director of Community First since it was established in July 2016 until January 2021. As the founding executive director, he was responsible for operations, developing a strategic plan for an accountable health community in East Hawaii, community relations, and fund raising. From January 2021 to June 2021, he served as the Director of Strategy to facilitate the transition to a new management team.
From October 2013 to December 2018, Dr. Sayama served as a Vice President at Pono Health and was Director of Learning Health Homes, a project where he was responsible for managing the East Hawaii Independent Physicians Association and implementing a data platform integrating health plan, hospital, and physician data. Dr. Sayama also facilitated the reorganization of EHI and development of its strategic direction. Community First, a 501(c)3 non-profit, which serves as a neutral forum for healthcare stakeholders in East Hawaii, grew out of the Learning Health Homes Initiative.
From August 1997 to October 2013, Dr. Sayama served as a Vice President of the Hawaii Medical Service Association, first in Health Benefits Management and then in Customer Relations. In the first position, he streamlined preauthorization and appeal processes, including the elimination of preauthorization for inpatient admissions without increase in inpatient utilization. In his second position he established call centers in Hilo which stabilized the call center work force and improved the timeliness and accuracy of customer service.
From April 2001 to April 2005, Dr. Sayama was a Director on the City Bank Board, and from April 2005 to April 2009, was a Director on the Boards of Central Pacific Bank and Central Pacific Financial Corporation. He currently serves on the board of Pono Capital Corp.
Regarding education: In May 1975, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Yale University, and in August 1979, his Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology from University of Michigan. In August 1982, Dr. Sayama received his Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology from University of Michigan. He is the author of several books on psychotherapy and Zen Buddhism.
His community service includes having been a Director on the Bay Clinic Board (the Federally Qualified Health Center in East Hawaii) and currently serving as the Abbot of Chozen-ji, International Zen Dojo. Mr. Sayama brings broad knowledge of the healthcare technology industry, as well as prior experience serving as a founding executive director, which makes him a valuable addition to our board of directors.
| 34 |
Trisha Nomura, Independent Director and Chairperson of the Board’s Audit Committee
Trisha Nomura currently serves as an independent director of Pono Capital Two, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTWO). Since July 2018, Ms. Nomura has owned a consulting firm, Ascend Consulting, LLC. Prior to opening her own firm, Ms. Nomura worked in both public accounting and private industry. Ms. Nomura was the Chief Operating Officer of HiHR from July 2015 to December 2016, and the Vice President of Strategic Services from May 2014 to July 2015. Ms. Nomura also served as the Chief People Officer of ProService Hawaii from January 2017 to June 2018. Ms. Nomura began volunteering with the HSCPA since 2010 through the YCPA Squad, has been the Treasurer of Kaneohe Little League since 2013, and is a member of the AICPA, where she was selected to attend the Leadership Academy, has served as an at-large Council member and is now proudly serving on the Association Board of Directors. Ms. Nomura is a CPA, not in public practice, and a CGMA. She is a graduate of Creighton University, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in accounting, and of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she earned her Master of Accountancy degree. Ms. Nomura’s consulting, accounting and management skills and knowledge make her an important addition to our board of directors.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
We have five directors upon completion of the initial Public Offering. Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of shareholders) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq.
The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Kotaro Chiba, will expire at our first annual meeting of shareholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Davin Kazama and Mike Sayama, will expire at our second annual meeting of the shareholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Trisha Nomura and Dustin Shindo, will expire at our third annual meeting of shareholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders until after we complete our initial business combination.
Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in the Initial Public Offering, our Sponsor, upon completion of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our Sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration rights agreement.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to nominate persons to the offices set forth in our second amended and restated memorandum of association as it deems appropriate. Our second amended and restated memorandum of association provides that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board of directors, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Kotaro Chiba, Mike Sayama and Trisha Nomura are “independent directors” as defined in Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules prior to completion of the Initial Public Offering.
| 35 |
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
After the completion of our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the completion of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a corporate governance and nominating committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Kotaro Chiba, Mike Sayama and Trisha Nomura will serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Kotaro Chiba, Mike Sayama and Trisha Nomura meet the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. Trisha Nomura will serve as the chairwoman of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate, and our board of directors has determined that Ms. Nomura qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules. We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
| ● | appointing, compensating and overseeing our independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | reviewing and approving the annual audit plan for the Company; |
| ● | overseeing the integrity of our financial statements and our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; |
| ● | discussing the annual audited financial statements and unaudited quarterly financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed; |
| ● | appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints (including anonymous complaints) we receive concerning accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters or potential violations of law; |
| 36 |
| ● | monitoring our environmental sustainability and governance practices; |
| ● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies; |
| ● | approving audit and non-audit services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | discussing earnings press releases and financial information provided to analysts and rating agencies; |
| ● | discussing with management our policies and practices with respect to risk assessment and risk management; |
| ● | reviewing any material transaction between our Chief Financial Officer that has been approved in accordance with our Code of Ethics for our officers, and providing prior written approval of any material transaction between us and our President; and |
| ● | producing an annual report for inclusion in our proxy statement, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. |
The audit committee is a separately designated standing committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Exchange Act.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Kotaro Chiba, Mike Sayama, and Trisha Nomura. Mike Sayama will serve as chairman of the compensation committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of each of Messrs. Chiba and Sayama and Ms. Nomura is independent. We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
| ● | reviewing and approving corporate goals and objectives relevant to our President’s compensation, evaluating our President’s performance in light of those goals and objectives, and setting our President’s compensation level based on this evaluation; |
| ● | setting salaries and approving incentive compensation and equity awards, as well as compensation policies, for all other officers who file reports of their ownership, and changes in ownership, of the Company’s ordinary shares under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act (the “Section 16 Officers”), as designated by our board of directors; |
| ● | making recommendations to the board of directors with respect to incentive compensation programs and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval; |
| ● | approving any employment or severance agreements with our Section 16 Officers; |
| ● | granting any awards under equity compensation plans and annual bonus plans to our President and the Section 16 Officers; |
| ● | approving the compensation of our directors; and |
| ● | producing an annual report on executive compensation for inclusion in our proxy statement, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. |
| 37 |
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, other than the payment to Mehana Capital LLC, our Sponsor, of $10,000 per month, for up to 12 months (or up to 18 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering at the election of the Company in six separate one month extensions subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, including the deposit of up to $379,500 ($0.033 per unit) for each one month extension, into the trust account, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our second amended and restated memorandum of association), for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support, no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our existing shareholders, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate the consummation of an initial business combination. Accordingly, it is likely that prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, the compensation committee will only be responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with such initial business combination.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
We have established a corporate governance and nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our corporate governance and nominating committee are Kotaro Chiba, Mike Sayama and Trisha Nomura. Kotaro Chiba will serve as chairman of the corporate governance and nominating committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards, we are required to have a corporate governance and nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Messrs. Chiba and Sayama and Ms. Nomura is independent.
The primary function of the corporate governance and nominating committee include:
| ● | identifying individuals qualified to become members of the board of directors and making recommendations to the board of directors regarding nominees for election; |
| ● | reviewing the independence of each director and making a recommendation to the board of directors with respect to each director’s independence; |
| ● | developing and recommending to the board of directors the corporate governance principles applicable to us and reviewing our corporate governance guidelines at least annually; |
| ● | making recommendations to the board of directors with respect to the membership of the audit, compensation and corporate governance and nominating committees; |
| ● | overseeing the evaluation of the performance of the board of directors and its committees on a continuing basis, including an annual self-evaluation of the performance of the corporate governance and nominating committee; |
| ● | considering the adequacy of our governance structures and policies, including as they relate to our environmental sustainability and governance practices; |
| ● | considering director nominees recommended by shareholders; and |
| ● | reviewing our overall corporate governance and reporting to the board of directors on its findings and any recommendations. |
| 38 |
Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees
The guidelines for selecting director nominees, which is specified in the charter adopted by us, generally provides that person to be nominated:
| ● | should possess personal qualities and characteristics, accomplishments and reputation in the business community; |
| ● | should have current knowledge and contacts in the communities in which we do business and, in our industry, or other industries relevant to our business; |
| ● | should have the ability and willingness to commit adequate time to the board of directors and committee matters; |
| ● | should demonstrate ability and willingness to commit adequate time to the board of directors and committee matters; |
| ● | should possess the fit of the individual’s skills and personality with those of other directors and potential directors in building a board of directors that is effective, collegial and responsive to our needs; and |
| ● | should demonstrate diversity of viewpoints, background, experience, and other demographics, and all aspects of diversity in order to enable the board of directors to perform its duties and responsibilities effectively, including candidates with a diversity of age, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. |
Each year in connection with the nomination of candidates for election to the board of directors, the corporate governance and nominating committee will evaluate the background of each candidate, including candidates that may be submitted by our shareholders.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics and our audit committee charter as exhibits to the registration statement. You are able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us.
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. We may pay consulting, finder or success fees to our initial shareholders, officers, directors or their affiliates for assisting us in consummating our initial business combination. In addition, our initial shareholders, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management, or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our shareholders. The amount of such compensation may not be known at the time of a shareholder meeting held to consider an initial business combination, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. In this event, such compensation will be publicly disclosed at the time of its determination in a Current Report on Form 8-K, as required by the SEC.
Since our formation, we have not granted any stock options or stock appreciation rights or any other awards under long-term incentive plans to any of our executive officers or directors.
| 39 |
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters.
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our Class A ordinary shares, and assuming no purchase of public shares in the Initial Public Offering, by:
| ● | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding ordinary shares; |
| ● | each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns ordinary shares; and |
| ● | all our executive officers and directors as a group. |
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our ordinary shares beneficially owned by them.
Our Sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,206, or approximately $0.005 per share, in exchange for the issuance of 2,875,000 founder shares on May 17, 2022 and for the issuance of an additional 2,060,622 founder shares on December 22, 2022. Prior to the initial investment in the Company of $25,000 by our Sponsor, the Company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per unit price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the Company by the number of founder shares issued.
| Class A Ordinary Shares | Class B Ordinary Shares | Approximate Percentage | ||||||||||||||||||
| Name and Address of Beneficial Owner (1) | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned(2) | Approximate Percentage of Class | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned(2) | Approximate Percentage of Class |
of Outstanding Ordinary Shares | |||||||||||||||
| Mehana Capital LLC(3) | 565,375 | 4.60 | % | 4,935,622 | 100 | % | 3.86 | % | ||||||||||||
| Davin Kazama | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| Gary Miyashiro | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| Dustin Shindo(3) | 565,375 | 4.60 | % | 4,935,622 | 100 | % | 3.86 | % | ||||||||||||
| Kotaro Chiba | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| Mike Sayama | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| Trisha Nomura | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| All executive officers and directors as a group (6 individuals) | 565,375 | 4.60 | % | 4,935,622 | 100 | % | 28.86 | % | ||||||||||||
| Space Summit Capital LLC (4) | 670,000 | 5.83 | % | - | - | 3.91 | % | |||||||||||||
| Wealthspring Capital LLC (5) | 1,488,835 | 12.3 | % | — | — | 8.70 | % | |||||||||||||
| Matthew Simpson (5) | 1,488,835 | 12.3 | % | — | — | 8.70 | % | |||||||||||||
| David Gallers (5) | 1,488,835 | 12.3 | % | — | — | 8.70 | % | |||||||||||||
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of these entities and individuals is 643 Ilalo Street, #102, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.
(2) Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as shares of Class B ordinary shares, as well as private placement shares after the Initial Public Offering. Founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment.
(3) Mehana Capital LLC, our Sponsor, is the record holder of the securities reported herein. Dustin Shindo is the control person of our Sponsor, and possesses all voting power and dispositive control. By virtue of this relationship, Dustin Shindo may be deemed to share beneficial ownership of the securities held of record by our Sponsor. Dustin Shindo disclaims any such beneficial ownership except to the extent of his respective pecuniary interest.
(4) The beneficial ownership is based on the latest available filing made with the SEC on Schedule 13G on March 2, 2023 and consists of 671,100 shares of Pono Three’s Class A ordinary shares. To the best of Pono Three’s knowledge, Space Summit Capital LLC, owns and controls 5.83% of the outstanding Public Shares. The address of Space Summit Capital LLC is 15455 Albright Street, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.
(5) The beneficial ownership is based on the latest available filing made with the SEC on Schedule 13G on March 9, 2023 and consists of 1,488,835 shares of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares. To the best of Pono Three’s knowledge, Wealthspring Capital LLC, Matthew Simpson, and David Gallers own and control 12.3% of the outstanding Public Shares. The address of Wealthspring Capital LLC, Matthew Simpson, and David Gallers is 2 Westchester Park Drive, Suite 108, West Harrison, NY 10604.
| 40 |
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
On May 17, 2022, our Sponsor acquired 2,875,000 founder shares, and on December 22, 2022, our Sponsor acquired an additional 2,060,622 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,206, or approximately $0.005 per share. Such Class B ordinary shares includes an aggregate of up to 643,777 shares that were subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment was not exercised in full or in part, so that the Sponsor would collectively own at least 30% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Offering (assuming the initial shareholders did not purchase any Public Shares in the Offering and excluding the Placement Units and underlying securities). The underwriters exercised the over-allotment option in full so those shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
The initial shareholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Class B ordinary shares (except to certain permitted transferees) until, with respect to any of the Class B ordinary shares, the earlier of (i) six months after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination, or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company’s ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after a Business Combination, with respect to the remaining any of the Class B ordinary shares, upon six months after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination, or earlier, in each case, if, subsequent to a Business Combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
On April 25, 2022, the Sponsor committed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). The Note was non-interest bearing and was payable on the earlier of March 31, 2023 or the completion of the Initial Public Offering. As of December 31, 2022, there was $300,000 in borrowings outstanding under the Note. Upon Initial Public Offering, the Company had repaid the full amount of $300,000 under the Note.
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor may provide us with a loan to the Company up to $1,500,000 as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). Such Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted upon consummation of a Business Combination into additional Placement Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. As of December 31, 2022, there were no amounts outstanding under any Working Capital Loans.
If the Company anticipates that it may not be able to consummate the initial Business Combination within 12 months of the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company may, by resolution of the board if requested by the Sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a Business Combination up to six times, each by an additional one month (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a Business Combination), subject to the Sponsor depositing additional funds into the trust account as set out below. Pursuant to the terms of the Second Amended and Restated Memorandum of Association and the trust agreement entered into between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, in order for the time available for the Company to consummate the initial Business Combination to be extended, the Sponsor or its affiliates or designees, must deposit into the Trust Account $379,500 with the underwriters’ over-allotment option exercised in full ($0.033 per unit in either case), on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each of the available six month extensions, providing a total possible Business Combination period of 18 months at a total payment value of $2,277,000 with the underwriters’ over-allotment option exercised in full ($0.033 per unit). Any such payments would be made in the form of a loan. Any such loans will be non-interest bearing and payable upon the consummation of a Business Combination out of the proceeds of the trust account released to it.
| 41 |
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees of Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Form S-1 for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the period from March 11, 2022 (date of inception) to the Initial Public Offering totaled approximately $99,910. The aggregate fees of Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements and other required filings with the SEC for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) to December 31, 2022 totaled approximately $46,350. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. During the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) to December 31, 2022, we did not pay Marcum any audit-related fees.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax return services, planning and tax advice for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) to December 31, 2022.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for any other services for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) to December 31, 2022.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
| 42 |
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statements, and Schedules.
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this report:
(1) Financial Statements:
(2) Financial Statement Schedules:
All financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the amounts are immaterial and not required, or the required information is presented in the financial statements and notes beginning on F-1 on this Report.
(3) Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be obtained from the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
Not applicable.
| 43 |
EXHIBIT INDEX
| * | Filed herewith. |
| ** | Furnished herewith. |
| (1) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form S-1, filed with the SEC on November 10, 2022. |
| (2) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on February 15, 2023. |
| 44 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
| F-1 |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
Pono Capital Three, Inc.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Pono Capital Three, Inc. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2022, the related statements of operations, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Explanatory Paragraph – Going Concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully described in Note 1 to the financial statements, if the Company is unable to complete a business combination by February 14, 2024, then the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ Marcum LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2022.
PCAOB ID Number: 688
March 29, 2023
| F-2 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
BALANCE SHEET
DECEMBER 31, 2022
| Assets: | ||||
| Current assets: | ||||
| Cash | $ | |||
| Prepaid expenses | ||||
| Total current assets | ||||
| Deferred offering costs | ||||
| Total Assets | $ | |||
| Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity: | ||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||
| Accrued offering costs | $ | |||
| Promissory note - related party | ||||
| Total Liabilities | ||||
| Commitments and Contingencies (Note 6) | ||||
| Shareholders’ Equity: | ||||
| Preference shares, $ par value; shares authorized; shares issued and outstanding | ||||
| Class A ordinary shares, $ par value; shares authorized; shares issued and outstanding | ||||
| Class B ordinary shares, $ par value; shares authorized; issued and outstanding (1) | ||||
| Additional paid-in capital | ||||
| Subscription receivable | ( | ) | ||
| Accumulated deficit | ( | ) | ||
| Total shareholders’ equity | ||||
| Total Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity | $ |
| (1) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
| F-3 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM MARCH 11, 2022 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022
| Formation costs and operating costs | $ | |||
| Net loss | $ | ( | ) | |
| Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted(1) | ||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | $ | ( | ) |
| (1) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
| F-4 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
FOR THE PERIOD FROM MARCH 11, 2022 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022
| Class B Ordinary Shares | Additional Paid-in | Subscription | Accumulated | Total Shareholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Capital | Receivable | Deficit | Equity | |||||||||||||||||||
Balance at March 11, 2022 (inception) | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to Sponsor(1) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | ( | ) | ( | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Balance at December 31, 2022 | $ | | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | $ | ||||||||||||||
| (1) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
| F-5 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM MARCH 11, 2022 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2022
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||
| Net loss | $ | ( | ) | |
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||
| Prepaid expenses | ( | ) | ||
| Net cash used in operating activities | ( | ) | ||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||
| Proceeds from issuance of Class B ordinary shares to Sponsor | ||||
| Proceeds from promissory note - related party | ||||
| Advance from Sponsor for payment of formation costs | ||||
| Repayment to Sponsor for payment of formation costs | ( | ) | ||
| Payment of offering costs | ( | ) | ||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | ||||
| Net Change in Cash | ||||
| Cash - Beginning of period | ||||
| Cash - End of period | $ | |||
| Non-cash investing and financing activities: | ||||
| Deferred offering costs included in accrued offering costs | $ | |||
| Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to Sponsor for subscription receivable | $ | |||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
| F-6 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION, BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND GOING CONCERN
Pono
Capital Three, Inc. (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from March 11, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022 relates to the Company’s formation and initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), which is described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
The
registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 9, 2023. On February 14, 2023,
the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of units, (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary
shares included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), including Units issued pursuant to the exercise of the
underwriter’s over-allotment option in full, generating gross proceeds of $
Simultaneously
with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of units (the “Placement Units”)
at a price of $ per Placement Unit in a private placement to Mehana Capital LLC (the “Sponsor”), including Placement
Units issued pursuant to the exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option in full, generating gross proceeds of $
Following
the closing of the Initial Public Offering on February 14, 2023, an amount of $
Transaction
costs related to the issuances described above amounted to $
The
Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering
and the sale of the Placement Units, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating
a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company
must complete a Business Combination with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least
| F-7 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “Public Shareholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Shareholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $ per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants. With the completion of the Initial Public Offering, the Public Shares subject to redemption are recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”).
The
Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $
If a shareholder vote is not required and the Company does not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will offer such redemption pursuant to the tender offer rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and file tender offer documents containing substantially the same information as would be included in a proxy statement with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination.
The Sponsor has agreed (a) to vote its Class B ordinary shares, the ordinary shares included in the Placement Units and the Public Shares purchased in the Initial Public Offering in favor of a Business Combination, (b) not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association with respect to the Company’s pre-Business Combination activities prior to the consummation of a Business Combination unless the Company provides dissenting Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment; (c) not to redeem any shares (including the Class B ordinary shares) and Placement Units (including underlying securities) into the right to receive cash from the Trust Account in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a Business Combination (or to sell any shares in a tender offer in connection with a Business Combination if the Company does not seek shareholder approval in connection therewith) or a vote to amend the provisions of the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association relating to shareholders’ rights of pre-Business Combination activity and (d) that the Class B ordinary shares and Placement Units (including underlying securities) shall not participate in any liquidating distributions upon winding up if a Business Combination is not consummated. However, the Sponsor will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any Public Shares purchased in the Initial Public Offering if the Company fails to complete its Business Combination.
| F-8 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to the Company, if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the Trust Account to below $ per share, 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 the Company’s indemnity of the underwriter of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except for the Company’s independent registered accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.
Going Concern and Liquidity
Prior
to the completion of the Initial Public Offering, the Company lacked the liquidity it needed to sustain operations for a reasonable period
of time, which is considered to be one year from the issuance date of the financial statements. The Company has since completed its Initial
Public Offering at which time capital in excess of the funds deposited in the Trust Account and/or used in fund offering expenses was
released to the Company for general working capital purposes. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a
Business Combination, the Sponsor may provide us up to $
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), which contemplates continuation of the Company as a going concern and the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of the Company’s financing and acquisition plans. Management plans to address this uncertainty with the successful closing of the Business Combination. The Company will have until February 14, 2024 (or up to August 14, 2024, as applicable) to consummate a Business Combination. If a Business Combination is not consummated by February 14, 2024, less than one year after the date these financial statements are issued, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution, raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 14, 2024. The Company intends to complete the initial Business Combination before the mandatory liquidation date. However, there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to consummate any Business Combination by February 14, 2024.
| F-9 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these financial statements. These financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Additionally, as a result of the military action commenced in February 2022 by the Russian Federation and Belarus in the country of Ukraine and related economic sanctions, the Company’s ability to consummate a Business Combination, or the operations of a target business with which the Company ultimately consummates a Business Combination, may be materially and adversely affected. Further, the Company’s ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by these events, including as a result of increased market volatility, or decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to the Company or at all. The impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy and the specific impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations and/or ability to consummate a Business Combination are not yet determinable. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
NOTE 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements of the Company are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
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 election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s 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.
| F-10 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of December 31, 2022.
Offering Costs associated with the Initial Public Offering
Upon closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company complied with the requirements of ASC 340-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 5A - Expenses
of Offering. Offering costs consisted principally of professional and registration fees incurred through the balance
sheet date that are related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs directly attributable to the issuance of an equity
contract to be classified in equity were recorded as a reduction in equity. Offering costs for equity contracts that are classified as
assets and liabilities were expensed immediately. As of the Initial Public Offering, the Company incurred offering costs amounting to $
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under ASC Topic 740, Income Taxes (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statements and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. ASC 740 also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition. Based on the Company’s evaluation, it has been concluded that there are no significant uncertain tax positions requiring recognition in the Company’s financial statements.
| F-11 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The
Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were
All
of the Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the Units in the Initial Public Offering contain a redemption feature which allows for
the redemption of such Public Shares in connection with the Company’s liquidation, if there is a shareholder vote or tender offer
in connection with the Business Combination and in connection with certain amendments to the Company’s Amended and Restated Articles
of Association. In accordance with ASC 480, conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that
feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain
events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. Ordinary liquidation events, which involve
the redemption and liquidation of all of the entity’s equity instruments, are excluded from the provisions of ASC 480. Although
the Company did not specify a maximum redemption threshold, its charter provides that currently, the Company will not redeem its Public
Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets (shareholders’ equity) to be less than $
Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding for the period. The calculation of diluted loss per share does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering and Placement Warrants (as defined in Note 4) since the exercise of the warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial
instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution
which, at times may exceed the Federal depository insurance coverage of $
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement, approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheets, primarily due to their short-term nature.
Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company evaluates its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). For derivative financial instruments that are accounted for as liabilities, the derivative instrument is initially recorded at its fair value on the grant date and is then re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations. For derivative instruments that are classified as equity, the derivative instruments are initially measured at fair value (or allocated value), and subsequent changes in fair value are not recognized as long as the contracts continue to be classified in equity.
| F-12 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Warrants
The Company accounts for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in ASC 480 and ASC 815. The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own ordinary shares, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding.
For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as liabilities at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations.
The Public Warrants and Private Placement Warrants are not precluded from equity classification, and are accounted for as such on the date of issuance, and will be on each balance sheet date thereafter. As the warrants are equity classified, they are initially measured at fair value (or allocated value). Subsequent changes in fair value are not recognized as long as the warrants continue to be classified as equity.
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 effective March 11, 2022 (inception). The adoption of ASU 2020-06 did not have a material impact on the financial statements.
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
| F-13 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 3. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
The
registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 9, 2023. On February 14, 2023,
the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of Units, including Units issued pursuant to the exercise of the
underwriters’ over-allotment option in full, generating gross proceeds of $
NOTE 4. PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously
with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of Placement Units at a price of $ per
Placement Units, in a private placement to the Sponsor, including Placement Units issued pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters’
over-allotment option in full, generating gross proceeds of $
NOTE 5. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On
May 17, 2022, the Sponsor paid an aggregate of $
The Sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Class B ordinary shares (except to certain permitted transferees as disclosed herein) until, with respect to any of the Class B ordinary shares, the earlier of (i) six months after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination, or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company’s ordinary shares equals or exceeds $ per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after a Business Combination, with respect to the remaining any of the Class B ordinary shares, upon six months after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination, or earlier, in each case, if, subsequent to a Business Combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
| F-14 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Promissory Note - Related Party
On
April 25, 2022, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $
Administrative Support Agreement
The
Company’s Sponsor has agreed, commencing from the date of the Initial Public Offering through the earlier of the Company’s
consummation of a Business Combination and its liquidation, to make available to the Company certain general and administrative services,
including office space, utilities and administrative services, as the Company may require from time to time. The Company has agreed to
pay to Mehana Capital LLC, the Sponsor, $
Related Party Loans
In
order to finance transaction costs in connection with the initial Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or
certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required. If the
Company completes the initial Business Combination, the Company will repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial Business
Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned
amounts, including the repayment of loans from the Sponsor to pay for any amount deposited to pay for any extension of the time to complete
the initial Business Combination, but no proceeds from the Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $
NOTE 6. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement
The holders of the Founder Shares and Placement Units (including securities contained therein) and Units (including securities contained therein) that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans, and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Placement Warrants and any Class A ordinary shares and warrants (and underlying Class A ordinary shares) that may be issued upon conversion of the Units issued as part of the working capital loans and extension loans and Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of the Founder Shares, will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed prior on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering, requiring the Company to register such securities for resale (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion to the Class A ordinary shares). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company registers such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act.
| F-15 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Underwriting Agreement
Simultaneously
with the Initial Public Offering, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase an additional Units
at an offering price of $ per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of $
The
underwriters were paid a cash underwriting discount of $ per Unit, or $
Representative Shares
Upon closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company issued Class A ordinary shares to the underwriters. The underwriters have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell the Representative Shares until the completion of the initial Business Combination. In addition, the underwriters have agreed (i) to waive its redemption rights with respect to the Representative Shares in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination and (ii) to waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the Representative Shares if the Company fails to complete its initial Business Combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months if the Company extends such period) from the closing of the Initial Public Offering.
The Representative Shares are subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days immediately following the commencement of sales of the registration statement pursuant to Rule 5110(e)(1) of FINRA’s NASD Conduct Rules. Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1), these securities may not be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated or the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put or call transaction that would result in the economic disposition of the securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statement, nor may they be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated for a period of 180 days immediately following the commencement of sales of the Initial Public Offering except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the Initial Public Offering and their bona fide officers or partners, registered persons or affiliates or as otherwise permitted under Rule 5110(e)(2).
Subsequent
to the Initial Public Offering, the initial measurement of the fair value of the Representative Shares was determined using the
market approach to value the subject interest. Based on the indication of fair value using the market approach, the Company
determined the fair value of the Representative Shares to be $per
share or $(for
the
Representative Shares issued) as of the date of the Initial Public Offering (which is also the grant date). As a result, $
Right of First Refusal
For a period beginning on the closing of the Initial Public Offering and ending 12 months from the closing of a Business Combination, the Company has granted EF Hutton a right of first refusal to act as lead-left book running manager and lead left manager for any and all future private or public equity, convertible and debt offerings during such period. In accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g)(3)(A)(i), such right of first refusal shall not have a duration of more than three years from the effective date of the registration statement of which the company’s prospectus forms a part.
NOTE 7. SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Preference shares — The Company is authorized to issue preference shares with a par value of $ per share, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of December 31, 2022, there were preference shares issued or outstanding.
| F-16 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Class
A ordinary shares — The Company is authorized to issue Class A ordinary shares with a par value of $
per share.
Class
B ordinary shares — The Company is authorized to issue Class B ordinary shares with a par value of $ per
share.
Warrants
— As of December 31, 2022, no warrants are currently outstanding. Each whole Public Warrant entitles the registered holder
to purchase one Class A ordinary shares at a price of $
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of the initial Business Combination, the Company will use its best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the Public Warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of the initial Business Combination, Public Warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise Public Warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with 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 Public Warrants on a cashless basis.
Once the Public Warrants become exercisable, the Company may call the Public Warrants for redemption:
| ● | in whole and not in part; | |
| ● | at
a price of $ | |
| ● | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption given after the Public Warrants become exercisable (the “30-day redemption period”) to each Public Warrant holder; and | |
| ● | if,
and only if, the reported last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $ |
| F-17 |
PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
If and when the Public Warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may not exercise the redemption right if the issuance of Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of the Public Warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or the Company is unable to effect such registration or qualification.
The Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants except that, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by the Company, (ii) they (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these Placement Warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the Sponsor until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) the holders thereof (including with respect to Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such Placement Warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
The
Company accounts for the
NOTE 8. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the financial statement was issued. Based upon this review, other than as previously disclosed and described below, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
On February 14, 2023, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering (see Note 3.)
On
February 15, 2023, the outstanding balance under the Promissory Note of $
| F-18 |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Section 13 or 15 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on the 29th day of March, 2023.
| PONO CAPITAL THREE, INC. | ||
| By: | /s/ Davin Kazama | |
| Davin Kazama | ||
| Chief Executive Officer | ||
In accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Name | Position | Date | ||
| /s/ Davin Kazama | Chief Executive Officer | March 29, 2023 | ||
| Davin Kazama | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
| /s/ Gary Miyashiro | Chief Financial Officer | March 29, 2023 | ||
| Gary Miyashiro | (Principal Financial Officer) | |||
| /s/ Dustin Shindo | Chairman of the Board | March 29, 2023 | ||
| Dustin Shindo | ||||
| /s/ Kotaro Chiba | Independent Director | March 29, 2023 | ||
| Kotaro Chiba | ||||
| /s/ Mike Sayama | Independent Director | March 29, 2023 | ||
| Mike Sayama | ||||
| /s/ Trisha Nomura | Independent Director | March 29, 2023 | ||
| Trisha Nomura |
| 45 |
Exhibit 4.5
DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES
REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION1 12 OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
The
following summary of the registered securities of Pono Capital Three, Inc. does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety
by reference to our memorandum and articles of association, as amended, (“Articles”) which
are incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit is a part, and certain provisions
of Cayman Islands law. Unless the context requires otherwise, all references to the “Company,” “we,” “our,”
and “us” in this Exhibit refer to Pono Capital Three, Inc.
Pursuant to our Articles, our authorized share capital consists of 100,000,000 Class A Shares, $0.0001 par value (“Class A Shares”), 10,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value (the “Class B Shares” and together with the Class A Shares, the “Ordinary Shares”), and 1,000,000 preference shares, $0.0001 par value. The following description summarizes the material terms of our shares. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.
Units
In our initial public offering, which closed on February 14, 2023 (our “Initial Public Offering”), we issued units with an offering price of $10.00 per unit, each unit consisted of one Class A Share and one redeemable warrant. Only whole warrants are exercisable. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A Share for an initial exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The underwriters exercised the over-allotment option in full and the closing of the issuance and sale of the additional Units occurred. We issued a total of 11,500,000 units in our Initial Public Offering which includes units issuable upon the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
Ordinary Shares
Prior to our initial public offering, there were 4,935,622 Class B Shares issued and outstanding, all of which were held of record by our initial shareholders, so that our initial shareholders will own 32.25% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering and the expiration of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units. Upon the closing of our initial public offering, 17,104,497 of our Ordinary Shares are outstanding including:
| ● | 11,500,000 Class A Shares underlying the units issued as part of our Initial Public Offering; | |
| ● | 565,375 placement shares issued to our sponsor, Mehana Capital, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering; | |
| ● | 103,500 representative shares issued to EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments, LLC, upon exercising of the underwriters’ over-allotment option; and | |
| ● | 4,935,622 Class B Shares held by our initial shareholders. |
Ordinary shareholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by shareholders. Except as described below, holders of Class A Shares and holders of Class B Shares will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders except as required by law. Unless specified in Articles, or as required by applicable provisions of the Cayman Companies Act, as amended, (the “Companies Act”) or applicable share exchange rules, an Ordinary Resolution (as defined in our Articles) is required to approve any such matter voted on by our shareholders. Approval of certain actions will require a Special Resolution (as defined in our Articles); such actions include amending our Articles, reducing our share capital, continuations out and approving a statutory merger or consolidation with another company. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the appointment of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares voted for the appointment of directors can appoint all of the directors. Our shareholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor. Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B Shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our Class A Shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B Shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason by Ordinary Resolution. The provisions of our Articles governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a Special Resolution passed by not less than 90% of our Ordinary Shares who attend and vote at our general meeting. Additionally, in a vote to continue the Company in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands (which requires a Special Resolution), holders of our Class B Shares will have ten votes for every Class B Share and holders of our Class A Shares will have one vote for every Class A Share.
Because our Articles authorizes the issuance of up to 100,000,000 Class A Shares, if we were to enter into a business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such a business combination) be required to increase the number of Class A Shares that we will be authorized to issue at the same time as our shareholders vote on the business combination to the extent we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.
In accordance with the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to appoint directors. We may not hold an annual general meeting to appoint new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our Class B Shares by Ordinary Resolution. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B Shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason by Ordinary Resolution.
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A Shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding Class A shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account was initially $10.25 per Class A Share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial owner must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any Class B Shares and Class A Shares held by hem in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our Articles (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A Shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our Class A Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by the Termination Date (as defined below) or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A Shares.
Unlike many blank check companies that hold shareholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of Class A Shares for cash upon the completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by law, if a shareholder vote is not required by applicable law or share exchange listing requirements and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our Articles, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination. Our Articles requires these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, a shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or share exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an Ordinary Resolution. However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions, if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public shareholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. Our Articles require that at least five clear days’ notice will be given of any general meeting.
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, then, pursuant to our Articles, 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 United States Exchange Act (“Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares in excess of an amount equal to 15% of the Class A shares issued in our Initial Public Offering (“Excess Shares”), without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Our shareholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such shareholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such shareholders will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And, as a result, such shareholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, would be required to sell their shares in open market transactions in order to dispose such shares, potentially at a loss.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an Ordinary Resolution. In such case, our initial shareholders have agreed to vote their Class B Shares and Class A Shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ Class B Shares and Class A Shares, we would need no additional shares (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), and we would need 2,643,391 or 26.43% (assuming all of our Ordinary Shares are voted, the over-allotment option is not exercised, the initial shareholders do not purchase any units in this offering or units or shares in the after-market and the representative shares are voted against of the initial business combination), of the 10,000,000 Class A Shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their Class A Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all.
Pursuant to our Articles if we have not consummated an initial business combination by the Termination Date, 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 Class A Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding Class A 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 the requirements of other applicable law. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any Class B Shares they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination by the Termination Date (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any Class A Shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame). However, if our sponsor, our directors, our directors, our advisers, EF Hutton, or any of their respective affiliates acquire Class A Shares after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such Class A Shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period. Our Articles provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our Articles provide that the “Termination Date” is the date that is 12 months after the closing of the Initial Public Offering, which is February 12, 2024 (or up to 18 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, which is August 12, 2024, at the election of the Company pursuant to six one month extensions subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, including the deposit of up to $330,000 or $379,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($0.033 per unit in either case) for such one month extension, into the trust account, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our Articles).
In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after a business combination, our shareholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of shares, if any, having preference over the Ordinary Shares. Our shareholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the Ordinary Shares, except that we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A Shares for cash at a per share price equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding Class A Shares, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.
Class B Shares and Placement Shares
The Class B Shares and placement shares are identical to the Class A Shares included in the units being sold in this offering, and holders of Class B Shares and placement shares have the same shareholder rights as public shareholders, except that (i) the Class B Shares and placement shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below, (ii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (A) to waive their redemption rights with respect to any Class B Shares, placement shares and any Class A Shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (B) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Class B Shares, placement shares, and Class A Shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our Articles to (i) modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide for the redemption of our Class A Shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our Class A Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by the Termination Date or (ii) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (C) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any Class B Shares or placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination by the Termination Date, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any Class A Shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such time period, (iii) the Class A Shares are shares of our Class B Shares that will automatically convert into our Class A Shares at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights as described herein and (iv) are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and its permitted transferees will agree) pursuant to the letter agreement to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination.
In the case that additional Class A Shares or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, the number of Class A Shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B Shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, approximately 30% of the sum of the total number of all Class A Shares outstanding upon the completion of this offering (without giving effect to the private placement and assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and the Class A Shares to be issued to the representative as compensation), plus the total number of Class Shares issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A Shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A Shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement-equivalent units issued to our sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans; provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one for one basis. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B Shares at the time of any future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B Shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our Class A Shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B Shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason by Ordinary Resolution. These provisions of our Articles may only be amended by a Special Resolution passed by not less than 90% of our Ordinary Shares who attend and vote at our general meeting. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except as required by law, holders of our Class B Shares and holders of our Class A Shares will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.
Register of Members
Under Cayman Islands law, we must keep a register of members and there will be entered therein:
| ● | the names and addresses of the members, with a statement of the shares held by each member and of the statement shall: | |
| ● | distinguish each share by its number (so long as the share has a number); | |
| ● | confirm the amount paid, or agreed to be considered as paid on the shares of each members; | |
| ● | confirm the number and category of shares held by each member; | |
| ● | confirm whether each relevant category of shares held by a member carries voting rights under the Articles, and if so, whether such voting rights are conditional; | |
| ● | whether there are voting rights attached to the shares in issue; | |
| ● | the date on which the name of any person was entered on the register as a member; and | |
| ● | the date on which any person ceased to be a member. |
Under Cayman Islands law, the register of members of our company is prima facie evidence of the matters set out therein (i.e., the register of members will raise a presumption of fact on the matters referred to above unless rebutted) and a member registered in the register of members will be deemed as a matter of Cayman Islands law to have legal title to the shares as set against its name in the register of members. However, there are certain limited circumstances where an application may be made to a Cayman Islands court for a determination on whether the register of members reflects the correct legal position. Further, the Cayman Islands court has the power to order that the register of members maintained by a company should be rectified where it considers that the register of members does not reflect the correct legal position. If an application for an order for rectification of the register of members were made in respect of our Ordinary Shares, then the validity of such shares may be subject to re-examination by a Cayman Islands court.
Preference Shares
Our Articles authorizes 1,000,000 preference shares and provides that preference shares may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors are authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without shareholder approval, issue preference shares with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the Ordinary Shares and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preference shares without shareholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preference shares issued and outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any preference shares, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future.
Redeemable Warrants
Public Shareholders’ Warrants
Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one of our Class A Shares at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing on the later of 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering and the date of the consummation of our initial business combination. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of Class A Shares. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade.
The warrants will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
We will not be obligated to deliver any Class A Shares pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the United States Securities Act (“Securities Act”) with respect to the Class A Shares underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue Class A Shares upon exercise of a warrant unless the Class A Shares issuable upon such warrant exercise have been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the Class A Share underlying such unit.
We have not registered the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. However, we have agreed that we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those Class A Shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the Class A Shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis.
Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants for redemption:
| ● | in whole and not in part; | |
| ● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; | |
| ● | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption given after the warrants become exercisable (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and | |
| ● | if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the Class A Shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share dividends, rights issuances, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending three business days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of ordinary 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 Ordinary Shares under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in our Initial Public Offering.
We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A Share may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our shareholders of issuing the maximum number of Class A Shares issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of Class A Shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A Shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value.
The “fair market value” for this purpose shall mean the average reported last sale price of the Class A Shares for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of Class A Shares to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. We believe this feature is an attractive option to us if we do not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after our initial business combination. If we call our warrants for redemption and our management does not take advantage of this option, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would still be entitled to exercise their placement warrants for cash or on a cashless basis using the same formula described above that other warrant holders would have been required to use had all warrant holders been required to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, as described in more detail below.
A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the Class A Shares outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
If the number of outstanding Class A Shares is increased by a stock dividend payable in Class A Shares, or by a split-up of Class A Shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of Class A Shares issuable on exercise of each whole warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding Class A Shares. A rights offering to holders of Class A Shares entitling holders to purchase Class A Shares at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of Class A Shares equal to the product of (i) the number of Class A Shares actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A Shares) and (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per Class A Shares paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A Shares, in determining the price payable for Class A Shares, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of Class A Shares as reported during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the Class A Shares trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.
In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of Class A Shares on account of such Class A Shares (or other shares into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A Shares in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (d) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A Shares in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our Articles (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or certain amendments to our Articles prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our Class A Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by the Termination Date or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our Class A Shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each Class A Share in respect of such event.
If the number of our issued and outstanding Class A Shares is decreased by a consolidation, combination, or re-designation of Class A Shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, re-designation or similar event, the number of Class A Shares issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding Class A Shares.
Whenever the number of Class A Shares purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of Class A Shares purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of Class A Shares so purchasable immediately thereafter.
In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding Class A Shares (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such Class A Shares), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding Class A Shares), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the Class A Shares immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event.
However, if less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A Shares in such a transaction is payable in the form of Class A Shares in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the Black-Scholes value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant. The purpose of such exercise price reduction is to provide additional value to holders of the warrants when an extraordinary transaction occurs during the exercise period of the warrants pursuant to which the holders of the warrants otherwise do not receive the full potential value of the warrants in order to determine and realize the option value component of the warrant. This formula is to compensate the warrant holder for the loss of the option value portion of the warrant due to the requirement that the warrant holder exercise the warrant within 30 days of the event. The Black-Scholes model is an accepted pricing model for estimating fair market value where no quoted market price for an instrument is available.
The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants.
In addition, if (x) we issue additional Class A 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 Class A Share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any Class B Shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the greater of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described above will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the greater of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A Shares and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive Class A Shares. After the issuance of Class A Shares upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one (1) vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by shareholders.
No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of Class A Shares to be issued to the warrant holder.
We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our Ordinary Shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of a business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial conditions subsequent to completion of a business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. If we increase or decrease the size of the offering we may effect a stock dividend or a share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B Shares immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of our initial shareholders at 30.0% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares (excluding the representative shares, the placement units and the underlying securities and assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering) upon the consummation of this offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Our Transfer Agent
The transfer agent for our Ordinary Shares and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent, its agents and each of its shareholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.
Certain Differences in Corporate Law
Cayman Islands companies are governed by the Companies Act. The Companies Act is modeled on English law but does not follow recent English law statutory enactments, and differs from laws applicable to United States corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of the material differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders.
Mergers and Similar Arrangements. In certain circumstances, the Companies Act allows for mergers or consolidations between two Cayman Islands companies, or between a Cayman Islands exempted company and a company incorporated in another jurisdiction (provided that is facilitated by the laws of that other jurisdiction).
Where the merger or consolidation is between two Cayman Islands companies, the directors of each company must approve a written plan of merger or consolidation containing certain prescribed information. That plan of merger or consolidation must then be authorized by either (a) a special resolution (usually a majority of at least two-thirds in value of the voting shares voted at a general meeting) of the shareholders of each company; or (b) such other authorization, if any, as may be specified in such constituent company’s articles of association. No shareholder resolution is required for a merger between a parent company (i.e., a company that holds issued shares that together represent 90% of the votes at a general meeting of the subsidiary company) and its subsidiary company. The consent of each holder of a fixed or floating security interest of a constituent company must be obtained, unless the court waives such requirement. If the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies is satisfied that the requirements of the Companies Act (which includes certain other formalities) have been complied with, the Registrar of Companies will register the plan of merger or consolidation.
Where the merger or consolidation involves a foreign company, the procedure is similar, save that with respect to the foreign company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the merger or consolidation is permitted or not prohibited by the constitutional documents of the foreign company and by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the foreign company is incorporated, and that those laws and any requirements of those constitutional documents have been or will be complied with; (ii) that no petition or other similar proceeding has been filed and remains outstanding or order made or resolution adopted to wind up or liquidate the foreign company in any jurisdictions; (iii) that no receiver, trustee, administrator or other similar person has been appointed in any jurisdiction and is acting in respect of the foreign company, its affairs or its property or any part thereof; and (iv) that no scheme, order, compromise or other similar arrangement has been entered into or made in any jurisdiction whereby the rights of creditors of the foreign company are and continue to be suspended or restricted.
Where the surviving company is the Cayman Islands exempted company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are further required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the foreign company is able to pay its debts as they fall due and that the merger or consolidation is bona fide and not intended to defraud unsecured creditors of the foreign company; (ii) that in respect of the transfer of any security interest granted by the foreign company to the surviving or consolidated company (a) consent or approval to the transfer has been obtained, released or waived; (b) the transfer is permitted by and has been approved in accordance with the constitutional documents of the foreign company; and (c) the laws of the jurisdiction of the foreign company with respect to the transfer have been or will be complied with; (iii) that the foreign company will, upon the merger or consolidation becoming effective, cease to be incorporated, registered or exist under the laws of the relevant foreign jurisdiction; and (iv) that there is no other reason why it would be against the public interest to permit the merger or consolidation.
Where the above procedures are adopted, the Companies Act provides for a right of dissenting shareholders to be paid a payment of the fair value of his shares upon their dissenting to the merger or consolidation if they follow a prescribed procedure. In essence, that procedure is as follows: (a) the shareholder must give his written objection to the merger or consolidation to the constituent company before the vote on the merger or consolidation, including a statement that the shareholder proposes to demand payment for his shares if the merger or consolidation is authorized by the vote; (b) within 20 days following the date on which the merger or consolidation is approved by the shareholders, the constituent company must give written notice to each shareholder who made a written objection; (c) a shareholder must within 20 days following receipt of such notice from the constituent company, give the constituent company a written notice of his intention to dissent including, among other details, a demand for payment of the fair value of his shares; (d) within seven days following the date of the expiration of the period set out in paragraph (b) above or seven days following the date on which the plan of merger or consolidation is filed, whichever is later, the constituent company, the surviving company or the consolidated company must make a written offer to each dissenting shareholder to purchase his shares at a price that the company determines is the fair value and if the company and the shareholder agree on the price within 30 days following the date on which the offer was made, the company must pay the shareholder such amount; and (e) if the company and the shareholder fail to agree a price within such 30 day period, within 20 days following the date on which such 30 day period expires, the company (and any dissenting shareholder) must file a petition with the Cayman Islands Grand Court to determine the fair value and such petition must be accompanied by a list of the names and addresses of the dissenting shareholders with whom agreements as to the fair value of their shares have not been reached by the company. At the hearing of that petition, the court has the power to determine the fair value of the shares together with a fair rate of interest, if any, to be paid by the company upon the amount determined to be the fair value. Any dissenting shareholder whose name appears on the list filed by the company may participate fully in all proceedings until the determination of fair value is reached. These rights of a dissenting shareholder are not available in certain circumstances, for example, to dissenters holding shares of any class in respect of which an open market exists on a recognized stock exchange or recognized interdealer quotation system at the relevant date or where the consideration for such shares to be contributed are shares of any company listed on a national securities exchange or shares of the surviving or consolidated company.
Moreover, Cayman Islands law has separate statutory provisions that facilitate the reconstruction or amalgamation of companies in certain circumstances. Such schemes of arrangement will generally be more suited for complex mergers or other transactions involving widely held companies, commonly referred to in the Cayman Islands as a “Scheme of arrangement” which may be tantamount to a merger. In the event that a merger was sought pursuant to a scheme of arrangement (the procedures for which are more rigorous and take longer to complete than the procedures typically required to consummate a merger in the United States), the arrangement in question must be approved by a majority in number of each class of shareholders and creditors with whom the arrangement is to be made and who must in addition represent three-fourths in value of each such class of shareholders or creditors, as the case may be, that are present and voting either in person or by proxy at a general meeting, or meeting summoned for that purpose. The convening of the meetings and subsequently the terms of the arrangement must be sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. While a dissenting shareholder would have the right to express to the court the view that the transaction should not be approved, the court can be expected to approve the arrangement if it satisfies itself that:
| ● | we are not proposing to act illegally or beyond the scope of our corporate authority and the statutory provisions as to majority vote have been complied with; | |
| ● | the shareholders have been fairly represented at the meeting in question; | |
| ● | the arrangement is such as a businessman would reasonably approve; and | |
| ● | the arrangement is not one that would more properly be sanctioned under some other provision of the Companies Act or that would amount to a “fraud on the minority.” |
If a scheme of arrangement or takeover offer (as described below) is approved, any dissenting shareholder would have no rights comparable to appraisal rights (providing rights to receive payment in cash for the judicially determined value of the shares), which would otherwise ordinarily be available to dissenting shareholders of United States corporations.
Squeeze-out Provisions. When a takeover offer is made and accepted by holders of 90% of the shares to whom the offer relates within four months, the offeror may, within a two-month period, require the holders of the remaining shares to transfer such shares on the terms of the offer. An objection can be made to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, but this is unlikely to succeed unless there is evidence of fraud, bad faith, collusion or inequitable treatment of the shareholders.
Further, transactions similar to a merger, reconstruction and/or an amalgamation may in some circumstances be achieved through means other than these statutory provisions, such as a share capital exchange, asset acquisition or control, or through contractual arrangements of an operating business.
Shareholders’ Suits. Harney Westwood & Riegels (“Harneys”), our Cayman Islands legal counsel, is not aware of any reported class action having been brought in a Cayman Islands court. Derivative actions have been brought in the Cayman Islands courts, and the Cayman Islands courts have confirmed the availability for such actions. In most cases, we will be the proper plaintiff in any claim based on a breach of duty owed to us, and a claim against (for example) our officers or directors usually may not be brought by a shareholder. However, based both on Cayman Islands authorities and on English authorities, which would in all likelihood be of persuasive authority and be applied by a court in the Cayman Islands, exceptions to the foregoing principle apply in circumstances in which:
| ● | a company is acting, or proposing to act, illegally or beyond the scope of its authority; | |
| ● | the act complained of, although not beyond the scope of the authority, could be effected if duly authorized by more than the number of votes which have actually been obtained; or | |
| ● | those who control the company are perpetrating a “fraud on the minority.” |
A shareholder may have a direct right of action against us where the individual rights of that shareholder have been infringed or are about to be infringed.
Enforcement of Civil Liabilities. The Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States and provides less protection to investors. Additionally, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the federal courts of the United States.
We have been advised by Harneys, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, and or be of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
Special Considerations for Exempted Companies. We are an exempted company with limited liability under the Companies Act. The Companies Act distinguishes between ordinary resident companies and exempted companies. Any company that is registered in the Cayman Islands but conducts business mainly outside of the Cayman Islands may apply to be registered as an exempted company. The requirements for an exempted company are essentially the same as for an ordinary company except for certain exemptions and privileges including those listed below:
| ● | annual reporting requirements are minimal and consist mainly of a statement that the company has conducted its operations mainly outside of the Cayman Islands and has compiled with the provisions of the Companies Act; | |
| ● | an exempted company’s register of members is not open to inspection and can be kept outside of the Cayman Islands; | |
| ● | an exempted company does not have to hold an annual general meeting; | |
| ● | an exempted company may issue shares with no par value; |
| ● | an exempted company may obtain an undertaking against the imposition of any future taxation (such undertakings are usually given for 30 years in the first instance); | |
| ● | an exempted company may register by way of continuation in another jurisdiction and be deregistered in the Cayman Islands; | |
| ● | an exempted company may register as a limited duration company; and | |
| ● | an exempted company may register as a segregated portfolio company. |
“Limited liability” means that the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount if any unpaid on the shares held by such shareholder in the company (except in exceptional circumstances, such as involving fraud, the establishment of an agency relationship or an illegal or improper purpose or other circumstances in which a court may be prepared to pierce or lift the corporate veil).
Our Articles.
Our Articles contain provisions designed to provide certain rights and protections relating to this offering that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without a special resolution under Cayman Islands law. As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a resolution is deemed to be a special resolution where it has been adopted by the affirmative vote of at least a two-thirds majority (or such higher threshold as specified in the company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association) of the votes cast by the holders of the issued shares present in person or represented by proxy at a general meeting of the company and entitled to vote on such matter or a resolution approved in writing by all of the holders of the issued shares entitled to vote on such matter. Other than as described above, our Articles provide that special resolutions must be approved either by at least two-thirds (or such higher threshold as specified in the company’s Articles) of the shares voted at a general meeting of the company (i.e., the lowest threshold permissible under Cayman Islands law), or by a unanimous written resolution of all of our shareholders.
Our initial shareholders, who will collectively beneficially own 32.25% of our Ordinary Shares upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering), will participate in any vote to amend our Articles and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Specifically, our Articles provide, among other things, that:
| ● | If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this prospectus, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association), we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released (which shall be net of taxes payable and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the 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 the requirements of other applicable law; | |
| ● | Prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional securities that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on our initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 12 months from the closing of this offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this prospectus, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association) or (y) amend the foregoing provisions; |
| ● | Although we do not intend to enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such a business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view; | |
| ● | If a shareholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by applicable law or share exchange listing requirements and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination, which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act; |
So long as our securities are then listed on Nasdaq, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting commissions held in trust and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination;
| ● | If our shareholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 12 months from the closing of this offering (or up to a 18-month period if we choose to extend such period, as described in more detail in this prospectus, or as extended by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association) or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their ordinary shares upon such approval at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released (which shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein; and | |
| ● | We will not effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations. |
In addition, our Articles provide that under no circumstances will we redeem our Class A shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001.
The Companies Act permits a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands to amend its memorandum and articles of association with the approval of a special resolution. A company’s articles of association may specify that the approval of a higher majority is required but, provided the approval of the required majority is obtained, any Cayman Islands exempted company may amend its memorandum and articles of association regardless of whether its memorandum and articles of association provide otherwise. Accordingly, although we could amend any of the provisions relating to our proposed offering, structure and business plan which are contained in our Articles, we view all of these provisions as binding obligations to our shareholders and neither we, nor our officers or directors, will take any action to amend or waive any of these provisions unless we provide dissenting public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A Shares.
Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorist Financing, Prevention of Proliferation Financing and Financial Sanctions Compliance —Cayman Islands
If any person resident in the Cayman Islands knows or suspects, or has reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting, that another person is engaged in criminal conduct, is involved with terrorism or terrorist property or proliferation financing or is the business combination partner of a financial sanction and the information for that knowledge or suspicion came to their attention in the course of business in the regulated sector or other trade, profession, business or employment, the person will be required to report such knowledge or suspicion to (i) the Financial Reporting Authority of the Cayman Islands, pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands if the disclosure relates to criminal conduct, money laundering, or proliferation financing or is the business combination partner of a financial sanction; or (ii) a police officer of the rank of constable or higher, or the Financial Reporting Authority, pursuant to the Terrorism Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, if the disclosure relates to involvement with terrorism or terrorist financing and property. Such a report will not be treated as a breach of confidence or of any restriction upon the disclosure of information imposed by any enactment or otherwise. We reserve the right to refuse to make any payment to a shareholder if our directors or officers suspect or are advised that the payment to such shareholder might result in a breach of applicable anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, prevention of proliferation financing and financial sanctions or other laws or regulations by any person in any relevant jurisdiction, or if such refusal is considered necessary or appropriate to ensure our compliance with any such laws or regulations in any applicable jurisdiction.
Data Protection—Cayman Islands
We have certain duties under the Data Protection Act, 2017 (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands (the “DPA”) based on internationally accepted principles of data privacy.
Privacy Notice
Introduction
This privacy notice puts our shareholders on notice that through your investment in the company you will provide us with certain personal information which constitutes personal data within the meaning of the DPA (“personal data”). In the following discussion, the “company” refers to us and our affiliates and/or delegates, except where the context requires otherwise.
Investor Data
We will collect, use, disclose, retain and secure personal data to the extent reasonably required only and within the parameters that could be reasonably expected during the normal course of business. We will only process, disclose, transfer or retain personal data to the extent legitimately required to conduct our activities of on an ongoing basis or to comply with legal and regulatory obligations to which we are subject. We will only transfer personal data in accordance with the requirements of the DPA, and will apply appropriate technical and organizational information security measures designed to protect against unauthorized or unlawful processing of the personal data and against the accidental loss, destruction or damage to the personal data.
In our use of this personal data, we will be characterized as a “data controller” for the purposes of the DPA, while our affiliates and service providers who may receive this personal data from us in the conduct of our activities may either act as our “data processors” for the purposes of the DPA or may process personal information for their own lawful purposes in connection with services provided to us.
We may also obtain personal data from other public sources. Personal data includes, without limitation, the following information relating to a shareholder and/or any individuals connected with a shareholder as an investor: name, residential address, email address, contact details, corporate contact information, signature, nationality, place of birth, date of birth, tax identification, credit history, correspondence records, passport number, bank account details, source of funds details and details relating to the shareholder’s investment activity.
Who this Affects
If you are a natural person, this will affect you directly. If you are a corporate investor (including, for these purposes, legal arrangements such as trusts or exempted limited partnerships) that provides us with personal data on individuals connected to you for any reason in relation your investment in the company, this will be relevant for those individuals and you should transmit the content of this Privacy Notice to such individuals or otherwise advise them of its content.
How the Company May Use a Shareholder’s Personal Data
The company, as the data controller, may collect, store and use personal data for lawful purposes, including, in particular:
| a) | where this is necessary for the performance of our rights and obligations under any purchase agreements; | |
| b) | where this is necessary for compliance with a legal and regulatory obligation to which we are subject (such as compliance with anti-money laundering and FATCA/CRS requirements); and/or | |
| c) | where this is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests and such interests are not overridden by your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms. |
Should we wish to use personal data for other specific purposes (including, if applicable, any purpose that requires your consent), we will contact you.
Why We May Transfer Your Personal Data
In certain circumstances we may be legally obliged to share personal data and other information with respect to your shareholding with the relevant regulatory authorities such as the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority or the Tax Information Authority. They, in turn, may exchange this information with foreign authorities, including tax authorities.
We anticipate disclosing personal data to persons who provide services to us and their respective affiliates (which may include certain entities located outside the United States, the Cayman Islands or the European Economic Area), who will process your personal data on our behalf.
The Data Protection Measures We Take
Any transfer of personal data by us or our duly authorized affiliates and/or delegates outside of the Cayman Islands shall be in accordance with the requirements of the DPA.
We and our duly authorized affiliates and/or delegates shall apply appropriate technical and organizational information security measures designed to protect against unauthorized or unlawful processing of personal data, and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
We shall notify you of any personal data breach that is reasonably likely to result in a risk to your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms or those data subjects to whom the relevant personal data relates.
Rights of Individual Data Subjects
Individual data subjects have certain data protection rights, including the right to:
| ● | be informed about the purposes for which your personal data are processed; | |
| ● | access your personal data; | |
| ● | stop direct marketing; | |
| ● | restrict the processing of your personal data; | |
| ● | have incomplete or inaccurate personal data corrected; |
| ● | ask us to stop processing your personal data; | |
| ● | be informed of a personal data breach (unless the breach is unlikely to be prejudicial to you); | |
| ● | complain to the Data Protection Ombudsman; and | |
| ● | require us to delete your personal data in some limited circumstances. |
Certain Anti-takeover Provisions of our Articles
Our authorized but unissued Class A Shares and preference shares will be available for future issuances without shareholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved Class A Shares and preference shares could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Valuation of Class Rights; Class B Shares Consent Right
For so long as any Class B Shares remain issued and outstanding, we may not, without the prior vote or written consent of the holders of a majority of the Class B Shares then outstanding, voting separately as a single class, amend, alter or repeal any provision our Articles, whether by merger, consolidation or otherwise, if such amendment, alteration or repeal would alter or change the powers, preferences or relative, participating, optional or other or rights of the Class B Shares. Any action required or permitted to be taken at any meeting of the holders of Class B Shares may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, if a consent or consents in writing, setting forth the action so taken, shall be signed by the holders of a majority of the outstanding Class B Shares.
Securities Eligible for Future Sale
Immediately after the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, we had 17,104,497 issued and outstanding. Of these shares, 11,500,000 Class A Shares sold in this offering were freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any Class A Shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the remaining 4,935,622 Class B Shares and 565,375 outstanding placement share, and 103,500 representative shares will be restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering. These restricted securities will be subject to registration rights, as more fully described below under “— Registration Rights.”
Rule 144
Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.
Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:
| ● | 1% of the total number of Class A ordinary shares then outstanding, which will equal 148,932 shares immediately after this offering (or 171,045 if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full); or | |
| ● | the average weekly reported trading volume of our Class A ordinary shares during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale. |
Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.
Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies
Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:
| ● | the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company; | |
| ● | the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act; | |
| ● | the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and materials required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 18 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and | |
| ● | at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company. |
As a result, our initial shareholders will be able to sell their Class B Shares and placement warrant (including component securities contained therein), as applicable, pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.
Registration Rights
The holders of the Class B Shares, the representative shares, placement warrants (including component securities contained therein) and warrants (including securities contained therein) that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans, and any Class A Shares issuable upon the exercise of the placement warrants and any Class A Shares and warrants (and underlying Class A Shares) that may be issued upon exercise of the warrants as part of the working capital loans and extension loans and Class A Shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B Shares and the representative shares, will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering, requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the Class B Shares, only after conversion to our Class A Shares). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act.
However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lockup period, which occurs (i) in the case of the Class B Shares, as described in the following paragraph, and (ii) in the case of the placement warrants, 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The registration rights agreement does not contain liquidated damages or other cash settlement provisions resulting from delays in registering our securities. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Except as described herein, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Class B Shares, the representative shares, placement warrants and warrants until the earlier to occur of: (A) six months after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of our Class A Shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per unit (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A Shares for cash, securities or other property.
Listing of Securities
Our units, Class A Shares and warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbols “PTHRU,” “PTHR”, and “PTHRW,” respectively.
Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATIONS
I, Davin Kazama, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 of Pono Capital Three, Inc.; |
| 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report; |
| 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; |
| 4. | The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have: |
| a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; |
| b) | (Paragraph omitted pursuant to SEC Release Nos. 33-8238/34-47986 and 33-8392/34-49313); |
| c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and |
| d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
| 5. | The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions): |
| (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and |
| (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| Date: March 29, 2023 | By: | /s/ Davin Kazama |
| Davin Kazama | ||
| Co-Chief Executive Officer | ||
| (Principal Executive Officer) |
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATIONS
I, Gary Miyashiro, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 of Pono Capital Three, Inc.; |
| 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report; |
| 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; |
| 4. | The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have: |
| a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; |
| b) | (Paragraph omitted pursuant to SEC Release Nos. 33-8238/34-47986 and 33-8392/34-49313); |
| c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and |
| d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
| 5. | The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions): |
| (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and |
| (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| Date: March 29, 2023 | By: | /s/ Gary Miyashiro |
| Gary Miyashiro | ||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||
| (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADDED BY
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report of Pono Capital Three, Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Report”), I, Davin Kazama, Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as added by §906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
| 1. | The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and |
| 2. | To my knowledge, the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company as of and for the period covered by the Report. |
| Date: March 29, 2023 | By: | /s/ Davin Kazama |
| Davin Kazama | ||
| Co-Chief Executive Officer | ||
| (Principal Executive Officer) |
Exhibit 32.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADDED BY
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report of Pono Capital Three, Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Report”), I, Gary Miyashiro, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as added by §906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
| 1. | The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and |
| 2. | To my knowledge, the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company as of and for the period covered by the Report. |
| Date: March 29, 2023 | By: | /s/ Gary Miyashiro |
| Gary Miyashiro | ||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||
| (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |