System1, Inc 10-K/A, filed Jun 23, 2021
System1, Inc. (SST)
About this 10-K/A
System1, Inc filed this 10-K/A on June 23, 2021, covering the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K/A
Amendment No. 2
(Mark One)
| x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020
OR
| ¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM TO |
Commission File Number: 001-39331
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its Charter)
| Cayman Islands | 98-1531250 | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
| 41 Madison Avenue, Suite 2020 | ||
| New York, NY (Address of principal executive offices) |
10010 (Zip Code) |
(646) 450-9187
(Registrant’s telephone number including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbols | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
| Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share and one-third of one redeemable warrant | TREB.U | The New York Stock Exchange | ||
| Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share | TREB | The New York Stock Exchange | ||
| Redeemable warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share | TREB WS | The New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ¨ NO x
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. YES ¨ NO x
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. YES ¨ NO x
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 (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). YES x NO ¨
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 definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
| Large accelerated filer | ¨ | Accelerated filer | ¨ | |
| Non-accelerated filer | x | Smaller reporting company | x | |
| Emerging growth company | x |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 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. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES x NO ¨
The aggregate market value of Units held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2020, was $540,787,500 based on the closing price of $10.45 as reported by the New York Stock Exchange. As of June 30, 2020, the registrant’s Class A ordinary shares were not publicly traded.
As of May 31, 2021, there were 51,750,000 Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value per share, and 12,937,500 Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value per share, issued and outstanding..
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This Amendment No. 2 on Form 10-K/A (this “Amendment”) amends and restates certain items noted below of the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Trebia Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on April 1, 2021 (the “Original 10-K”), as amended by that certain Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on May 18, 2021 (“Amendment No. 1” and, together with the Original 10-K, the “Amended Filing”). This Amendment reflects the correction of an error in the Company’s unaudited interim financial statements for the periods ended June 30, 2020 and September 30, 2020 and its audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2020 (the “Affected Periods”).
The Company previously filed Amendment No.1 in order to restate its financial statements for the Affected Periods to reflect a correction in its accounting for its public warrants and private placement warrants (collectively, the "Warrants") entered into in connection with the Company's initial public offering as well as a forward purchase agreement entered into with the Company's anchor investor (the “FPA”) as derivative liabilities instead of as components of equity and a contractual obligation, respectively.
In connection with the preparation of the Company's financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021, the Company determined that it is necessary reclassify its Class A ordinary shares between temporary equity and permanent equity. The Company is filing this Amendment to reflect a further restatement resulting from the Company’s prior classification of Class A ordinary shares between temporary equity and permanent equity. The Company previously determined the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption to be equal to the redemption value of approximately $10.00 per share of Class A ordinary shares while also taking into consideration the requirement in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that a redemption cannot cause the Company’s net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of the business combination, which resulted in (i) 43,116,801 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $431,168,005 at December 31, 2020, (ii) 45,165,300 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $451,650,304 at September 30, 2020, (iii) 45,259,408 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $452,594,080 at June 30, 2020, and (iv) 45,969,672 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $459,696,714 at June 19, 2020. In connection with the preparation of the Company's financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021, the Company evaluated the maximum redemption value in conjunction with the FPA that is expected to close substantially concurrent with an initial business combination, which would result in an additional $75,000,000 in net tangible assets. Upon considering the impact of the FPA, the Company concluded the redemption value should include 51,162,255 Class A ordinary shares resulting in the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption being equal to $511,622,548 at December 31, 2020. Upon considering the impact of the FPA, the Company concluded the redemption value should include all shares of Class A ordinary shares resulting in the ordinary shares subject to possible redemption being equal to $517,500,000 at September 30, 2020, June 30, 2020, and June 19, 2020.
As a result, on June 1, 2021, after consultation between the Company’s management and audit committee, the Company concluded that the financial statements for the Affected Periods should no longer be relied upon and are to be restated in order to correct the error in the classification of Class A ordinary shares. This restatement is more fully described in Note 2 of the notes to the financial statements included herein.
The change in classification of the Class A ordinary shares did not have any impact on our liquidity, cash flows, revenues or costs of operating our business and the other non-cash adjustments to our financial statements, in all of the Affected Periods or in any of the periods included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data in this filing. The change in classification of Class A ordinary shares does not impact the amounts previously reported for the Company’s cash and cash equivalents, investments held in trust account, operating expenses or total cash flows from operations for any of the Affected Periods.
This Amendment sets forth the Amended Filing in its entirety; however, this Amendment amends and restates only the following items of the Amended Filing:
| • | Cover Page; |
| • | Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors |
| • | Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
| • | Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements |
| • | Part II, Item 9A, Controls and Procedures |
In addition, as required by Rule 12b-15 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, new certifications by the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer are filed as exhibits (in Exhibits 31.1 and 32.1) to this Amendment under Item 15 of Part IV hereof.
Internal Control and Disclosure Controls Considerations
In connection with this restatement, the Company’s management has concluded that in light of the classification error described above, a material weakness exists in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting and that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective.
In order to preserve the nature and character of the disclosures set forth in the Original Form 10-K and Amendment No.1, this Amendment speaks as of the date of the filing of the Original Form 10-K as does Amendment No.1. The disclosures contained in this Amendment have not been updated to reflect events occurring subsequent to that date, other than those associated with the restatement as described in this Amendment. Among other things, forward-looking statements made in the Original 10-K and Amendment No.1 have not been revised to reflect events that occurred or facts that became known to the Company after the filing of the Original 10-K and Amendment No. 1 and such forward looking statements should be read in their historical context. Currently dated certifications from the Company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer are also attached to this Amendment as Exhibits 31.1, 31.2, 32.1 and 32.2. This Amendment should be read in conjunction with the Company’s other SEC filings.
TREBIA ACQUISTION CORP.
FORM 10-K/A
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Additional Information
Descriptions of agreements or other documents in this report are intended as summaries and are not necessarily complete. Please refer to the agreements or the other documents filed or incorporated herein by reference as exhibits. Please see "Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules" in this report for a complete list of those exhibits.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Please see the note under "Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information" for a description of special factors potentially affecting forward-looking statements included in this report.
| Item 1. | Business |
Introductory Note
The following describes the business of Trebia Acquisition Corp. Except where otherwise noted, all references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “TREB,” or the “Company,” are to Trebia Acquisition Corp.
Description of Business
The Company is a newly incorporated blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on February 11, 2020. The Company was 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 (“Business Combination” or referred to throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Report”) as our initial business combination).
Although the Company is not limited to a particular industry or geographic region for purposes of completing a Business Combination, the Company intends to focus on industries that complements the Sponsors' (as defined below) and management team's background in financial services, technology, software, data, analytics, services and related areas. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation, our initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering” or "IPO"), which is described below, and identifying a target company for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues unless and until completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering.
On February 18, 2020, the Sponsors purchased 10,781,250 of the Company's Class B ordinary shares (the "Founder Shares") for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On June 16, 2020, the Company effected a share dividend of 2,156,250 shares, resulting in the Sponsors holding an aggregate of 12,937,500 Founder Shares. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the share dividend. The Founder Shares included an aggregate of up to 1,687,500 shares subject to forfeiture by the Sponsors to the extent that the underwriters' over-allotment was not exercised in full or in part, so that the number of Founder Shares would collectively represent 20% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. As a result of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their over-allotment option, 1,687,500 Founder Shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
The registration statements for the Company’s Initial Public Offering became effective on June 16, 2020. On June 19, 2020, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 51,750,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 6,750,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $517,500,000 which is described in Note 3.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 8,233,334 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to Trasimene Trebia, LP, an affiliate of Trasimene Capital Management, LLC, and BGPT Trebia LP, an affiliate of Bridgeport Partners LLC (collectively the "Sponsors"), generating gross proceeds of $12,350,000, which is described in Note 4.
Transaction costs amounted to $29,241,089, consisting of $10,350,000 of underwriting fees, $18,112,500 of deferred underwriting fees and $778,589 of other offering costs. In addition, at December 31, 2020, cash of $843,643 was held outside of the Trust Account (as defined below) and is available for the payment of offering expenses and for working capital purposes.
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Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on June 19, 2020, an amount of $517,500,000 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) located in the United States and invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act"), as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds in the Trust Account to the Company's shareholders, as described below.
Company Common Stock and Warrants trade on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbols “TREB” and “TREB.WS,” respectively. Those Units not separated continue to trade on the NYSE under the symbol “TREB.U.”
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 Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. Under applicable rules of the NYSE, the Company must complete its initial Business Combination with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned in the Trust Account) at the time the Company signs a definitive agreement in connection with a Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-Business Combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination.
Strategy
Our goal is to collaborate with a company that already is a fundamentally sound company. Trebia Acquisition Corp. will seek to work with a potential acquisition candidate to access the capital markets, attract top-tier management talent and execute a proprietary value-creation business plan helping the company continue to grow into the next phase of its life cycle. Trebia Acquisition Corp. intends to employ a fundamental, value-oriented acquisition framework that seeks a target with the potential for significant equity value creation coupled with strong downside protection from dependable cash flows and a durable business franchise.
Although we may pursue targets in any industry, we intend to focus on industries that complement our sponsors' background in financial services, technology, software, data, analytics, services and related areas. Our acquisition strategy will leverage Trasimene Capital's (“Trasimene”) and Bridgeport Partners' (“Bridgeport”) network of proprietary deal sourcing where we believe a combination of industry research and lending relationships will provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. Additionally, we expect that relationships cultivated from years of transaction experience with management teams of public and private companies, investment bankers, restructuring advisers, attorneys and accountants will provide potential opportunities for Trebia Acquisition Corp. Our business strategy is to identify and complete our initial business combination, with a company that complements the experience of our sponsors and can benefit from their operational expertise. Our selection process will leverage our sponsors' broad and deep relationship network, unique industry experiences and proven deal sourcing capabilities to access a broad spectrum of differentiated opportunities. This network has been developed through our sponsors' extensive experience and demonstrated success in both investing in and operating businesses across a variety of industries, developing a distinctive combination of capabilities including:
• a track record of building industry-leading companies and proven ability to deliver shareholder value over an extended time period with above-market-average investment returns that are multiples greater than comparable benchmarks;
• a prolific acquisition history, having completed in excess of 100 transactions that have in sum contributed to such companies' financial results and strategic position. This acquisition history has been executed using an established proprietary deal sourcing and differentiated transaction execution/structuring capabilities;
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• experience deploying a unique and broad value creation toolkit including identifying value enhancements, recruiting world-class talent and delivering elite operating efficiency by consistently exceeding synergy targets; and
• an extensive history of accessing the capital markets across various business cycles, including financing businesses and assisting companies with transition to public ownership.
Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners communicate with their networks of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a target company and a potential business combination.
Acquisition Criteria
Our acquisition criteria is consistent with our strategy. We have identified the following general criteria and guidelines which we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that we believe:
• utilize our global network of contacts, which provides access to differentiated deal flow and significant deal-sourcing capabilities;
• are at an inflection point, such as requiring additional management expertise, are able to innovate through new operational techniques or where we believe we can drive improved financial performance;
• are fundamentally sound companies that are underperforming our estimation of their potential;
• exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital and a need for capital to achieve the company's growth strategy, that we believe have been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review;
• will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders, potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure will be weighed against any identified downside risks; and
• have been materially impacted by possible market dislocations and would benefit from capital markets access.
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in our prospectus, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
Initial Business Combination
In accordance with the rules of the NYSE, 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 assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting discounts held in trust and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to satisfaction of such criteria. Our shareholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. 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 businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
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We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the prior owners of the target business, the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests 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 issued and 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 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 purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsors, founders, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsors, founders, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view from either an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent registered public accounting firm.
Members of our management team directly or indirectly own our ordinary shares and/or private placement warrants, and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
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Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity 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 founders, 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 other entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that we renounce our interest in any business combination 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 the Company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners are continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination,
Trasimene Capital externally manages Cannae Holdings pursuant to a management services agreement and Bridgeport Partners manages proprietary capital, and may raise additional funds and/or accounts in the future, which may be during the period in which we are seeking our initial business combination. These investment vehicles may be seeking acquisition opportunities and related financing at any time. We may compete with any one or more of them on any one or more of them on any given acquisition opportunity.
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Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination 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 JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not "emerging growth companies" including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved, If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an "emerging growth company" can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an "emerging growth company" can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the Market Value of our Class A ordinary shares that are 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.
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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 ordinary shares held by non-affiliates does not equal or exceed $250.0 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues did not equal or exceed $100.0 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates did not equal or exceed $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Effecting our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following this offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering, the private placements of the private placement warrants, 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.
Some of the members of our management team are employed by certain affiliates of Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners. Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners are continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination,
There is no current basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination. Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely affect a target business.
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 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.
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Sources of Target Businesses
Our process of identifying acquisition targets will leverage Trasimene Capital, Bridgeport Partners, our sponsors 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 founders, Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners, 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 this prospectus and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their 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 either of our sponsors 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 sponsors, 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 combination target that is affiliated with our sponsors, officers or directors or from making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsors, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsors, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent registered public accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
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 sponsors, 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. See "Conflicts of Interest."
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Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination
Our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of our assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation or value of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. There is no basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our business combination.
To the extent we effect our business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, 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 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. |
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Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Shareholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a "group" (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to the Excess Shares. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder's shares are not purchased by us, our sponsors or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders' ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering 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 a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.
However, we would not be restricting our shareholders' ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our sponsors, officers and directors have agreed that we will have only 24 months from the closing of our offering to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (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), subject to applicable law; and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering.
Our sponsors, directors and each member of our management team have entered into letter agreements 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 24 months from the closing of our offering. However, if our sponsors, directors or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after our 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 24 months from the closing of our offering.
The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares.
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Our sponsors, executive officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would 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 do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described in our prospectus." For example, our board of directors may propose such an amendment if it determines that additional time is necessary to complete our initial business combination. In such event, we will conduct a proxy solicitation and distribute proxy materials pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act seeking shareholder approval of such proposal and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon shareholder approval of such amendment. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the completion 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.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will 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. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which our prospectus forms a part, our sponsors have agreed that they will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsors will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsors to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsors have sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsors' only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsors would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
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Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), 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. Credit Suisse and BofA Securities will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. 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. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsors have agreed that they will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 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 $10.00 per share, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsors will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsors to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsors have sufficient funds to satisfy their indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsors’ only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsors 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 the lesser of (i) $10.00 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 $10.00 per share, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, and our sponsors assert that they are unable to satisfy their indemnification obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsors to enforce their indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsors to enforce their indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. 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 $10.00 per share.
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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 third parties, including, but not limited to, all vendors, service providers (excluding our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to 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 $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering 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 or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy 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 $10.00 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A common stock, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their shares of our Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO, with respect to such shares of our Class A common stock so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
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Human Capital Resources
We currently have two 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 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.
We believe that our management team is well positioned to identify attractive risk-adjusted returns in the marketplace and that its contacts and transaction sources, ranging from industry executives, private owners, private equity funds, and investment bankers, will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities. Our management believes that its ability to identify and implement value creation initiatives will remain central to its differentiated acquisition strategy.
Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Some of the statements contained in this Report constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. 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 Report may include, for example, statements about:
| · | our ability to complete an 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; |
| · | the proceeds of the forward purchase securities being available to us; |
| · | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| · | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
| · | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
| · | the limited history of a market for our securities; |
| · | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
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| · | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; |
| · | our financial performance; or |
| · | the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the section of this Report entitled “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Additional Information
The Company’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). The Company is subject to the informational requirements of the Exchange Act and files or furnishes reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.
Our website address is www.foleytrasimene.com. We make available free of charge on or through our website our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. However, the information found on our website is not part of this or any other report.
Our
executive offices are located at 41 Madison Avenue, Suite 2020, New York, NY 10010
and our telephone number at that location is (646) 450-9187.
| Item 1A. | Risk Factors |
In the course of conducting our business operations, we are exposed to a variety of risks, some of which are inherent in our industry and others of which are more specific to our own businesses. The risk factors summarized below could materially harm our business, operating results and/or financial condition, impair our future prospects and/or cause the price of our common stock to decline. These risks are discussed more fully following this summary. Material risks that may affect our business, operating results and financial condition include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
| · | 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 Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners, or their respective affiliates (including the founder and our management team), 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. |
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| · | 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. | |
| · | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, members of our management team and Cannae Holdings have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote. | |
| · | 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 requirement that we complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the IPO 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 24 months after the closing of the IPO, 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 $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. | |
| · | Legal proceedings in connection with the business combination, the outcomes of which are uncertain, could delay or prevent the completion of the business combination. | |
| · | The recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact on business and debt and equity markets could have a material adverse effect on our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately complete a business combination. | |
| · | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock | |
| · | You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss. | |
| · | The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions. | |
| · | You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies. | |
| · | Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. | |
| · | If the net proceeds are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsors or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination. | |
| · | If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account. | |
| · | The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of the shares of our Class A common stock. | |
| · | We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. | |
| · | Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. |
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| · | Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. | |
| · | Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests. | |
| · | We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsors, executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest. | |
| · | Since our sponsors, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination. |
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except as required by law or stock exchange, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.
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.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
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.
Our initial shareholders will own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares immediately following the completion of our offering. Our initial shareholders and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we seek shareholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved if we receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares voted at such meeting, including the founder shares. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders' founder shares, we would need 16,875,001, or approximately 37.5%, of the 45,000,000 public shares sold in our offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised). Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial shareholders and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
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In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management will rely on the availability of all of the funds from the sale of the forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of the forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to complete our initial business combination.
We have entered into a forward purchase agreement pursuant to which Cannae Holdings has agreed to purchase the forward purchase securities in a private placement to occur concurrently with our initial business combination. The funds from the sale of forward purchase securities may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in our initial business combination, expenses in connection with our initial business combination or for working capital in the post-transaction company. The obligations under the forward purchase agreement do not depend on whether any public shareholders elect to redeem their shares and provide us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination. However, if the sale of the forward purchase securities does not close by reason of the failure by Cannae Holdings to fund the purchase price for their forward purchase securities, for example, we may lack sufficient funds to complete our initial business combination. Additionally, the obligation of Cannae Holdings to purchase the forward purchase securities are subject to termination prior to the closing of the sale of the forward purchase securities by mutual written consent of the Company and Cannae Holdings, or, automaticallyif the initial business combination is not completed within 24 months of the closing of our offering or such later date as may be approved by the Company's shareholders; (c) if Frank R. Martire, Jr. and William P. Foley, II both die; (d) if Frank R. Martire, Jr. and William P. Foley, II, the sponsors or the Company become subject to any voluntary or involuntary petition under the United States federal bankruptcy laws or any state insolvency law, in each case which is not withdrawn within sixty (60) days after being filed, or a receiver, fiscal agent or similar officer is appointed by a court for business or property of Frank R. Martire, Jr. and William P. Foley, II, the sponsors or the Company, in each case which is not removed, withdrawn or terminated within sixty (60) days after such appointment; or (e) if either of Frank R. Martire, Jr. or William P. Foley, II is convicted in a criminal proceeding for a crime involving fraud or dishonesty. The obligation of Cannae Holdings to purchase the forward purchase securities is subject to fulfillment of customary closing conditions and other conditions as set forth in the forward purchase agreement, including: (a) the initial business combination shall be completed substantially concurrent with, and immediately following, the purchase of the forward purchase securities; and (b) the Company must have delivered to Cannae Holdings a certificate evidencing the Company's good standing as a Cayman Islands exempted company, as of a date within ten (10) business days of the closing of the sale of the forward purchase shares. In the event of any such failure to fund by Cannae Holdings, any obligation is so terminated or any such condition is not satisfied and not waived by Cannae Holdings, we may not be able to obtain additional funds to account for such shortfall on terms favorable to us or at all. Any such shortfall would also reduce the amount of funds that we have available for working capital of the post-business combination company. While Cannae Holdings has represented to us that it has sufficient funds to satisfy its obligations under the forward purchase agreement, we have not obligated Cannae Holdings to reserve funds for such obligations.
The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC's "penny stock" rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
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The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our offering 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.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the offering, 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 $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsors, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. If we have not completed an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (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, 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 amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the completion 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. In such case, our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See "—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share" and other risk factors below.
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The recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact on business and debt and equity markets could have a material adverse effect on our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately complete a business combination.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States and Europe. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to the coronavirus, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a "pandemic". A significant outbreak of the coronavirus and other infectious diseases could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, business operations and the conduct of commerce generally and could have a material adverse effect on the business of any potential target business with which we complete a business combination. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to the coronavirus restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company's personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and complete a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which the coronavirus impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the actions to contain the coronavirus or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by the coronavirus or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to complete a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately complete a business combination.
In addition, our ability to complete a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing and the coronavirus pandemic and other related events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise adequate financing.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public "float" of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase 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, where otherwise permissible under applicable laws, rules and regulations, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions.
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Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgment that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public "float" of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, 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 describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. For example, we may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in "street name," to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of our Class A ordinary shares, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
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You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a "blank check" company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of our offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the net proceeds of our offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsors or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account to fund our working capital requirements may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We believe that, upon closing of our offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsors will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a "no-shop" provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from "shopping" around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation. See "—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share" and other risk factors below.
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In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, unless funded by the proceeds of loans available from our sponsors, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. The amount held in the trust account will not be impacted as a result of such increase or decrease. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsors, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsors, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsors or an affiliate of our sponsors as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See "—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share" and other risk factors below.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
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If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will 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. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the Company’s registration statement, our sponsors have agreed that they will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsors will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsors to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsors have sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsors' only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsors would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
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Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsors, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, and our sponsors assert that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsors to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsors to enforce their indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we complete an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder's investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a "preferential transfer" or a "fraudulent conveyance." As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of the interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind-up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Law. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we complete our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the completion 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 shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of approximately $18,292 and to imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
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We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the completion of our initial business combination.
In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. There is no requirement under the Companies Law for us to hold annual or extraordinary meetings to appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to appoint directors and to discuss company affairs with management. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term.
Holders of Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any appointment of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to 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. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the completion of an initial business combination.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business's operations.
We may pursue business combination opportunities in any sector, except that we will not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management's area of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management's area of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management's expertise, our management's expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in our prospectus regarding the areas of our management's expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any shareholder who choose to remain shareholders following our business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
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Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses and our strategy will be to identify, acquire and build a company in financial services, technology, business services and related sectors, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses and our strategy will be to identify, acquire and build a company in financial services, technology, business services and related sectors, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting firm or independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Law, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax-transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business's management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business's management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business's management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
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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.
The role of an acquisition candidate's key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate's management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
Of the net proceeds from our offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the sale of the forward purchase securities.$575,387,500 will be available to complete our business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which excludes up to approximately $18,112,500 after taking into account the deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account and the estimated expense of our offering).
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
• solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or
• dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
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We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. By definition, very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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 may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company's shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
We may seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (such that we are not subject to the SEC's "penny stock" rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsors, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company's pre-business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company's shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by 90% of the company's shareholders attending and voting at a general meeting. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares. Our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, who will collectively beneficially own, on an as converted basis, 20% of our Class A ordinary shares upon the closing of our offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in our offering), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Our sponsors, 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 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 do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in letter agreements that we have entered into with our sponsors, directors and each member of our management team. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsors, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
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In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, changed industry focus and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, meaning the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 65% of the public warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose 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 do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the net proceeds of our offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the forward purchase securities prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders and not previously released to us to pay our taxes on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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Our initial shareholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Subsequent to the closing of our offering, our initial shareholders own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares (assuming they do not purchase any units in our offering). Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. If our initial shareholders purchase any units in our offering or if our initial shareholders purchase any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our initial shareholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsors, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a terms for three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual general meeting to appoint new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual general meeting, as a consequence of our "staggered" board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our initial shareholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. 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. Accordingly, our initial shareholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to complete an initial business combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, if (i) we issue additional ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 and $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively. This may make it more difficult for us to complete an initial business combination with a target business.
Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IFRS"), depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB"). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some 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.
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Risks Relating to Our Securities
The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors' ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Although on an on-going basis after giving effect to our offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 400 public holders).
Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE's initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE's continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our shareholders' equity would generally be required to be at least $4.0 million. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
• a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
• reduced liquidity for our securities;
• a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a "penny stock" which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
• a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
• a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as "covered securities." Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants will qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute, and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a "group" of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a "group" (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the "Excess Shares." However, we would not be restricting our shareholders' ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
| · | restrictions on the nature of our investments; and |
| · | restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. |
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
| · | registration as an investment company; |
| · | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
| · | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations. |
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading "investment securities" constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
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We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States "government securities" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an "investment company" within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. Our offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (a) the completion of our initial business combination; (b) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering or (ii) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares; or (c) absent our completing an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public shareholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our commercially reasonable efforts to file a registration statement under the Securities Act covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case the number of Class A ordinary shares that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum number of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no such warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, unless an exemption from state registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a "covered security" under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a "cashless basis" in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will be required to use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws and there is no exemption available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the warrants included as part of units sold in our offering. In such an instance, our sponsors and their transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to sell the ordinary shares underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying ordinary shares. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the warrants included as part of units sold in our offering. In such an instance, our sponsors and their transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to sell the ordinary shares underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying ordinary shares. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
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Our ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis after we call the warrants for redemption or if there is no effective registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants will cause holders to receive fewer Class A ordinary shares upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to pay the exercise price of their warrants in cash.
If we call the warrants for redemption, we will have the option, in our sole discretion, to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a cashless basis. If we choose to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis or if holders elect to do so when there is no effective registration statement, the number of Class A ordinary shares received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his or her warrant for cash. For example, if the holder is exercising 875 public warrants at $11.50 per share through a cashless exercise when the Class A ordinary shares have a fair market value of $17.50 per share when there is no effective registration statement, then upon the cashless exercise, the holder will receive 300 Class A ordinary shares. The holder would have received 875 Class A ordinary shares if the exercise price was paid in cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential "upside" of the holder's investment in our company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of Class A ordinary shares upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within twenty business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our offering, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder shares and the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. Pursuant to the forward purchase agreement, we have agreed to use our reasonable best efforts (i) to file within 30 days after the closing of the initial business combination a resale shelf registration statement with the SEC for a secondary offering of the forward purchase shares and the forward purchase warrants (and underlying Class A ordinary shares), (ii) to cause such registration statement to be declared effective promptly thereafter, (iii) to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement until the earliest of (A) the date on which Cannae Holdings or its assignee cease to hold the securities covered thereby, and (B) the date all of the securities covered thereby can be sold publicly without restriction or limitation under Rule 144 under the Securities Act and (iv) after such registration statement is declared effective, cause us to conduct underwritten offerings, subject to certain limitations. In addition, the forward purchase agreement provides for certain "piggy-back" registration rights to the holders of forward purchase securities to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares that is expected when the securities owned by our initial shareholders or their permitted transferees are registered.
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We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preferred shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorizes the issuance of up to 400,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 40,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preferred shares, par value $0.0001 per share. There exist 348,250,000 and 27,062,500 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants and the forward purchase warrants, shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares or shares issued upon the sale of the forward purchase shares. The Class B ordinary shares are automatically convertible into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the completion of our initial business combination as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. As of December 31, 2020, there are no preferred shares issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preferred shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares to redeem the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preferred shares:
| · | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our offering; |
| · | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preferred shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares; |
| · | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; |
| · | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants; and |
| · | will not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants. |
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Unlike most other similarly structured blank check companies, our initial shareholders will receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue shares to complete an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the completion of our initial business combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of our ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of this offering, plus (ii) the sum of (a) the total number of ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or deemed issued by the Company in connection with or in relation to the completion of the initial business combination (including the forward purchase shares, but not the forward purchase warrants), excluding (1) any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and (2) any private placement warrants issued to our sponsors or any of their affiliates upon conversion of working capital loans, minus (b) the number of public shares redeemed by public shareholders in connection with our initial business combination. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one to one. This is different than most other similarly structured blank check companies in which the initial shareholders will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial business combination.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders' investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
| · | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
| · | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
| · | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; |
| · | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding; |
| · | our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares; |
| · | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions and fund other general corporate purposes; |
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| · | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
| · | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
| · | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements and execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
Our sponsors paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class A ordinary shares.
The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the Class A ordinary share and none to the one-third of a warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per Class A ordinary share after our offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in our offering. Our sponsors acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon closing of our offering, and assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units, you and the other public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 96.2% (or $9.62 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters' over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.38 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the founder shares result in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the founder shares at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A ordinary shares.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants and forward purchase warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of our Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our 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 will provide that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants and forward purchase warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants and forward purchase warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the Market Value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsors or their permitted transferees.
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In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 17,250,000 Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered by in our offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 8,233,334 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share. We will also issue 2,500,000 forward purchase warrants concurrently with the closing of the sale of the forward purchase shares. Our initial shareholders currently own an aggregate of 12,937,500 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsors make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. Our public warrants are also redeemable by us for Class A ordinary shares as described in our prospectus.
To the extent we issue Class A ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants when exercised will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsors or their permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsors until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) are subject to registration rights.
Because each unit contains one-third of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-third of one warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. 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 the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one third of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if it included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
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Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions will include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our Class B ordinary shares, which have been issued to our sponsors, are entitled to vote on the appointment of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Risks Relating to Our Management
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive 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 their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Moreover, certain of our directors and executive officers have time and attention requirements for private investment funds of which affiliates of Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners are the investment managers. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
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Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel's retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. In particular, certain of our officers and directors are employed by affiliates of Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners, which are investment managers to various private investment funds that make investments in securities or other interests of or relating to companies in industries we may target for our initial business combination. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers' and directors' other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including other blank check companies, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we complete our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. 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, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. In particular, certain of our directors have fiduciary and contractual duties to other blank check companies. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
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In particular, certain of our officers and directors have fiduciary and contractual duties to other blank check companies, Foley Trasimene Accquisition Corp I (“Foley Trasimene”), Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II ("Foley Trasimene II"), Austerlitz Acquisition Corporation I ("Austerlitz I") and Austerlitz Acquisition Corporation II ("Austerlitz II"). Foley Trasimene II may seek to complete a business combination in any location and are focusing on the financial technology industry for a business combination. Further, Mr. Foley serves as a director of Foley Trasimene II, Austerlitz I and Austerlitz II. Further, Mr. Martire serves as a director of Foley Trasimene I. Further, Mr. Linehan serves as a director of Foley Trasimene II.
In addition, our founders and our directors and officers, Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners or their affiliates may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to such other blank check companies prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any business combination 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 the Company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsors, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us, including the formation or participation in one or more other blank check companies. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors' and officers' discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our shareholders' best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders' rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsors, executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsors, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsors, executive officers, directors or existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under the section of this Report entitled " Conflicts of Interest." Our founders and our directors and officers, Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners or their affiliates 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. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in the section of this Report entitled " Business" and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsors, executive officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
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Since our sponsors, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after our offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On February 18, 2020, the sponsors paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 10,781,250 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. On June 16, 2020, we effected a share dividend with respect to our Class B ordinary shares thereof, resulting in our initial shareholders holding an aggregate of 12,937,500 founder shares. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsors, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our offering. On June 11, 2020, our sponsors transferred 25,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees at their original purchase price. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsors have committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate 8,233,334 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of $11,000,000 (or $12,350,000 if the underwriters' over-allotment option is exercised in full), or $1.50 per whole warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Holders of founder shares have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (B) not to redeem any founder shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsors, affiliates of our sponsors or an officer or director, and we may pay our sponsors, officers, directors and any of their respective affiliates fees and expenses in connection with identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination.
The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month anniversary of the closing of our offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial business combination.
Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
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If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
| · | costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets; |
| · | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
| · | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
| · | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
| · | exchange listing and/or delisting requirements; |
| · | tariffs and trade barriers; |
| · | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
| · | local or regional economic policies and market conditions; |
| · | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
| · | longer payment cycles; |
| · | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
| · | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
| · | rates of inflation; |
| · | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
| · | cultural and language differences; |
| · | employment regulations; |
| · | underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems; |
| · | corruption; |
| · | protection of intellectual property; |
| · | social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances; |
| · | regime changes and political upheaval; |
| · | terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; |
| · | deterioration of political relations with the United States; and |
| · | government appropriation of assets. |
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We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the Company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue will be derived from our operations in such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and legal policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country's economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to complete our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business' ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following the completion of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the completion of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to complete such transaction.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.
In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.
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General Risk Factors
Our Warrants and FPA are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our Warrants and FPA could have a material effect on our financial results. Our Class A ordinary shares are classified between temporary and permanent equity at each period.
On April 12, 2021, the Acting Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Acting Chief Accountant of the SEC together issued a statement regarding the accounting and reporting considerations for warrants issued by special purpose acquisition companies entitled “Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”)” (the “SEC Statement”). Specifically, the SEC Statement focused on certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers following a business combination, which terms are similar to those contained in the warrant agreement governing our warrants. As a result of the SEC Statement, we reevaluated the accounting treatment of our 17,250,000 public warrants, and 8,233,334 private placement warrants, and our FPA and determined to classify the warrants and FPA as derivative liabilities measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings.
Following the reevaluation of the accounting treatment for our public warrants, private placement warrants and FPA, in connection with the preparation of the Company's financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021, we reevaluated the classification of our Class A ordinary shares between temporary equtiy and permanent equity.
As a result, included on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2020 contained elsewhere in this Annual Report are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within our warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), provides for the remeasurement of the fair value of such derivatives at each balance sheet date, with a resulting non-cash gain or loss related to the change in the fair value being recognized in earnings in the statement of operations. As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors, which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
Following this issuance of the SEC Statement, on April 22, 2021, after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management and our audit committee concluded that, in light of the SEC Statement, it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2020. In addition, on June 1, 2021, after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management and our audit committee concluded that in light of the further restatement to the classification of the Company's Class A ordinary shares between temporary and permanent equity, it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2021. See “—Our Warrants and FPA are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results. Our Class A ordinary shares are classified between temporary and permanent equity at each period.” As part of such process, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
We may face litigation and other risks as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
Following the issuance of the SEC Statement, our management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and for the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. In addition, on June 1, 2021, and June [ ], 2021, after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management and our audit committee concluded that in light of the further restatement to the classification of the Company's Class A ordinary shares between temporary and permanent equity, it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2021. See “—Our warrants and FPA are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants and FPA could have a material effect on our financial results. Our Class A ordinary shares are classified between temporary and permanent equity at each period.” As part of the Restatement, we identified material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting.
As a result of these material weaknesses and the related restatements to the change in accounting for the Warrants and FPA, and the reclassification of Class A ordinary shares between temporary and permanent equity, and other matters raised or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the restatements and material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Amendment, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or our ability to complete a Business Combination.
There have been and may in the future be changes to current accounting practices for SPACs, which could result in further changes to our financial statements and disclosures, and which could have a material adverse impact.
Recently, there have been changes to the accepted accounting for SPACs. For example, on April 12, 2021, the staff of the SEC issued the SEC Warrant Accounting Statement, which resulted in the warrants and other related instruments issued by many SPACs, including us, being classified as liabilities rather equity. In connection with the SEC Statement and following the process of evaluating the accounting of the Company’s outstanding warrants and FPA, the Company also determined that it was necessary to restate its financial statements to reclassify Class A ordinary shares between temporary equity and permanent equity. Further changes in the accepted accounting treatment of features related to SPACs may occur in the future. Changes or differing interpretations in the accepted accounting practices related to SPACs could result in the recognition of additional accounting errors in previously issued financial statements, further restatements of previously issued audited financial statements, the filing of notices that previously issued financial statements may not be relied upon, and additional findings of material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting, all or any of which could have a material adverse impact on us.
We have received a notice of non-compliance with a continued listing standard from the NYSE. Our securities could be delisted or suspended from trading on the NYSE if we do not regain compliance with continued listing criteria with which we are currently not compliant or if we fail to meet any other continued listing criteria.
On May 25, 2021, we received a notice (the “NYSE Notice”) from the NYSE indicating that the Company was not in compliance with Section 802.01E of the NYSE Listed Company Manual as a result of its failure to timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (the “Form 10- Q”) with the SEC. The NYSE Notice has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s securities on the NYSE.
Under the NYSE’s rules, the Company can regain compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing requirements by filing the Form 10-Q with the SEC at any time within six months of its due date. If the Company fails to file the Form 10-Q by that date, the NYSE may grant, in its sole discretion, a further extension of up to six additional months for the Company to regain compliance, depending on the specific circumstances. We can give no assurances that we will be able to address our non-compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standards or, even if we do, that we will be able to maintain the listing of our securities. Our securities could be delisted because we do not regain compliance or because we become out of compliance with other NYSE listing standards.
If our securities ultimately were to be delisted for any reason, it would negatively impact us by (i) reducing the liquidity and market price of our securities; and (ii) reducing the number of investors willing to hold or acquire our securities, which would negatively impact our ability to raise equity financing, which would negatively affect our liquidity and results of operations.
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a recently incorporated company formed under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through our offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our independent registered public accounting firm's report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2020, we had $843,643 in cash and working capital of $440,383. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our financing and acquisition plans. Management's plans to address this need for capital are discussed in the section of this report titled “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial business combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.
Past performance by Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners, or their respective affiliates (including the founders and our management team), including our management team, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners or their affiliates, is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance of Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners, their affiliates or our management team is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may complete. You should not rely on the historical record of Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners, their affiliates or our management team's performance as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. An investment in us is not an investment in Trasimene Capital and Bridgeport Partners or their affiliates.
We may be a passive foreign investment company, or "PFIC," which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder (as defined in the section of our prospectus captioned "Certain Tax Considerations—Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—U.S. Holders") of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. Holder may be subject to certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception (see the section of our prospectus captioned "Certain Tax Considerations—Certain United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—U.S. Holders—PFIC Rules"). Depending on the particular circumstances, the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurance with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") may require, including a PFIC annual information statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a qualified electing fund ("QEF") election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. investors to consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
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After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an "emerging growth company" within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although
circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the Market Value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of any June 30th before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
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 ordinary shares held by non-affiliates does not equal or exceed $250.0 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues did not equal or exceed $100.0 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates did not equal or exceed $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2021. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or executive officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.
We have been advised by our Cayman Islands legal counsel that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
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As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, upon the listing of our shares on the NYSE, the NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
After completion of our offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. As a result, the NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Under the NYSE corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a 'controlled company' and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that: we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of the NYSE; we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities; and we have a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities.
We do not intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE, subject to applicable phase-in rules. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance requirements.
We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.
We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue generating activities to compliance activities.
Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the statements contained in this Report may constitute "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the federal securities laws. 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 Report 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;
• the proceeds of the forward purchase securities being available to us;
• 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;
• 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 our offering.
The forward-looking statements contained in this Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the section of this Report entitled "Risk Factors." Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
| Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments |
None.
| Item 2. | Properties |
We currently maintain our executive offices at 41 Madison Avenue, Suite 2020, New York, NY 10010. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to BGPT Trebia LP for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
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| Item 3. | Legal Proceedings |
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity.
| Item 4. | Mine Safety Disclosures |
Not applicable
| Item 5. | Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities |
Market Information
Our Units began trading on the NYSE under the symbol "TREB.U" on June 16, 2020. Commencing on August 6, 2020, holders of the Units could elect to separately trade the shares of Class A common stock and Warrants included in the Units. The shares of the Class A common stock and Warrants that are separated, trade on the NYSE under the symbols "TREB" and "TREB WS," respectively. Those Units not separated continue to trade on the NYSE under the symbol "TREB.U."
Holders
At March 31, 2021, there was one holder of record of our Units, one holder of record of our Class A common stock and five holders of record of our Class B common stock.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
None.
Use of Proceeds
On June 19, 2020, we consummated our Initial Public Offering of 51,750,000 Units, inclusive of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their overallotment option to purchase an additional 6,750,000 Units. The Units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit, generating total gross proceeds of $517,500,000. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and BofA Securities, Inc. acted as the joint book-running managers. Moelis & Co acted as co-manager. The securities sold in the offering were registered under the Securities Act on registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-238824). The SEC declared the registration statement effective on June 16, 2020.
Of the gross proceeds received from the Initial Public Offering, $517,500,000 was placed in the Trust Account. Transaction costs amounted to $29,241,089, consisting of $10,350,000 of underwriting fees, $18,112,500 of deferred underwriting fees and $778,589 of other offering costs. was placed in the Trust Account.
There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from the Initial Public Offering as described in our final prospectus dated June 19, 2020, which was filed with the SEC.
| Item 6. | Selected Financial Data |
Pursuant to Release No. 33-10890 (including the transition guidance therein), which was adopted by the SEC on November 19, 2020, the Company has elected to exclude the disclosures formerly required by this Item 6.
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| Item 7. | Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
Trebia Acquisition Corp. (the "Company") is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on February 11, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our initial Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the private placement of the Private Placement Warrants, 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.
The registration statements for the Company’s Initial Public Offering became effective on June 16, 2020. On June 19, 2020, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 51,750,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 6,750,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $517,500,000. Each Unit consists of one share of our Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The registration statements for the Company’s Initial Public Offering became effective on June 16, 2020. On June 19, 2020, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 51,750,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 6,750,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $517,500,000. The proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants were added to the net proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account.
Following our Initial Public Offering, the full exercise of the over-allotment option and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $517,500,000 was placed in the Trust Account. Transaction costs amounted to $29,241,089, consisting of $10,350,000 of underwriting fees, $18,112,500 of deferred underwriting fees and $778,589 of other offering costs.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our initial Business Combination. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete our initial Business Combination will be successful.
Restatement
Pursuant to Amendment No. 1, the Company restated its historical financial statements for such periods to reclassify its Warrants and FPA as derivative liabilities pursuant to ASC 815-40 rather than as components of equity as the Company previously treated the Warrants and FPA. This Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) in this Amendment has been amended and restated to give effect to the Restatement of our audited financial statements for as of and for the period ended December 31, 2020 ("Restatement") and the unaudited quarterly information included in those audited financial statements. The Company has restated its historical financial results for such periods to reclassify the Class A ordinary shares between temporary equity and permanent equity. The Company previously determined the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption to be equal to the redemption value of approximately $10.00 per share of Class A ordinary shares while also taking into consideration the requirement in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that a redemption cannot cause the Company's net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of the business combination. In connection with the preparation of the Company's financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021, the Company evaluated the maximum redemption in conjunction with the FPA that is expected to close substantially concurrent with an initial business combination, which would result in an additional $75,000,000 in net tangible assets. The impact of the Restatement is reflected in MD&A below. Other than as disclosed in the Explanatory Note and with respect to the Restatement, no other information in this Item 7 has been amended and this Item 7 does not reflect any events occurring after the Original Form 10-K or Amendment No.1 as applicable. The impact of the Restatement is more fully described in Note 2 to the Company’s financial statements included in Item 15 of Part IV of this Amendment.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for our Initial Public Offering and identifying a target company for our initial Business Combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial Business Combination. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as expenses as we conduct due diligence on prospective Business Combination candidates.
For the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $29,914,748, which consists of formation and operating costs.
For the three months ended September 30, 2020, we had a net loss of $943,771 which consists of the changes in fair value of the warrant and FPA liabilities of $770,616 and an operating loss of $173,155.
For the period February 11, 2020 (inception) through September 30, 2020, we had a net loss of $9,432,442 which consists of the changes in fair value of the warrant and FPA liabilities of $7,841,370 and an operating loss, including an allocation of offering expenses to the warrants and FPA liabilities, of $1,591,072.
For the period February 11, 2020 (inception) through June 30, 2020, we had a net loss of $8,488,691 which consists of the changes in fair value of the warrant and FPA liabilities of $7,070,754 and an operating loss, including an allocation of offering expenses to the warrants and FPA liabilities, of $1,417,937.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Until the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, the Company’s only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of Class B ordinary shares by our sponsor and loans from our sponsor.
For the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $402,768. Net loss of $29,914,748 which consists of a non-cash loss on the change in fair value of the Warrants of $17,328,667, non-cash loss on the change in fair value of the FPA of $10,399,002 and formation and operating costs of $2,187,079.
As of December 31, 2020, we had cash of $517,500,000 held in the Trust Account. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account (less taxes paid and deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our initial Business Combination. We may withdraw interest to pay taxes. During the period ended December 31, 2020, we did not withdraw any interest earned on the Trust Account. To the extent that our capital stock 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.
As of December 31, 2020, we had cash of $843,643 outside of the Trust Account. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with our initial Business Combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that our initial Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants identical to the Private Placement Warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender.
In June 5, 2020, the Company entered into the FPA with Cannae Holdings, a diversified holding company which is externally managed by Trasimene Capital Management, LLC but is not an affiliate of the Company or the Sponsors, pursuant to which Cannae Holdings will purchase Class A ordinary shares in an aggregate share amount equal to 7,500,000 Class A ordinary shares, plus an aggregate of 2,500,000 redeemable warrants to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $75,000,000, or $10.00 per Class A ordinary share, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of the Business Combination. The warrants to be issued as part of the FPA will be identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our offering. In connection with the forward purchase securities sold to Cannae Holdings, the Sponsors will receive (by way of an adjustment to their existing Class B ordinary shares) an aggregate number of additional Class B ordinary shares so that the initial shareholders, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, will hold 20% of the Company's Class A ordinary shares at the time of the closing of the Business Combination. The obligations under the forward purchase agreement do not depend on whether any Class A ordinary shares are redeemed by the public shareholders.
Under the forward purchase agreement, the Company will provide a right of first offer to Cannae Holdings, if the Company proposes to raise additional capital by issuing any equity, or securities convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities, other than the units and certain excluded securities. In addition, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of a Business Combination, Cannae Holdings has agreed under the forward purchase agreement to vote any Class A ordinary shares owned by Cannae Holdings in favor of any proposed initial Business Combination.
We will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. Our officers, directors and sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet our working capital needs. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain additional financing. If we are unable to raise additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to us on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
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In March 2020, the World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, based on the rapid increase in exposure globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve. The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our results of operations, financial position and cash flows will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the outbreak, related advisories and restrictions, and the availability of a vaccine. These developments and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the financial markets and the overall economy are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. If the financial markets and/or the overall economy continue to be impacted for an extended period, our ability to complete our initial Business Combination may be materially adversely affected due to significant governmental measures being implemented to contain the COVID-19 outbreak or treat its impact, including travel restrictions, and the shutdown of businesses and quarantines, among others, which may limit our ability to have meetings with potential investors or affect the ability of a potential target company's personnel, vendors and service providers to negotiate and consummate our initial Business Combination in a timely manner.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements within the meaning of the applicable SEC rules as of December 31, 2020. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of our sponsors a monthly fee up to $10,000 for office space and administrative support services. We began incurring these fees on the closing of our offering and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of the Business Combination and our liquidation.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $18,112,500 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
On June 5, 2020, the Company entered into the FPA with Cannae Holdings, a diversified holding company which is externally managed by Trasimene Capital Management, LLC but is not an affiliate of the Company or the Sponsors, pursuant to which Cannae Holdings will purchase Class A ordinary shares in an aggregate share amount equal to 7,500,000 Class A ordinary shares, plus an aggregate of 2,500,000 redeemable warrants to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $75,000,000, or $10.00 per Class A ordinary share, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of the Business Combination. The warrants to be issued as part of the forward purchase agreement will be identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our offering. In connection with the forward purchase securities sold to Cannae Holdings, the Sponsors will receive (by way of an adjustment to their existing Class B ordinary shares) an aggregate number of additional Class B ordinary shares so that the initial shareholders, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, will hold 20% of the Company's Class A ordinary shares at the time of the closing of the Business Combination. The obligations under the forward purchase agreement do not depend on whether any Class A ordinary shares are redeemed by the public shareholders.
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Under the forward purchase agreement, the Company will provide a right of first offer to Cannae Holdings, if the Company proposes to raise additional capital by issuing any equity, or securities convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities, other than the units and certain excluded securities. In addition, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of a Business Combination, Cannae Holdings has agreed under the forward purchase agreement to vote any Class A ordinary shares owned by Cannae Holdings in favor of any proposed initial Business Combination.
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:
Warrant and FPA Liability
The Company accounts for the Warrants and FPA as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the specific terms of the Warrants and the FPA and applicable authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the Warrants and FPA are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the Warrants and FPA are indexed to the Company’s own ordinary shares and whether the holders of the Warrants could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of issuance of the Warrants and execution of the FPA and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the Warrants and FPA are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, such 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, liability-classified warrants are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of such warrants are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations.
We account for the Warrants and FPAs in accordance with ASC 815-40 under which the Warrants and FPAs do not meet the criteria for equity classification and must be recorded as liabilities. The fair value of the Public Warrants has been estimated using the Public Warrants’ quoted market price. The fair value of the Private Placement Warrants is estimated using the value of the Public Warrants’ quoted market price. The fair value of the FPAs has been estimated using a probability-weighted discounted cash flow approach. See Note 9 to the Company’s financial statements included in Item 15 of Part IV of this Amendment for further discussion of the pertinent terms of the Warrants and Note 10 to those financial statements for further discussion of the methodology used to determine the value of the Warrants and FPA.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” The Company’s conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of its control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2020, 51,162,254 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Net (Loss) per Common Share
We apply the two-class method in calculating earnings per share. Net loss per common share, basic and diluted for Class A redeemable ordinary shares is calculated by dividing the interest income earned on the Trust Account, net of applicable taxes, by the weighted average number of shares of Class A redeemable ordinary shares outstanding for the period. Net loss per ordinary share, basic and diluted for and Class B non-redeemable ordinary shares is calculated by dividing net loss less income attributable to Class A redeemable ordinary share, by the weighted average number of shares of Class B non-redeemable ordinary shares outstanding for the period presented.
Recent Accounting Standards
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.
| Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk |
As of December 31, 2020, we were not subject to any market or interest rate risk. Following the consummation of our Initial Public Offering, the net proceeds received into the Trust Account, have been invested in cash. Due to the nature of the cash, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
| Item 8. | Financial Statements and Supplementary Data |
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference. As discussed in the Explanatory Note to this Amendment, we have restated our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 and certain unaudited financial information included in those financial statements. The impact of the Restatement is more fully described in Note 2 to the Company’s financial statements included in Item 15 of Part IV of this Amendment.
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| 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 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 company reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. In preparation of our financial statements for the period covered by this Amendment, we identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting related to our control environment that existed as of December 31, 2020 as described below.
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020. Based upon this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal 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 not effective as of December 31, 2020, due to the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting with respect to the classification of the Company's Warrants or FPAs as components of equity instead of as derivative liabilities, which was reflected in Amendment No. 1, and the re-classification of the Company's Class A ordinary shares between temporary equity and permanent equity. In light of these material weaknesses, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Amendment present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
We are in the process of remediating the material weakenesses identified by standardizing our controls over accounting and financial reporting and formalizing our review process related to non-routine transactions and reviews of accounting estimates performed by external specialists.
Internal Control over Financial Reporting
This Amendment does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Other than as noted below, during the most recently completed fiscal quarter, there has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting, as the circumstances that led to the restatement of our financial statements described in this Amendment had not yet been identified. Management has implemented remediation steps to address the material weakenesses and to improve our internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, we expanded and improved our review process for complex securities and related accounting standards. We plan to further improve this process by enhancing access to accounting literature, identification of third-party professionals with whom to consult regarding complex accounting applications and consideration of additional staff with the requisite experience and training to supplement existing accounting professionals.
| Item 9B. | Other Information |
None.
PART III
| Item 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance |
Our directors and executive officers are as follows:
| Name | Age | Position | ||
| William P. Foley, II | 76 | Co-Founder and Director | ||
| Frank R. Martire, Jr. | 73 | Co-Founder and Director | ||
| Paul Danola | 68 | President | ||
| Tanmay Kumar | 32 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
| Lance Levy | 53 | Director | ||
| Mark D. Linehan | 58 | Director | ||
| James B. Stallings | 65 | Director |
William P. Foley, II is a co-founder and has served as a director of the Company since February 2020. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of Cannae Holdings since July 2017. Mr. Foley is a founder of FNF, and has served as the Chairman of the board of directors of FNF since 1984. Mr. Foley serves as a Senior Managing Director of Trasimene Capital. He served as Chief Executive Officer of FNF until May 2007 and as President of FNF until December 1994. Mr. Foley also serves as the Chairman of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp I since May 2020, and he was previously Executive Chairman of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp I from March 2020 until May 2020. Mr. Foley also serves as the Chairman of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II from July 2020. Mr. Foley has served as a Director of Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. I since December 2020. Mr. Foley has served as founder and Director of Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. II since January 2021. Mr. Foley also serves as Chairman of Black Knight since December 2019, and served as the Executive Chairman of Black Knight Inc. (“Black Knight”) from January 2014 to December 2019 and as the co-Executive Chairman of FGL Holdings Inc. from April 2016 to June 2020. Mr. Foley also previously served as a director of Ceridian from September 2013 to August 2019. Mr. Foley also serves as the Chairman of Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (NYSE: DNB), which is a Cannae Holdings portfolio company. Mr. Foley also serves as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Foley Family Wines Holdings, Inc., a private holding company for numerous vineyards and wineries, and the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Black Knight Sports and Entertainment LLC, which is the private company that owns the Vegas Golden Knights, a National Hockey League team. Within the past five-years, Mr. Foley served as the Vice Chairman of Fidelity National Information Systems (“FIS”) (NYSE: FIS) and as the Chairman of Remy. After receiving his B.S. degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Foley served in the U.S. Air Force, where he attained the rank of captain. Mr. Foley’s qualifications to serve on our Board include more than 30 years as a director and executive officer of FNF, his long and deep knowledge of our business and industry, his strategic vision, his experience as a Board member and executive officer of public and private companies in a wide variety of industries, and his strong track record of building and maintaining stockholder value and successfully negotiating and implementing mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Foley provides high-value added services to our Board and has sufficient time to focus on the company.
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Frank R. Martire, Jr. is a co-founder and has served as a director of the Company since February 2020. He has served as a director of Foley Trasimene since May 2020. In addition, he has served as a director of Cannae Holdings since November 2017. Mr. Martire has served as the Executive Chairman of NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) since May 2018. Mr. Martire served as Chairman of FIS from January 2017 until May 2018, and as Executive Chairman of FIS from January 2015 through December 2016. Mr. Martire served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of FIS from April 2012 until January 2015. Mr. Martire joined FIS as President and Chief Executive Officer after its acquisition of Metavante in October 2009, where he had served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since January 2003. Mr. Martire served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Call Solutions, Inc. from 2001 to 2003 and President and Chief Operating Officer, Financial Institution Systems and Services Group of Fiserv from 1991 to 2001. Mr. Martire's qualifications to serve on our board of directors include his years of experience in providing technology solutions to the banking industry, particularly his experience with FIS and Metavante, his knowledge of and contacts in the financial services industry, his strong leadership abilities and experience in driving growth and results in large complex business organizations.
Paul Danola has served as President of the Company since February 2020. Mr. Danola has been a Partner of Bridgeport Partners since February 2020. Mr. Danola served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Threshold Consulting LLC from February 2017 until February 2020 and served as an independent contractor for Catalyst Consulting Group and Advent International Corporation from 2013 until February 2020. Mr. Danola has over 40 years of experience in strategy, sales and operations with vast M&A experience spanning three decades at FIS, Metavante, Fiserv and Citicorp. In his prior roles, he has been a leader of business segments including wealth management, core banking, business analytics, delivery channel optimization, enterprise risk management and consulting. Mr. Danola has also served as a director of Junior Achievement of Wisconsin since May 2006 and as a director of Friendship Circle of Wisconsin since March 2019.
Tanmay Kumar has served as Chief Financial Officer of the Company since February 2020 and has served as a Partner of Bridgeport Partners since November 2019. Mr. Kumar was a Principal at Motive from July 2019 to November 2019 and prior to that was a Vice President at Wafra, Inc. in the Alternative Investments Division from August 2014 to April 2019. Mr. Kumar has over 10 years of transaction experience across private and public markets with a particular focus on financial services and technology companies. Mr. Kumar has also served as a director of Newest York Arts Press, Inc. since June 2017.
Lance Levy serves as a director of Trebia Acquisition Corp. and has served as Chief Executive Officer of Capco, a specialized global management consultancy, focused exclusively on the financial services industry, since 2015. Prior to joining Capco, Mr. Levy served on the Executive Team of FIS as Head of Consulting Services and spent more than 15 years at Accenture, where he was a member of the Financial Services Leadership Team and the Accenture Leadership Council. At Accenture Lance held the position of Accenture's Senior Managing Director of Financial Services in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Prior to this role, he served for many years as Accenture's Global Head of Sales in Financial Services.
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Mark D. Linehan serves as a director of Trebia Acquisition Corp and has served as a director of Cannae Holdings since September 2019. Mr. Linehan has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Wynmark, a private real estate investment and development company, since he founded the company in 1993. Prior to founding Wynmark, he served as a Senior Vice President with Trammell Crow Company (“Trammell”) in Los Angeles, California. Prior to working for Trammell, Mr. Linehan worked for Kenneth Leventhal, a Los Angeles-based public accounting firm specializing in the real estate industry which is now part of Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Linehan serves on the board of directors of Hudson Pacific since 2010, and previously served on the board of directors of Condor Hospitality from March 2016 to December 2017. In addition, Mr. Linehan serves as a Director of Direct Relief. Mr. Linehan has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics from UCSB and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Linehan's qualifications to serve on our board include more than 25 years of business management and leadership experience, his experience as an entrepreneur and his strategic vision and innovation.
James B. Stallings serves as a director of Trebia Acquisition Corp. and has served as a director of Cannae Holdings since January 2018. He also has served as a Director of UGI since 2015 and as a Director of FIS since 2013. Since 2013, Mr. Stallings has been a Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer of PS27 Ventures, a private investment fund focused on technology companies. From 2009 until his retirement in January 2013, Mr. Stallings served as General Manager of Global Markets in IBM's Systems and Technology Group. From 2002 to 2009, Mr. Stallings served in a variety of roles at IBM, including General Manager, Enterprise Systems, IBM Systems and Technology Group. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Stallings founded and ran E House, a consumer technology company, and prior to that, Mr. Stallings worked for Physician Sales & Services, a medical supplier. From 1984 to 1996, Mr. Stallings worked in various capacities for IBM. Mr. Stallings's qualifications to serve on our board include more than 25 years of experience in the information technology industry, including leadership roles in business management, strategy and innovation, his experience as an entrepreneur and his financial expertise.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors will be 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 general meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Lance Levy, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mark D. Linehan and James B. Stallings, will expire at our second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of William P. Foley, II and Frank R. Martire, Jr., will expire at our third annual general meeting. We may not hold an annual general meeting 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.
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 amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of 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
NYSE 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. Our board of directors has determined that Lance Levy, Mark D. Linehan and James B. Stallings are "independent directors" as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
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Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of completion of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will reimburse BGPT Trebia LP for office space and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month. In addition, our sponsors, 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. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsors, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and completing an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder's and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsors, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or 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 directors or 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
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our board of directors will have three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A 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 the NYSE require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
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Audit Committee
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish an audit committee of the board of directors. Mark D. Linehan, Lance Levy and James B. Stallings will serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark D. Linehan, Lance Levy and James B. Stallings is independent under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Mark D. Linehan will serve as the chairman of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mark D. Linehan qualifies as an "audit committee financial expert" as defined in applicable SEC rules.
The primary functions of the audit committee include:
| · | appointing, determining compensation 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; | |
| · | 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; | |
| · | monitoring our environmental sustainability and governance practices; |
| · | 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 with 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. |
Compensation Committee
The members of our compensation committee are Frank R. Martire, Jr. and Thomas M. Hagerty, and Frank R. Martire, Jr. serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
Our board of directors has determined that each of Frank R. Martire, Jr. and Thomas M. Hagerty are independent in accordance with the NYSE listing standards and for the purposes of serving on the compensation committee.
The principal functions of the compensation committee include:
| · | 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 common stock under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act (the “Section 16 Officers”), as designated by our board of directors; |
| · | making recommendations to the board 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; |
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| · | 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, if required in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. |
The charter of the compensation committee provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the NYSE and the SEC.
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.
Nominating Committee
Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which our prospectus forms a part, we will establish a nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our nominating committee will be Lance Levy and Mark D. Linehan, and Lance Levy will serve as chairman of the nominating committee. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Lance Levy and Mark D. Linehan is independent.
The nominating committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating committee considers persons identified by its members, management, shareholders, investment bankers and others.
Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees
The guidelines for selecting nominees, which will be specified a charter to be adopted by us, generally provide that persons to be nominated:
| · | should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service; |
| · | should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and |
| · | should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the shareholders. |
The nominating committee will consider a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person's candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by shareholders and other persons.
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Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. You can review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics applicable to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions in a Current Report on Form 8-K or posting such information on our website.
Conflicts of Interest
Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:
• duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole;
• duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;
• directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;
• duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders;
• duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and
• duty to exercise independent judgment.
In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.
As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsors, 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. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
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Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsors, 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. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
| Item 11. | Executive Compensation |
None of our executive officers or directors have received any compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of completion of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will reimburse BGPT Trebia LP for office space and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month. In addition, our sponsors, 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. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsors, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and completing an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsors, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with the combined company 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 directors or 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 the combined company 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 the combined company 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.
| Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
We have no compensation plans under which equity securities are authorized for issuance.
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The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 31, 2021, by:
| · | each person known by us to be a beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding common stock of, on an as-converted basis; |
| · | each of our officers and directors; and all of our officers and directors as a group. |
The following table is based on 64,687,500 shares of common stock outstanding at March 31, 2021, of which 51,750,000 were shares of Class A common stock and 12,937,500 were shares of Class B common stock. Unless otherwise indicated, it is believed that all persons named in the table below have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.
| Name and Address of Beneficial
Owner (1) | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned (2) | Percentage of Outstanding Common Stock | ||||||
| Trasimene Trebia LP (3) | 7,395,937 | 11.4 | % | |||||
| BGPT Trebia LP (4) | 5,466,563 | 8.4 | % | |||||
| William P. Foley, II (3) | 7,395,937 | 11.4 | % | |||||
| Frank R. Martire, Jr. (4) | 5,466,563 | 8.4 | % | |||||
| Frank Martire, III (4) | 5,466,563 | 8.4 | % | |||||
| Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC | 3,038,415 | 5.9 | % | |||||
| Ratan Capital Master Fund, Ltd | 2,883,500 | 5.5 | % | |||||
| Paul Danola | — | — | ||||||
| Tanmay Kumar | — | — | ||||||
| Lance Levy | 25,000 | * | ||||||
| Mark D. Linehan | 25,000 | * | ||||||
| James B. Stallings | 25,000 | * | ||||||
| All officers and directors as a group (7 individuals) | 12,937,500 | 20.0 | % | |||||
*Less than one percent
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our shareholders is 41 Madison Avenue, Suite 2020, New York, NY 10010
(2) Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B common stock. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A common stock on the first business day following the completion of our initial business combination. Excludes Class A common stock issuable pursuant to the forward purchase agreements, as such shares will only be issued concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination.
(3) Trasimene Trebia, LLC is the sole general partner of Trasimene Trebia, LP. Trasimene Trebia, LLC has sole voting and dispositive power over the founder shares owned by Trasimene Trebia, LP. William P. Foley, II is the sole member of Trasimene Trebia, LLC, and therefore may be deemed to beneficially own 7,395,937 founder shares and ultimately exercises voting and dispositive power over the founder shares held by Trasimene Trebia, LP. Mr. Foley disclaims beneficial ownership of these shares except to the extent of any pecuniary interest therein. The address of each of the entities and individuals in this footnote is 1701 Village Center Circle, Las Vegas, NV 89134. We currently expect that an affiliate of Cannae Holdings will have an approximately 26% limited partnership interest in Trasimene Trebia, LP. As a result, Cannae Holdings is expected to have an indirect economic interest in approximately 26% of the founder shares and private placement warrants owned by Trasimene Trebia, LP.
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(4) Bridgeport Partners GP LLC is the sole general partner of BGPT Trebia LP. Bridgeport Partners GP LLC has sole voting and dispositive power over the founder shares owned by BGPT Trebia LP. Each of Messrs. Frank R. Martire, Jr. and Frank Martire, III is a managing member of Bridgeport Partners GP LLC, and therefore may be deemed to beneficially own 5,466,563 founder shares and jointly exercises voting and dispositive power over the founder shares held by BGPT Trebia LP. Each of Messrs. Frank R. Martire, Jr. and Frank Martire, III disclaims beneficial ownership of these shares except to the extent of any pecuniary interest therein
| Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
Founder Shares
On February 18, 2020, the Sponsors purchased 10,781,250 of the Company's Class B ordinary shares (the "Founder Shares") for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On June 16, 2020, the Company effected a share dividend of 2,156,250 shares, resulting in the Sponsors holding an aggregate of 12,937,500 Founder Shares. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the share dividend. The Founder Shares included an aggregate of up to 1,687,500 shares subject to forfeiture by the Sponsors to the extent that the underwriters' over-allotment was not exercised in full or in part, so that the number of Founder Shares would collectively represent 20% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. As a result of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their over-allotment option, 1,687,500 Founder Shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
The Sponsors have agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of a Business Combination; and (B) subsequent to a Business Combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after a Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, amalgamation, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company's shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
Private Placement Warrants
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the sponsors purchased an aggregate of 8,233,334 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $12,350,000. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one share of Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants were added to the net proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants held in the Trust Account will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
Administrative Services
The Company entered into an agreement whereby, commencing on June 16, 2020, the Company will pay BGPT Trebia LP up to $10,000 per month for office space and administrative support services. Upon completion of a Business Combination or its liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. For the three months ended December 31, 2020 the Company incurred $30,000 of such fees and for the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the Company incurred $65,000 of such fees. As of December 31, 2020, $65,000 is included in accrued expenses in the accompanying balance sheet.
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Promissory Note
On February 18, 2020, the Company issued the Promissory Note to BGPT Trebia LP, pursuant to which the Company could borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $300,000, The Promissory Note was non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) January 31, 2021 or (ii) the completion of the Initial Public Offering. As of June 19, 2020, there was $150,000 outstanding under the Promissory Note, which was repaid in full on June 22, 2020.
Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsors or an affiliate of the Sponsors, or certain of the Company's officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required ("Working Capital Loans"). Such Working Capital Loans would be evidenced by promissory notes. The notes may be repaid upon completion of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender's discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted upon completion of a Business Combination into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant. Such warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. 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.
| Item 14. | Principal Accounting Fees and Services |
Fees for professional services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm since inception include:
| For
the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 | |||
| Audit Fees (1) | $ | 92,025 | |
| Audit-Related Fees (2) | — | ||
| Tax Fees (3) | — | ||
| All Other Fees (4) | — | ||
| Total Fees | $ | 92,025 |
(1) Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our financial statements and services that are normally provided by our independent registered public accounting firm in connection with statutory and regulatory filings.
(2) 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 consultation concerning financial accounting and reporting standards.
(3) Tax Fees. Tax fees consist of fees billed for professional services relating to tax compliance, tax planning and tax advice.
(4) All Other Fees. All other fees consist of fees billed for all other services.
Policy on Board Pre-Approval of Audit and Permissible Non-Audit Services of the Independent Auditors
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our IPO. 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 audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by Marcum LLP, 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).
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PART IV
| Item 15. | Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules and Reports on Form 8-K |
(a) (1) Financial Statements. Reference is made to the Index to the Financial Statements of Trebia Acquisition Corp. included in Item 8 of Part II above.
(a) (2) All other schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or not required, or because the required information is included in the Financial Statements or notes thereto.
(a) (3) 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 inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Description of Exhibits
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*Filed herewith
**Furnished herewith
| (1) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Form S-1 (File No. 333-238824), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1, 2020 |
| (2) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 16, 2020 and incorporated by reference herein |
| (3) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Amendment No. 1 to our Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-238824), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 11, 2020 |
| (4) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Original Report. |
| Item 16. | Form 10-K Summary |
None.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 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.
| TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP. |
| Dated: June 22, 2021 | By: | /s/ Tanmay Kumar |
| Name: | Tanmay Kumar | |
| Title: | Chief Financial Officer |
Pursuant to the requirements of 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.
| Signature | Title | Date | ||
| /s/ Paul Danola | President | June 22, 2021 | ||
| Paul Danola | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
| /s/ Tanmay Kumar | Chief Financial Officer | June 22, 2021 | ||
| Tanmay Kumar | (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | |||
| /s/ William P. Foley, II | Co-Founder and Director | June 22, 2021 | ||
| William P. Foley, II | ||||
| /s/ Frank R. Martire, Jr. | Co-Founder and Director | June 22, 2021 | ||
| Frank R. Martire, Jr. | ||||
| /s/ Lance Levy | Director | June 22, 2021 | ||
| Lance Levy | ||||
| /s/ Mark D. Linehan | Director | June 22, 2021 | ||
| Mark D. Linehan | ||||
| /s/ James B. Stallings | Director | June 22, 2021 | ||
| James B. Stallings |
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
Trebia Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Trebia Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in shareholders’ equity and cash flows for the period from February 11, 2020, (inception) through December 31, 2020, 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, 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Restatement of the 2020 Financial Statements
As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the accompanying financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and for the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 have been restated.
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 audits 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.
Marcum LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.
Philadelphia, PA
April 1, 2021, except for the effects of the restatement discussed in Notes 2, 3 and 10 as
to which the date is June 23, 2021
F-2
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
DECEMBER 31, 2020
| ASSETS | ||||
| Current Assets | ||||
| Cash | $ | 843,643 | ||
| Prepaid expenses | 209,790 | |||
| Total Current Assets | 1,053,433 | |||
| Cash held in Trust Account | 517,500,000 | |||
| Total Assets | $ | 518,553,433 | ||
| LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY | ||||
| Current liabilities – Accrued expenses | $ | 613,050 | ||
| Warrant Liability | 53,005,335 | |||
| FPA Liability | 10,654,540 | |||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | 18,112,500 | |||
Total Liabilities | 82,385,425 | |||
| Commitments and Contingencies | ||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, 51,162,254 shares at redemption value | 511,622,540 | |||
| Shareholders’ Equity | ||||
| Preference shares, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding | ||||
| Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 400,000,000 shares authorized, 587,746 issued and outstanding | 59 | |||
| Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 40,000,000 shares authorized; 12,937,500 shares issued and outstanding | 1,294 | |||
| Additional paid-in capital | 6,724,439 | |||
| Accumulated deficit | (82,180,324 | ) | ||
| Total Shareholders’ Equity | (75,454,532 | ) | ||
| Total Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity | $ | 518,553,433 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS (Restated)
FOR THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 11, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
| Formation and operating costs | $ | 806,028 | ||
| Loss from operations | (806,028 | ) | ||
| Other expense/loss | ||||
| Offering Costs Related to Warrants and FPA | (1,381,051 | ) | ||
| Loss on change in fair value of Warrant Liability | (17,328,667 | ) | ||
| Loss on change in fair value of FPA Liability | (10,399,002 | ) | ||
| Net loss | $ | (29,914,748 | ) | |
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 51,750,000 | |||
| Basic and diluted net loss per share, Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | $ | 0.00 | ||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Non-redeemable ordinary shares | 12,288,052 | |||
| Basic and diluted net loss per share, Non-redeemable ordinary shares | $ | (2.43 | ) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
FOR THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 11, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
| Class A Ordinary Shares | Class B Ordinary Shares | Additional Paid-in | Accumulated | Total Shareholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance – February 11, 2020 (inception) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to BGPT Trebia LP | — | — | 12,937,500 | 1,294 | 23,706 | — | 25,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Contribution in excess of fair value of private placement warrants | — | — | — | — | 823,332 | — | 823,332 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Offering costs allocated to equity in connection with IPO | — | — | — | — | — | (27,860,038 | ) | (27,860,038 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Initial Classification of Public Warrants | — | — | — | — | — | (24,150,000 | ) | (24,150,000 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Initial Classification of FPA Liability | — | — | — | — | — | (255,538 | ) | (255,538 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | — | — | — | — | (29,914,748 | ) | (29,914,748 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Change in value of ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 587,746 | 59 | — | — | 5,877,401 | — | 5,877,460 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance – December 31, 2020 | 587,746 | $ | 59 | 12,937,500 | $ | 1,294 | $ | 6,724,439 | $ | (82,180,324 | ) | $ | (75,454,532 | ) | ||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (Restated)
FOR THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 11, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||
| Net loss | $ | (29,914,748 | ) | |
| Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||
| Change in fair value of Warrant Liability | 17,328,667 | |||
| Change in fair value of FPA Liability | 10,399,002 | |||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||
| Prepaid expenses | (209,790 | ) | ||
| Accrued expenses | 613,050 | |||
| Net cash used in operating activities | (402,768 | ) | ||
| Cash Flows from Investing Activities: | ||||
| Investment of cash in Trust Account | (517,500,000 | ) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (517,500,000 | ) | ||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||
| Proceeds from issuance of Class B ordinary shares to BGPT Trebia LP | 25,000 | |||
| Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriting discounts paid | 507,150,000 | |||
| Proceeds from sale of Private Placement Warrants | 12,350,000 | |||
| Proceeds from promissory note – related party | 150,000 | |||
| Repayment of promissory note – related party | (150,000 | ) | ||
| Payment of offering costs | (778,589 | ) | ||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 518,746,411 | |||
| Net Change in Cash | 843,643 | |||
| Cash – Beginning | — | |||
| Cash – Ending | $ | 843,643 | ||
| Supplemental Disclosure of Non-Cash Investing and Financing Activities: | ||||
| Initial classification of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | $ | 517,500,000 | ||
| Change in value of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | $ | (5,877,460 | ) | |
Initial classification of warrant liability | $ | 35,676,668 | ||
| Initial classification of FPA liability | $ | 255,538 | ||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | $ | 18,112,500 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-6
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
DECEMBER 31, 2020
NOTE 1. ORGANIZATION AND PLAN OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Trebia Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on February 11, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (“Business Combination”).
Although the Company is not limited to a particular industry or geographic region for purposes of completing a Business Combination, the Company intends to focus on industries that complements the Sponsors’ (as defined below) and management team’s background in financial services, technology, software, data, analytics, services and related areas. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation, its initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), which is described below, and subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for a Business Combination. 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 registration statements for the Company’s Initial Public Offering became effective on June 16, 2020. On June 19, 2020, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 51,750,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 6,750,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $517,500,000 which is described in Note 4.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 8,233,334 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to Trasimene Trebia, LP, an affiliate of Trasimene Capital Management, LLC, and BGPT Trebia LP, an affiliate of Bridgeport Partners LLC (collectively the “Sponsors”), generating gross proceeds of $12,350,000, which is described in Note 4.
Transaction costs amounted to $29,241,089, consisting of $10,350,000 of underwriting fees, $18,112,500 of deferred underwriting fees and $778,589 of other offering costs.
Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on June 19, 2020, an amount of $517,500,000 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) located in the United States and invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds in the Trust Account to the Company’s shareholders, as described below.
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 Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward completing a Business Combination. The Company must complete its initial Business Combination with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting commissions held in the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into a Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-Business Combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination.
The Company will provide its 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. The shareholders will be entitled to redeem their shares for a pro rata portion of the amount held in the Trust Account (initially $10.00 per share), calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of a Business Combination, including 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.
The Company's Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption have been recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the IPO, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codifaction ("ASC") Topic 480 "Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity." In such case, the Company will proceed with an initial business combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination and, if the Company seeks shareholder approval, a majority of the issued and outstanding shares voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination.
F-7
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
If the Company seeks shareholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, it receives an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law approving a Business Combination, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who vote at a general meeting of the Company. If a shareholder vote is not required under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements and the Company does not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, conduct the redemptions 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. If the Company seeks shareholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the holders of the Company’s Founder Shares have agreed to vote their Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased in or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination and to waive their redemption rights with respect to any such shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a Business Combination. However, in no event will the Company redeem its Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In such case, the Company would not proceed with the redemption of its Public Shares and the related Business Combination, and instead may search for an alternate Business Combination. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem its Public Shares, without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against a proposed Business Combination.
Notwithstanding the above, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the Public Shares without the Company’s prior written consent.
The Sponsors have agreed (a) to waive their redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Public Shares held by them in connection with the completion of a Business Combination and (b) not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (i) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period (as defined below) or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless the Company provides the public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment and (iii) to waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination.
The Company will have until June 19, 2022 (the “Combination Period”) to complete a Business Combination. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem 100% of the outstanding 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 (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the remaining shareholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to its obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
The Sponsors have agreed to waive their liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsors acquire Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than the Initial Public Offering price per Unit ($10.00).
The Sponsors have agreed that they will be liable to the Company, if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or by a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (1) $10.00 per Public Share or (2) such lesser amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account nor will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).
Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsors 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 Sponsors will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than the Company’s independent public accountants), 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.
F-8
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
Liquidity and Going Concern
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $843,643 in its operating bank accounts, and working capital of $440,383.
Until the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company will be using the funds not held in the Trust Account for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
The Company will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company's officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company's working capital needs. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern through one year from the issuance date of these financial statements. These financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
Risks and Uncertainties
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic which continues to spread throughout the United States and the World. As of the date the financial statements were issued, there was considerable uncertainty around the expected duration of this pandemic. The Company has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that COVID-19 could have a negative effect on identifying a target company for a Business Combination, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
NOTE 2. CORRECTION OF AN ERROR IN PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
On April 12, 2021, the Staff of the SEC issued a statement entitled “Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies.” In the statement, the SEC Staff, among other things, highlighted potential accounting implications of certain terms that are common in warrants issued in connection with the initial public offerings of special purpose acquisition companies such as the Company. As a result of the Staff statement and in light of evolving views as to certain provisions commonly included in warrants issued by special purpose acquisition companies, we re-evaluated the accounting for our Warrants and FPA under ASC 815-40, Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity, and concluded that they do not meet the criteria to be classified in shareholders’ equity. Since the Warrants and FPA meet the definition of a derivative under ASC 815-40, we have restated the financial statements to classify the Warrants and FPA as liabilities on the balance sheet at fair value, with subsequent changes in their respective fair values recognized in the statement of operations at each reporting date in Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A for the period of December 31, 2020.
Following the process of evaluating the accounting for the Company's outstanding warrants and FPA and in connection with the preparation of the Company's financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021, the Company also determined that it was necessary to further restate its financial statements to reclassify Class A ordinary shares in the Affected Periods as defined in the Explanatory Note. The Company previously determined the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption to be equal to the redemption value of approximately $10.00 per share of Class A ordinary shares while also taking into consideration the requirement in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that a redemption cannot cause the Company's net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of the business combination, which resulted in (i) 43,116,801 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $431,168,005 at December 31, 2020, (ii) 45,165,300 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $451,650,304 at September 30, 2020, (iii) 45,259,408 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $452,594,080 at June 30, 2020, and (iv) 45,969,672 Class A ordinary shares being recorded in temporary equity at an amount of $459,696,714 at June 19, 2020. In connection with the preparation of the Company's financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2021, the Company further evaluated the maximum redemption value in conjunction with the FPA that is expected to close substantially concurrent with an initial business combination, which would result in an additional $75,000,000 in net tangible assets. Upon considering the impact of the FPA, the Company concluded the redemption value should include 51,162,254 Class A ordinary shares resulting in the ordinary shares subject to possible redemption being equal to $511,622,540 at December 31, 2020. Upon considering the impact of the FPA, the Company concluded the redemption value should include all shares of Class A ordinary shares resulting in the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption being equal to $517,500,000 at September 30, 2020, June 30, 2020, and June 19, 2020. Accordingly, the Company has restated classification of the Class A ordinary shares in our financial statements included herein ("the Restatement").
The following summarizes the effect of the Restatement on each financial statement line item for each period presented herein, each prior interim period of the current fiscal year, and as of the date of the Company’s consummation of its IPO.
| Year to date through 12/31/20 and at 12/31/20 | ||||||||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | ||||||||||||
| Class A Shares | 863 | 59 | (804 | ) | ||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 34,912,594 | 6,724,439 | (28,188,155 | ) | ||||||||
| Accumulated Deficit | (29,914,748 | ) | (82,180,324 | ) | (52,265,576 | ) | ||||||
| Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,003 | (75,454,532 | ) | (80,454,535 | ) | |||||||
F-9
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Operations | ||||||||||||
| Weighted Average Shares Outstanding | 16,283,431 | 12,288,052 | (3,995,379 | ) | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | (1.84 | ) | (2.43 | ) | (0.59 | ) | ||||||
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Balance Sheet | ||||||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 431,168,005 | 511,622,540 | 80,454,535 | |||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares | 863 | 59 | (804 | ) | ||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 34,912,594 | 6,724,439 | (28,188,155 | ) | ||||||||
| (Accumulated Deficit) | (29,914,748 | ) | (82,180,324 | ) | (52,265,576 | ) | ||||||
| Total Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,003 | (75,454,532 | ) | (80,454,535 | ) | |||||||
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Cash Flow Statement | ||||||||||||
| Initial classification of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 459,696,714 | 517,500,000 | 57,803,286 | |||||||||
| Change in value of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | (21,426,075 | ) | (5,877,460 | ) | 15,548,615 | |||||||
| Year to Date through 9/30/20 and at 09/30/20 | ||||||||||||
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | ||||||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 14,430,500 | 591,876 | (13,838,624 | ) | ||||||||
| Accumulated Deficit | (29,914,748 | ) | (61,442,856 | ) | (31,528,108 | ) | ||||||
| Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,003 | (60,849,686 | ) | (65,849,689 | ) | |||||||
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Operations | ||||||||||||
| Weighted Average Shares Outstanding | 14,959,025 | 12,022,500 | (2,936,525 | ) | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | (0.63 | ) | (0.78 | ) | (0.15 | ) | ||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Balance Sheet | ||||||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 451,650,304 | 517,500,000 | 65,849,696 | |||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares | 658 | - | (658 | ) | ||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 14,430,500 | 591,876 | (13,838,624 | ) | ||||||||
| (Accumulated Deficit) | (9,432,442 | ) | (61,442,856 | ) | (52,010,414 | ) | ||||||
| Total Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,003 | (60,849,686 | ) | (65,849,696 | ) | |||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Cash Flow Statement | ||||||||||||
| Initial classification of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 459,696,714 | 517,500,000 | 57,803,286 | |||||||||
| Change in value of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | (21,426,075 | ) | - | 21,426,075 | ||||||||
| Three Months Ended 09/30/20 | ||||||||||||
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Operations | ||||||||||||
| Weighted Average Shares Outstanding | 19,428,092 | 12,937,500 | (6,490,592 | ) | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | (0.05 | ) | (0.07 | ) | (0.02 | ) | ||||||
F-10
| Year to Date through 6/30/20 and at 06/30/20 | ||||||||||||
| As Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | ||||||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 13,486,733 | 591,876 | (12,894,857 | ) | ||||||||
| Accumulated Deficit | (8,488,671 | ) | (60,499,085 | ) | (52,010,414 | ) | ||||||
| Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,005 | (59,905,915 | ) | (64,905,920 | ) | |||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Operations | ||||||||||||
| Weighted Average Shares Outstanding | 14,959,025 | 11,389,568 | (3,569,457 | ) | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | (0.63 | ) | (0.75 | ) | (0.12 | ) | ||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Balance Sheet | ||||||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 452,594,080 | 517,500,000 | 64,905,920 | |||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares | 649 | - | (649 | ) | ||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 13,486,733 | 591,876 | (12,894,857 | ) | ||||||||
| (Accumulated Deficit) | (8,488,671 | ) | (60,499,085 | ) | (52,010,414 | ) | ||||||
| Total Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,005 | (59,905,915 | ) | (64,905,920 | ) | |||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Cash Flow Statement | ||||||||||||
| Initial classification of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 459,696,714 | 517,500,000 | 57,803,286 | |||||||||
| Change in value of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | (21,426,075 | ) | - | 21,426,075 | ||||||||
| Three Months Ended 06/30/20 | ||||||||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Statement of Operations | ||||||||||||
| Weighted Average Shares Outstanding | 19,428,092 | 11,453,984 | (7,974,108 | ) | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | (0.05 | ) | (0.74 | ) | (0.69 | ) | ||||||
| At 06/19/20 - IPO Closing Including Over-Allotment and Upsize | ||||||||||||
| As
Reported per Amendment #1 | As Restated | Difference | ||||||||||
| Balance Sheet | ||||||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 459,696,714 | 517,500,000 | 57,803,286 | |||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares | 578 | - | (578 | ) | ||||||||
| Additional Paid-In Capital | 6,384,170 | 591,876 | (5,792,294 | ) | ||||||||
| (Accumulated Deficit) | (1,386,034 | ) | (53,396,448 | ) | (52,010,414 | ) | ||||||
| Total Shareholders' Equity (Deficit) | 5,000,008 | (52,803,278 | ) | (57,803,286 | ) | |||||||
F-11
NOTE 3. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US 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 independent registered public accounting firm 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.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period.
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 significantly from those estimates.
Offering Costs
The Company complies with the requirements of FASB ASC 340-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 5A —“Expenses of Offering.” Offering costs consist of costs incurred in connection with formation and preparation for the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs were allocated on a relative fair value basis between stockholders’ equity and expense. The portion of offering costs allocated to the Warrants and FPA has been charged to expense. The portion of offering costs allocated to the Class A ordinary shares has been charged to stockholders’ equity.
On June 19, 2020, offering costs totaled $29,241,089 (consisting of $28,462,500 of (current and deferred) underwriting fees and $778,589 of other offering costs), of which $1,381,051 was charged to expense.
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, 2020.
Cash Held in Trust Account
At December 31, 2020, the assets held in the Trust Account were held in cash.
Warrant and FPA Liability
The Company accounts for the Warrants and FPA as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the specific terms of the Warrants and the FPA and applicable authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the Warrants and FPA are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the Warrants and FPA are indexed to the Company’s own ordinary shares and whether the holders of the Warrants could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of issuance of the Warrants and execution of the FPA and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the Warrants and FPA are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, such 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, liability-classified warrants are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of such warrants are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations.
We account for the Warrants and FPAs in accordance with ASC 815-40 under which the Warrants and FPAs do not meet the criteria for equity classification and must be recorded as liabilities. The fair value of the Public Warrants has been estimated using the Public Warrants’ quoted market price. The fair value of the Private Warrants is estimated using the Public Warrants’ quoted market price. The fair value of the FPAs has been estimated using a probability-weighted discounted cash flow approach. See Note 9 to the Company’s financial statements included in Item 15 of Part IV of this Amendment for further discussion of the pertinent terms of the Warrants and Note 10 to those financial statements for further discussion of the methodology used to determine the value of the Warrants and FPA.
F-12
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 "Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity." Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as a liability and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable ordinary shares (including 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) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholder's equity. The Company's ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company's control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2020, 51,162,255 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders' equity section of the Company's balance sheet.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”) clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
The Company is considered an exempted Cayman Islands Company and is presently not subject to income taxes or income tax filing requirements in the Cayman Islands or the United States. As such, the Company’s tax provision was zero for the period presented.
Net (Loss) Per Share
Net (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted-average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period, excluding ordinary shares subject to forfeiture. The Company has not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and private placement to purchase an aggregate of 25,483,334 shares in the calculation of diluted loss per share, since the exercise of the warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events and the inclusion of such warrants would be anti-dilutive.
The Company’s statement of operations includes a presentation of loss per share for ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in a manner similar to the two-class method of loss per share. Net (loss) per ordinary share, basic and diluted, for Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption is calculated by dividing the proportionate share of loss on assets held by the Trust Account by the weighted average number of Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption outstanding since original issuance.
Net (loss) per share, basic and diluted, for non-redeemable ordinary shares is calculated by dividing the net (loss), adjusted for income or loss on assets attributable to Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, by the weighted average number of non-redeemable ordinary shares outstanding for the period.
Non-redeemable ordinary shares include Founder Shares and non-redeemable ordinary shares as these shares do not have any redemption features. Non-redeemable ordinary shares participate in the income or loss on assets held in Trust Account based on non-redeemable shares’ proportionate interest.
F-13
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net (loss) per ordinary share (in dollars, except per share amounts):
| For the Period from February 11, 2020 (Inception) Through December 31, 2020 | ||||
| Class A Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Numerator: Earnings allocable to Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Interest earned on cash held in Trust Account | $ | — | ||
| Less: interest available to be withdrawn for payment of taxes | — | |||
| Less: interest available to be withdrawn for working capital | — | |||
| Net income | $ | — | ||
| Denominator: Weighted Average Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding | $ | 51,750,000 | ||
| Basic and diluted net income per share | $ | 0.00 | ||
| Non-Redeemable Ordinary Shares | ||||
| Numerator: Net Loss minus Net Earnings | ||||
| Net loss | $ | (29,914,748 | ) | |
| Net income allocable to Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | — | |||
| Non-Redeemable Net Loss | $ | (29,914,748 | ) | |
| Denominator: Weighted Average Non-Redeemable Ordinary Shares | ||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Non-redeemable ordinary shares | 12,288,052 | |||
| Basic and diluted net loss per share, Non-redeemable ordinary shares | $ | (2.43 | ) | |
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution which, at times may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account.
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 sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.
Recent Accounting Standards
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
NOTE 4. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
Pursuant to the Initial Public Offering, the Company sold 51,750,000 Units, which includes the full exercise by the underwriter of its option to purchase an additional 6,750,000 Units, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-third of one redeemable warrant (“Public Warrant” and collectively with the Private Placement Warrants, the “Warrants”) . Each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7).
NOTE 5. PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsors purchased an aggregate of 8,233,334 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant from the Company in a private placement, for an aggregate purchase price of $12,350,000. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7). The proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants were added to the net proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants held in the Trust Account will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
F-14
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
NOTE 6. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On February 18, 2020, the Sponsors purchased 10,781,250 of the Company’s Class B ordinary shares (the “Founder Shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On June 16, 2020, the Company effected a share dividend of 2,156,250 shares, resulting in the Sponsors holding an aggregate of 12,937,500 Founder Shares. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the share dividend. The Founder Shares included an aggregate of up to 1,687,500 shares subject to forfeiture by the Sponsors to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment was not exercised in full or in part, so that the number of Founder Shares would collectively represent 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. As a result of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their over-allotment option, 1,687,500 Founder Shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
The Sponsors have agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of a Business Combination; and (B) subsequent to a Business Combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after a Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, amalgamation, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
Promissory Note — Related Party
On February 18, 2020, the Company issued the Promissory Note to BGPT Trebia LP, pursuant to which the Company could borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $300,000, The Promissory Note was non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of (i) January 31, 2021 or (ii) the completion of the Initial Public Offering. Prior to the Initial Public Offering, there was $150,000 outstanding under the Promissory Note. The Promissory Note was repaid in full on June 22, 2020.
Administrative Support Agreement
The Company entered into an agreement whereby, commencing on June 16, 2020, the Company will pay BGPT Trebia LP up to $10,000 per month for office space and administrative support services. Upon completion of a Business Combination or its liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. For the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the Company incurred $65,000 of such fees. As of December 31, 2020, $65,000 is included in accrued expenses in the accompanying balance sheet.
Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsors or an affiliate of the Sponsors, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). Such Working Capital Loans would be evidenced by promissory notes. The notes may be repaid upon completion of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the notes may be converted upon completion of a Business Combination into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant. Such warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. 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.
NOTE 7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Registration Rights
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into on June 19, 2020, the holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans and upon conversion of the Founder Shares) are entitled to registration rights. The holders of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of a Business Combination. However, the registration rights agreement provides that the Company will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lockup period. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
F-15
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
Pursuant to the forward purchase agreement, the Company has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts (i) to file within 30 days after the closing of the initial business combination a resale shelf registration statement with the SEC for a secondary offering of the forward purchase shares and the forward purchase warrants (and underlying Class A ordinary shares), (ii) to cause such registration statement to be declared effective promptly thereafter, (iii) to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement until the earliest of (A) the date on which Cannae Holdings, Inc. (“Cannae Holdings”) or its assignee cease to hold the securities covered thereby, and (B) the date all of the securities covered thereby can be sold publicly without restriction or limitation under Rule 144 under the Securities Act and (iv) after such registration statement is declared effective, cause us to conduct underwritten offerings, subject to certain limitations. In addition, the forward purchase agreement provides for certain “piggy-back” registration rights to the holders of forward purchase securities to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us.
Underwriting Agreement
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $18,112,500 in the aggregate. 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.
Forward Purchase Agreement
On June 5, 2020, the Company entered into a forward purchase agreement with Cannae Holdings, a diversified holding company which is externally managed by Trasimene Capital Management, LLC but is not an affiliate of the Company or the Sponsors, pursuant to which Cannae Holdings will purchase Class A ordinary shares in an aggregate share amount equal to 7,500,000 Class A ordinary shares, plus an aggregate of 2,500,000 redeemable warrants to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $75,000,000, or $10.00 per Class A ordinary share, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of the Business Combination. The warrants to be issued as part of the forward purchase agreement will be identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering. In connection with the forward purchase securities sold to Cannae Holdings, the Sponsors will receive (by way of an adjustment to their existing Class B ordinary shares) an aggregate number of additional Class B ordinary shares so that the initial shareholders, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, will hold 20% of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares at the time of the closing of the Business Combination. The obligations under the forward purchase agreement do not depend on whether any Class A ordinary shares are redeemed by the public shareholders.
Under the forward purchase agreement, the Company will provide a right of first offer to Cannae Holdings, if the Company proposes to raise additional capital by issuing any equity, or securities convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities, other than the units and certain excluded securities. In addition, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of a Business Combination, Cannae Holdings has agreed under the forward purchase agreement to vote any Class A ordinary shares owned by Cannae Holdings in favor of any proposed initial Business Combination.
Contingent Fee Arrangement
The Company has entered into a fee arrangement with a service provider pursuant to which certain fees incurred by the Company in connection with a potential Business Combination will be deferred and become payable only if the Company consummates a Business Combination. If a Business Combination does not occur, the Company will not be required to pay these contingent fees. As of December 31, 2020, the amount of these contingent fees was approximately $1,522,000. There can be no assurances that the Company will complete a Business Combination.
NOTE 8. SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Preference Shares—The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 preference shares with a par value of $0.0001. The Company’s board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. The board of directors will be able to, without shareholder approval, issue preferred shares with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the ordinary shares and could have anti-takeover effects. At December 31, 2020, there were no preference shares issued or outstanding.
Class A Ordinary Shares—The Company is authorized to issue 400,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share. At December 31, 2020, there were 587,746 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption.
Class B Ordinary Shares—The Company is authorized to issue 40,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Class B ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share. At December 31, 2020, there were 12,937,500 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding.
Only holders of the Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the Business Combination. Holders of Class A ordinary shares and holders of Class B ordinary shares will vote together as a single class on all other matters submitted to a vote of the Company’s shareholders except as otherwise required by law.
F-16
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the completion of A business combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of Initial Public Offering, plus (ii) the sum of (a) the total number of ordinary 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 completion of a Business Combination (including the forward purchase shares, but not the forward purchase warrants), excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in a Business Combination and any private placement warrants issued to the Sponsors or any of their affiliates upon conversion of Working Capital Loans, minus (b) the number of Public Shares redeemed by public shareholders in connection with a Business Combination. Any conversion of Class B ordinary shares will take effect as a compulsory redemption of Class B ordinary shares and an issuance of Class A ordinary shares as a matter of Cayman Islands law. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one to one.
NOTE 9. WARRANTS
Warrants—Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination and (b) 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The Public Warrants will expire five years from the completion of a Business Combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
The Company will not be obligated to deliver any Class A ordinary shares pursuant to the exercise of a Public Warrant and will have no obligation to settle such Public Warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations with respect to registration, or a valid exemption from registration is available. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue a Class A ordinary share upon exercise of a warrant unless the Class A ordinary share issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants.
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of a Business Combination, it will use its commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration or redemption of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of a Business Combination, 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 warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. In addition, if the Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of the Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company elects to do so, the Company will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but it will use its best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied the excess of the “fair market value” less the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value and (B) 0.361. The “fair market value” shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent.
Redemption of Warrants When the Price per Class A Ordinary Share Equals or Exceeds $18.00 —Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding Public Warrants:
| · | in whole and not in part; | |
| · | at a price of $0.01 per Public Warrant; | |
| · | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder and | |
| · | if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading day period ending three business days before sending the notice of redemption to warrant holders (the “Reference Value”) equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). |
If and when the warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may exercise its redemption right even if it is unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. However, we will not redeem the warrants unless an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period.
F-17
TREBIA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2020
Redemption of Warrants When the Price per Class A Ordinary Share Equals or Exceeds $10.00 —Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants:
| · | in whole and not in part; | |
| · | at $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of shares determined by reference to the table below, based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of the Class A ordinary shares; | |
| · | if, and only if, the Reference Value (as defined in the above under “Redemption of Warrants When the Price per Class A Ordinary Share Equals or Exceeds $18.00”) equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like); and | |
| · | if the Reference Value is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) the private placement warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms (except as described below with respect to a holder’s ability to cashless exercise its warrants) as the outstanding public warrants, as described above. |
The exercise price and number of ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a share dividend, extraordinary dividend or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the Public Warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of ordinary shares at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the Public Warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of Public Warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their Public Warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with respect to such Public Warrants. Accordingly, the Public Warrants may expire worthless.
In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of a Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Company’s board of directors, and in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsors or their affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by the Sponsors or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of a Business Combination on the date of the completion of a Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company completes a Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the Public Warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 and $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices described above adjacent to “Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00” and “Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively.
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, except that (x) the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions, (y) the Private Placement Warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis and be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees and (z) the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will be entitled to registration rights. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.
NOTE 10. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
The fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities reflects management’s estimate of amounts that the Company would have received in connection with the sale of the assets or paid in connection with the transfer of the liabilities in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In connection with measuring the fair value of its assets and liabilities, the Company seeks to maximize the use of observable inputs (market data obtained from independent sources) and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants would price assets and liabilities). The following fair value hierarchy is used to classify assets and liabilities based on the observable inputs and unobservable inputs used in order to value the assets and liabilities:
Level 1: Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.
Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.
Level 3: Unobservable inputs based on our assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
F-18
The Company classifies its U.S. Treasury and equivalent securities as held-to-maturity in accordance with ASC Topic 320 “Investments - Debt and Equity Securities.” Held-to-maturity securities are those securities which the Company has the ability and intent to hold until maturity. Held-to-maturity treasury securities are recorded at amortized cost on the accompanying balance sheet and adjusted for the amortization or accretion of premiums or discounts.
At December 31, 2020, assets held in the Trust Account were comprised of $517,500,000 in cash. During the period from February 11, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the Company did not earn or withdraw any interest income from the Trust Account.
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2020 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value. The gross holding gains and fair value of held-to-maturity securities at December 31, 2020 are as follows:
| December 31, 2020 | Asset | Level | Fair Value | |||||||
| Cash | 1 | $ | 517,500,000 | |||||||
Warrant Liability
The Warrants are accounted for as liabilities pursuant to ASC 815-40 and are measured at fair value as of each reporting period. Changes in fair value of the Warrants are recorded in the statement of operations each period.
The following table presents the Company’s fair value hierarchy for liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2020.
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | |||||||||||||
| Warrant liabilities: | ||||||||||||||||
| Public Warrants | $ | 35,880,000 | $ | - | $ | - | $ | 35,880,000 | ||||||||
| Private Warrants | 17,125,335 | 17,125,335 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Warrants Liabilities | $ | 35,880,000 | $ | $ | 17,125,335 | $ | 53,005,335 | |||||||||
| FPA Liability | - | - | 10,654,540 | 10,654,540 | ||||||||||||
The Public Warrants were valued using the instrument’s publicly listed trading price (NYSE: TREB.WS) as of the balance sheet date.
The value of the Private Warrants was estimated using the Public Warrants' publicly listed trading price (NYSE: TREB.WS) as of the balance sheet date, which is considered a Level 3 fair value measurement. Given the Private Warrants and Public Warrants are similar instruments and the Public Warrants have quoted prices in an active market, the publicly listed trading price of the Public Warrants estimates the value of the Private Warrants.
The following table presents a summary of the changes in the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants, a Level 3 liability, measured on a recurring basis.
| Private Placement Warrant Liability | ||||
| Fair value, June 19, 2020 | $ | 11,526,668 | ||
| Loss on change in fair value (1) | 5,596,667 | |||
| Fair value, December 31, 2020 | $ | 17,125,335 | ||
| (1) | Represents the non-cash loss on change in valuation of the Private Placement Warrants and is included in Loss on change in fair value of warrant liability on the statement of operations. |
Transfers to/from Level 1, 2 and 3 are recognized at the end of the reporting period in which a change in valuation technique or methodology occurs. The estimated fair value of the Public Warrants transferred from a Level 3 measurement to a Level 1 fair value measurement in August 2020, when the Public Warrants were separately listed and traded.
FPA Liability
The liability for the FPAs were valued using an adjusted net assets method, which is considered to be a Level 3 fair value measurement. Under the adjusted net assets method utilized, the aggregate commitment of $75 million pursuant to the FPAs is discounted to present value and compared to the fair value of the ordinary shares and warrants to be issued pursuant to the FPAs. The fair value of the ordinary shares and warrants to be issued under the FPAs are based on the public trading price of the Units issued in the Company’s IPO. The excess (liability) or deficit (asset) of the fair value of the ordinary shares and warrants to be issued compared to the $75 million fixed commitment is then reduced to account for the probability of consummation of the Business Combination. The primary unobservable input utilized in determining the fair value of the FPAs is the probability of consummation of the Business Combination. As of December 31, 2020, the probability assigned to the consummation of the Business Combination was 90% which was determined based on a historical industry data.
F-19
The following table presents a summary of the changes in the fair value of the FPA liability, a Level 3 liability, measured on a recurring basis.
| FPA | ||||
| Liability | ||||
| Fair value, June 19, 2020 | $ | 255,538 | ||
| Recognized loss on change in fair value (1) | 10,399,002 | |||
| Fair value, December 31, 2020 | $ | 10,654,540 | ||
(1) Represents the non-cash loss on change in valuation of the FPA liability and is included in Recognized loss on change in fair value of FPA liability on the statement of operations.
NOTE 11. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
F-20
Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER
I, Paul Danola, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A of Trebia Acquisition Corp.; |
| 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(s) 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) | Omitted; |
| (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(s) 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. |
| By: | /s/ Paul Danola | |
| Paul Danola | ||
| President | ||
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||
Date: June 22, 2021
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
I, Tanmay Kumar, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A of Trebia Acquisition Corp.; |
| 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(s) 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) | Omitted; |
| (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(s) 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. |
| By: | /s/ Tanmay Kumar | |
| (Principal Financial Officer) | ||
| Date: June 22, 2021 | ||
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A of Trebia Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) for the period ending December 31, 2020 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I, Paul Danola, President and Principal Executive Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
(1) the Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d), as applicable, of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
(2) the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.
| By: | /s/ Paul Danola | |
| Paul Danola | ||
| President | ||
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||
| Date: June 22, 2021 | ||
Exhibit 32.2
CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A of Trebia Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) for the period ending December 31, 2020 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I, Tanmay Kumar, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
(1) the Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d), as applicable, of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
(2) the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.
| By: | /s/ Tanmay Kumar | |
| Tanmay Kumar | ||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||
| (Principal Financial Officer) | ||
| Date: June 22, 2021 | ||