Item 1. Business.
Introduction
We are a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this annual report as our initial business combination. We have reviewed a number of opportunities to enter into a business combination. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
Our executive offices are located at 245 Park Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, New York 10167, and our telephone number is (212) 750-7300. Our corporate website address is https://www.aresacquisitioncorporation.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this annual report. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
Company History
In January 2020, the Company was formed by Ares Acquisition Holdings L.P. (our “Sponsor”). As of February 21, 2023, our Sponsor owned 24,850,000 of the 25,000,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding.
On February 4, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) of 100,000,000 units (the “Units”), including 13,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments (the “Over-Allotment Units”). The Units sold in the Initial Public Offering were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit, generating total gross proceeds of $1.0 billion, and incurring offering costs of approximately $55.9 million, of which $35.0 million was for deferred underwriting commissions. Each Unit consists of one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
Simultaneous with the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the private placement of an aggregate of 15,333,333 warrants, each exercisable to purchase one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares for $11.50 per share (the “Private Placement Warrants”), to our Sponsor at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, generating total proceeds of $23.0 million. Of the gross proceeds received from the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement Warrants, $1.0 billion was placed in a Trust Account. Each whole Private Placement Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
Beginning March 25, 2021, holders of the Units may elect to separately trade the Class A ordinary shares and the warrants included in the Units. Those Units not separated continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “AAC.U” and the Class A ordinary shares and warrants that are separated trade under the symbols “AAC” and “AAC WS,” respectively.
Proposed Business Combination
On December 5, 2022 (the “Signing Date”), the Company entered into a Business Combination Agreement (as it may be amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time in accordance with its terms, the “Business Combination Agreement”), among the Company, X-energy and, solely for purposes of Section 1.01(f), Section 6.25 and Article IX of the Business Combination Agreement, each of The Kamal S. Ghaffarian Revocable Trust (the “Trust”), IBX Company Opportunity
Fund 1, LP, a Delaware limited partnership (“IBX Fund 1”), IBX Company Opportunity Fund 2, LP, a Delaware limited partnership (“IBX Fund 2”), IBX Opportunity GP, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“IBX GP”), GM Enterprises LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“GM Enterprises” and, together with the Trust, IBX Fund 1, IBX Fund 2, IBX GP and GM Enterprises, each, a “Series A Party” and collectively, the “Series A Parties”), and X-Energy Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Management LLC”). The transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement are referred to as the “Business Combination.” The Company and X-energy are individually referred to as a “Party” and, collectively, the “Parties.”
Following the time of the closing (the “Closing,” and the date on which the Closing occurs, the “Closing Date”) of the Business Combination, the combined company will be organized in an umbrella partnership C corporation structure, in which substantially all of the assets and the business of the combined company will be held by X-energy. The combined company’s business will continue to operate through X-energy and its subsidiaries. In connection with the Closing, the Company will change its name to “X-Energy, Inc.” (such company after the Closing, “New X-energy”).
The Business Combination Agreement and the Business Combination were approved by the boards of directors of each of the Company (including, in the case of the Company, the special committee of the board of directors, which consists of its independent directors, (the “Special Committee”)) and X-energy.
The Business Combination is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, following the receipt of the required approval by the Company’s shareholders and the fulfillment of other customary closing conditions. For further details on the Business Combination, refer to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with SEC on December 6, 2022.
The Domestication
The Company will, subject to obtaining the required shareholder approvals and at least one day prior to the Closing Date, deregister as a Cayman Islands exempted company and transfer by way of continuation to and domesticate as a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware (the “Domestication”).
Immediately prior to the Domestication, each of the then issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (each, a “Cayman Class B Share”), will convert automatically, on a one-for-one basis, into a Class A ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (each, a “Cayman Class A Share”) (the “Sponsor Share Conversion”). In connection with the Domestication: (i) each of the then issued and outstanding Cayman Class A Shares will convert automatically, on a one-for-one basis, into a share of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company (after the Domestication) (the “New X-energy Class A Common Stock”); (ii) each of the then issued and outstanding warrants representing the right to purchase one Cayman Class A Share will convert automatically into a warrant to acquire one share of New X-energy Class A Common Stock pursuant to the related warrant agreement (each warrant, a “New X-energy Warrant”); and (iii) each of the then issued and outstanding units of the Company will be canceled and each holder will be entitled to one share of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and one-fifth of one New X-energy Warrant.
The Recapitalization
Immediately prior to the Closing, X-energy will effectuate a recapitalization (the “Recapitalization”) whereby all outstanding equity securities of X-energy will be converted or exchanged into common units (each, an “X-energy Common Unit” and collectively, the “X-energy Common Units”) and unvested earn out units (each, an “Earn Out Unit” and collectively, the “Earn Out Units”), as applicable.
The Business Combination and Consideration
In connection with the Closing:
(i) X-energy and the Company will enter into an amended and restated Limited Liability Company Operating Agreement of X-energy (the “A&R Operating Agreement”), to, among other things, permit the issuance and ownership of the post-Recapitalization equity of X-energy as contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement and to admit the Company as the managing member of X-energy; and
(ii) The Company will file with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware an amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “A&R Charter”). The A&R Charter will, among other things, set forth the rights and preferences of the equity interests of New X-energy. In particular, the A&R Charter will provide that (a) each share of New X-energy Class A Common Stock will have one vote per share and economic rights, (b) each share of Class B common stock of
New X-energy, par value $0.0001 per share (“New X-energy Class B Common Stock”), will have one vote per share and no economic rights, (c) each share of Class C common stock of New X-energy, par value $0.0001 per share (“New X-energy Class C Common Stock”), will have ten votes per share and no economic rights and (d) each share of Class D common stock of New X-energy, par value of $0.0001 per share (“New X-energy Class D Common Stock”), will have ten votes per share and economic rights.
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, New X-energy will issue or cause to be issued to: (i) each member of X-energy (each, a “Member” and collectively, the “Members”), a number of shares of New X-energy Class B Common Stock or New X-energy Class C Common Stock, as applicable, in each case, equal to the number of X-energy Common Units held by such Member as of and on the Closing Date, in exchange for the payment of adequate consideration (in each case, not to exceed a per-share price equal to the par value per share of the New X-energy Class B Common Stock or New X-energy Class C Common Stock, as applicable) (the “X-energy Equity Holders Subscription Amount”), pursuant to individual subscription agreements to be entered into between each X-energy equityholder and New X-energy; (ii) Management LLC, a number of shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and Unvested Earn Out Shares (as defined below) to be issued pursuant to a contribution agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”); and (iii) each Series A Party, a number of shares of New X-energy Class D Common Stock to be issued pursuant to the Contribution Agreement.
The aggregate consideration to be received in respect of the Business Combination by the Members and any other holders of equity securities of X-energy (excluding the holders of any equity securities that by their terms will not convert into X-energy Common Units at or prior to the Closing) shall be equal to the Aggregate Consideration (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), the Earn Out Units and, following consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Contribution Agreement (including the contribution of an equal number of Earn Out Units to the Company), the shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock issued to Management LLC pursuant to the Contribution Agreement that will, following issuance, be subject to vesting and potential forfeiture on the same terms as the Sponsor Earn Out Securities (as defined below) (the “Unvested Earn Out Shares”).
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, the Company will contribute to X-energy an amount in cash (the “Available Closing Cash”) equal to, as of immediately prior to the Closing, the sum of (without duplication): (i) all amounts in the Trust Account, less (a) amounts required for the redemptions of Cayman Class A Shares by the Company’s current shareholders and (b) transaction expenses of X-energy and the Company, plus (ii) the aggregate proceeds, if any, actually received by the Company or New X-energy from the sale of shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock, one or more series of preferred stock, or convertible debt securities in a private placement consummated prior to or substantially concurrently with the Closing (the “PIPE Investment”), plus (iii) all other cash and cash equivalents of the Company, determined in accordance with GAAP as of 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the day immediately preceding the Closing Date, plus (iv) the aggregate X-energy Equity Holders Subscription Amount in exchange for: (x) a number of X-energy Common Units equal to the number of shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and New X-energy Class D Common Stock outstanding as of the Closing; (y) a number of warrants of X-energy (the “X-energy Warrants”) equal to the number of New X-energy Warrants outstanding as of the Closing; and (z) if applicable, a number of securities issued by X-energy to the Company having terms and provisions substantially similar to the terms and provisions of any equity or equity-linked securities (other than New X-energy Class A Common Stock) that are issued by the Company at the Closing in connection with the PIPE Investment (the “Alternative Financing Securities”) equal to the number of corresponding Alternative Financing Securities outstanding as of the Closing.
Member Earn-Out
As part of the Recapitalization, up to 25,000,000 Earn Out Units will be subject to vesting at the Closing and will be earned, released and delivered upon satisfaction of the following milestones: (i) 12,500,000 Earn Out Units will vest to the Members and, solely with respect to the Earn Out Units held by the Company following the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Contribution Agreement, the Company, if, during the Earn Out Period (as defined below), the volume weighted average closing sale price of New X-energy Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share for a period of at least twenty days out of thirty consecutive trading days ending on the trading day immediately prior to the date of determination (“Triggering Event I”); and (ii) 12,500,000 Earn Out Units will vest to the Members and, solely with respect to the Earn Out Units held by the Company following the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Contribution Agreement, the Company, if, during the Earn Out Period, the volume weighted average closing sale price of New X-energy Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $15.00 per share for a period of at least twenty days out of thirty consecutive trading days ending on the trading day immediately prior to the date of determination (“Triggering Event II”).
If, following the Closing Date and prior to the third anniversary of the Closing, there is a Change of Control (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), then Triggering Event I and Triggering Event II shall be deemed to occur and
the Earn Out Units shall vest to the Members and, solely with respect to the Earn Out Units held by the Company following the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Contribution Agreement, the Company. If a Change of Control occurs following the third anniversary of the Closing Date and prior to the expiration of the Earn Out Period that results in the holders of New X-energy Class A Common Stock receiving a per share price greater than or equal to $12.50 or $15.00, respectively, then immediately prior to the consummation of such Change of Control Triggering Event I or Triggering Event II, as applicable, will be deemed to have occurred and the Earn Out Units shall vest to the Members and, solely with respect to the Earn Out Units held by the Company following the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Contribution Agreement, the Company.
Upon the vesting of any Earn Out Units, each of the applicable Members will be issued an equal number of shares of New X-energy Class B Common Stock or New X-energy Class C Common Stock, as applicable, in exchange for the payment to New X-energy of adequate consideration (in each case, not to exceed a per-share price equal to the par value per share of such New X-energy Class B Common Stock or New X-energy Class C Common Stock, as applicable).
The “Earn Out Period” means the time period beginning on the Closing Date and ending on the date that is the five-year anniversary of the Closing Date (inclusive of the first and last day of such period).
Sponsor Support Agreement
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, the Company entered into the Sponsor Support Agreement (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”) with X-energy, our Sponsor and each of the Company’s independent directors (the “Company Independent Directors,” collectively with the Sponsor, the “Purchaser Support Parties,” and each, a “Purchaser Support Party”), pursuant to which the Purchaser Support Parties agreed to, among other things: (i) vote in favor of adoption of the Transaction Proposals; (ii) vote against any Alternative Transaction (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) and any merger agreement or merger other than the Transaction Proposals, the Business Combination Agreement and the Business Combination; (iii) vote against any change in the business, management or board of directors of the Company (other than in connection with the Transaction Proposals or pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement or ancillary agreements); and (iv) vote against any proposal, action or agreement that would: (a) impede, interfere, frustrate, prevent or nullify any provision of the Sponsor Support Agreement, the Business Combination Agreement or the Business Combination; (b) result in a breach in any respect of any covenant, representation, warranty or any other obligation or agreement of the Company under the Business Combination Agreement; (c) result in any of the closing conditions of the Business Combination Agreement not being fulfilled; (d) result in a breach of any covenant, representation or warranty or other obligation or agreement of the Purchaser Support Party in the Sponsor Support Agreement; or (e) change in any manner the dividend policy or capitalization of, including the voting rights of any class of capital stock of, the Company. Each officer and director of the Company previously entered into a letter agreement with the Company in connection with the Company’s Initial Public Offering, pursuant to which they agreed to vote any the Company ordinary shares held by them in favor of the Business Combination. If at any time following the Signing Date and until the termination of the Business Combination Agreement, the board of directors of the Company or the Special Committee effects a Modification in Recommendation, then the obligations to vote or consent in accordance with the foregoing clauses (i)-(iv), (x) with respect to the Purchaser Support Parties other than the Sponsor, shall cease to apply and each of the Company’s independent directors shall be expressly permitted to vote or provide consent in respect of their respective Company ordinary shares in their sole discretion and (y) with respect to the Sponsor, shall automatically be deemed to be modified such that the Sponsor will vote or provide its consent with respect to its Cayman Class B shares in the same proportion to the votes cast or consent provided, as applicable, of the Company’s public shareholders.
Pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement, until the earliest of the Closing, termination of the Business Combination Agreement and the liquidation of X-energy, no Purchaser Support Party shall (subject to limited and customary exceptions), without the prior written consent of X-energy: (i) sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate or pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of or agree to dispose of, directly or indirectly, any Cayman Class B Shares or Cayman Purchaser Warrants (together, the “Sponsor Subject Securities”); (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another any of the economic consequences of ownership of any Sponsor Subject Securities; (iii) take any action in furtherance of any of the matters described in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii); or (iv) publicly announce any intention to effect any transaction specified in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii).
Pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement, each Purchaser Support Party agreed to waive, subject to the consummation of the Business Combination, all anti-dilution rights with respect to the rate that the Cayman Class B Shares convert into the Cayman Class A Shares in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement.
In addition, pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement, a certain number of each Purchaser Support Party’s respective pro rata share of the Sponsor Subject Securities shall be surrendered to the Company for cancellation. During the
Earn Out Period, fifty percent (50%) of the remaining (i) shares of Class A Common Stock of the Company following the Domestication (the “Domesticated the Company Class A Common Stock”) and (ii) warrants to acquire one share of Domesticated the Company Class A Common Stock (clauses (i) and (ii), collectively, the “Sponsor Earn Out Securities”) held by the Purchaser Support Parties will vest as follows: (a) upon the occurrence of Triggering Event I, fifty percent (50%) of the Sponsor Earn Out Securities will vest to the Purchaser Support Parties in accordance with each Purchaser Support Party’s respective pro rata share; and (b) upon the occurrence of Triggering Event II, fifty percent (50%) of the Sponsor Earn Out Securities will vest to the Purchaser Support Parties in accordance with each Purchaser Support Party’s respective pro rata share. If, following the Closing and prior to the third anniversary of the Closing, there is a Change of Control, Triggering Event I and Triggering Event II shall be deemed to occur and the Sponsor Earn Out Securities shall vest. If a Change of Control occurs following the third anniversary of the Closing and prior to the expiration of the Earn Out Period that results in the holders of New X-energy Class A Common Stock receiving a per share price greater than or equal to $12.50 or $15.00, respectively, then immediately prior to the consummation of such Change of Control, Triggering Event I or Triggering Event II, as applicable, will be deemed to have occurred and the Sponsor Earn Out Securities shall vest. The per share price received by the holders of New X-energy Class A Common Stock shall be based on the value of the cash, securities or in-kind consideration being delivered in respect of such New X-energy Class A Common Stock, as determined in good faith by the New X-energy Board. Such per share price shall be adjusted as appropriate to reflect any stock splits, reverse stock splits, stock dividends, including any dividend or distribution of securities convertible into New X-energy Class A Common Stock, extraordinary cash dividend, reorganization, recapitalization, reclassification, combination, exchange of shares or other like change or transaction with respect to New X-energy Class A Common Stock occurring on or after the Closing.
Governance
The Parties have agreed to take all necessary action, including causing the current directors of the Company to resign, so that effective at the Closing, the board of directors of New X-energy (the “New X-energy Board”) will consist of a number of individuals (appointed in accordance with NYSE rules) not to exceed nine individuals in the aggregate. Subject to the terms of the Company’s organizational documents, the A&R Charter and the bylaws of New X-energy upon Domestication, the Company and X-energy shall take all such action within their power as may be necessary or appropriate such that immediately following the Closing Date, the New X-energy Board shall initially include such director nominees to be designated by X-energy pursuant to written notice to be delivered to X-energy as soon as reasonably practicable following the Signing Date, in each case, subject to X-energy’s obligations under the definitive documentation with respect to the issuance and sale of X-energy’s Series C-2 Convertible/Exchangeable Promissory Notes pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, dated on or about the Signing Date, by and among X-energy and the investors party to such agreement (the “Funded Permitted Financing”). Such obligations include the nomination to the New X-energy Board of two directors designated by the Investor (as defined below), with the election of such individuals to be effective upon the Closing.
Representations and Warranties; Covenants
The Parties have made customary representations, warranties, and covenants in the Business Combination Agreement, including, among others, covenants with respect to the conduct of the Company and X-energy prior to the Closing Date. In addition, the Company has agreed to adopt an equity incentive plan prior to the Closing Date, as described in the Business Combination Agreement.
In connection with the foregoing, the Company, through its board of directors and the Special Committee, shall recommend to the Company’s shareholders the approval of the Transaction Proposals (as defined below). Notwithstanding the foregoing, at any time prior to, but not after, receipt of the approval of the Transaction Proposals by the Company’s shareholders, the board of directors of the Company and the Special Committee may withdraw, amend, qualify or modify its recommendation to the Company’s shareholders that they vote in favor of the Transaction Proposals (a “Modification in Recommendation”), if they shall have concluded in good faith, after consultation with their outside legal advisors and financial advisors, that the failure to make a Modification in Recommendation would be a breach of their fiduciary duties under applicable law. The Company’s obligations to establish a record date for, duly call, give notice of, convene and hold an extraordinary general meeting of the Company’s shareholders shall not be affected by any Modification in Recommendation.
Conditions to Each Party’s Obligations
The obligations of the Company and X-energy to consummate the Business Combination are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions, including without limitation: (i) the adoption or approval, as applicable, by the Company’s shareholders (the “the Company Shareholder Approval”) of: (a) the Business Combination Agreement in accordance with applicable law and exchange rules and regulations; (b) the Domestication; (c) the A&R Charter and the bylaws of New X-energy upon Domestication, including any separate or unbundled advisory proposals as are required to implement the
foregoing; (d) approval of the issuance of shares of New X-energy Common Stock (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) as required by NYSE listing rules; (e) the adoption by the Company of the Equity Incentive Plan (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement); (f) the election of members of the New X-energy Board; (g) any other proposals as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) (or staff members of the SEC and NYSE) may indicate are necessary in its comments to the registration statement on Form S-4 (the “Registration Statement”) to be filed by the Company or correspondence; (h) adoption and approval of any other proposals as reasonably and mutually agreed to by the Parties to be necessary or appropriate in connection with the Business Combination; and (i) adjournment of the Company’s shareholders’ meeting to a later date or dates, if necessary or appropriate, to permit further solicitation and vote of proxies if there are insufficient votes for, or otherwise in connection with, any of the foregoing (such proposals in clauses (a) through (h), together, the “Transaction Proposals”); (ii) any applicable waiting period or any extension of any applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (and the rules and regulations promulgated under such Act) in respect of the Business Combination being expired or earlier terminated, and all other consents of (or filings or registrations with) any governmental authority required in connection with the execution, delivery and performance of the Business Combination Agreement being obtained, expired or otherwise terminated, as applicable; (iii) the Registration Statement becoming effective; (iv) conditional approval of the listing of the New X-energy Class A Common Stock on the NYSE, subject to satisfaction of the round lot holders requirement for initial listing; (v) the accuracy of the representations and warranties of each Party and the performance of the covenants and agreements of the Parties subject, in each case, to customary standards; and (vi) the completion of the Domestication.
The obligations of X-energy to consummate the Business Combination are also subject to the Available Purchaser Closing Cash (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) being no less than an amount (not less than zero) equal to $120,000,000 minus the aggregate amounts actually funded in connection with one or more capital raising transactions entered into on or after the Signing Date and prior to January 15, 2023 on substantially the same terms as the Funded Permitted Financing.
Termination
The Business Combination Agreement may be terminated under certain customary and limited circumstances at any time prior to the Closing, including, among others, (i) by mutual written consent of the Company and X-energy; (ii) by the Company or X-energy if the Closing has not occurred on or before August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as its Board may determine in its sole discretion; (iii) by X-energy, if at any time prior to the receipt of the Company Shareholder Approval, the board of directors of the Company or the Special Committee has amended, qualified, withdrawn or modified its recommendation to the Company’s shareholders that they vote in favor of the Transaction Proposals; and (iv) by X-energy if the Company Shareholder Approval is not obtained by the Company after the conclusion of the extraordinary general meeting of the Company’s shareholders held for the purpose of voting on the Transaction Proposals.
Member Support Agreement
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, certain Members entered into the Member Support Agreement (the “Member Support Agreement”), pursuant to which such Members have agreed to, among other things, vote (or act by written consent): (i) to approve and adopt the Business Combination Agreement and the consummation of the Business Combination, including the Recapitalization; (ii) against any Alternative Transaction or any proposal relating to an Alternative Transaction; (iii) against any merger agreement or merger (other than the Business Combination Agreement and the Business Combination), consolidation, combination, sale of substantial assets, reorganization, recapitalization, dissolution, liquidation or winding up of or by X-energy; (iv) against any change in the business, management or board of directors of X-energy (other than pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement or the ancillary agreements); and (v) against any proposal, action or agreement that would: (a) impede, interfere, frustrate, prevent or nullify any provision of the Member Support Agreement, the Business Combination Agreement or the Business Combination; (b) result in a breach in any respect of any covenant, representation, warranty or any other obligation or agreement of X-energy under the Business Combination Agreement; (c) result in any of the closing conditions of the Business Combination Agreement not being fulfilled; (d) result in a breach of any covenant, representation or warranty or other obligation or agreement of such Member contained in the Member Support Agreement; or (e) change in any manner the dividend policy or capitalization of, including the voting rights of any class of capital stock of, X-energy.
Pursuant to the Member Support Agreement, until the earliest of the Closing, termination of the Business Combination Agreement and the liquidation of X-energy, no Member party to the Member Support Agreement shall (subject to limited and customary exceptions), without the prior written consent of X-energy and the Company: (i) sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate or pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of or agree to dispose of, directly or indirectly, any Company Units (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement); (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that
transfers to another any of the economic consequences of ownership of any Company Units; (iii) take any action in furtherance of any of the matters described in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii); or (iv) publicly announce any intention to effect any transaction specified in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii).
In addition, each Member party to the Member Support Agreement has agreed not to commence, join in, facilitate, assist or encourage, and has agreed to take all actions necessary to opt out of any class in any class action with respect to, any claim, derivative or otherwise, against the Company, X-energy or any of their respective successors or directors: (a) challenging the validity of, or seeking to enjoin the operation of, any provision of the Member Support Agreement; or (b) alleging a breach of any fiduciary duty of any person in connection with the evaluation, negotiation or entry into the Member Support Agreement, the Business Combination Agreement or the Business Combination.
Tax Receivable Agreement
At the Closing, New X-energy will enter into a Tax Receivable Agreement (the “Tax Receivable Agreement”) with X-energy and certain members of X-energy (the “TRA Holders”). Pursuant to the Tax Receivable Agreement, among other things, New X-energy will be required to pay to each TRA Holder 85% of certain tax benefits, if any, that it realizes (or in certain cases is deemed to realize) as a result of the increases in tax basis resulting from any exchange of X-energy Common Units for New X-energy Class A Common Stock or cash in the future and certain other tax benefits arising from payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement. In certain cases, New X-energy’s obligations under the Tax Receivable Agreement may accelerate and become due and payable, based on certain assumptions, upon a change in control and certain other termination events, as defined in the Tax Receivable Agreement.
A&R Operating Agreement
In connection with the Business Combination, X-energy will amend and restate its limited liability company agreement by adopting the A&R Operating Agreement. The A&R Operating Agreement will (i) permit the issuance and ownership of the post-Recapitalization equity of X-energy as contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement and (ii) admit the Company as the managing member of X-energy. The Members will control New X-energy immediately after the Closing by virtue of their ownership of New X-energy Class B Common Stock, New X-energy Class C Common Stock, and New X-energy Class D Common Stock, as applicable.
Lock-Up Agreements
Sponsor Lock-Up Agreement
At the Closing, the Purchaser Support Parties and New X-energy will enter into a Lock-Up Agreement (the “Sponsor Lock-Up Agreement”), pursuant to which the Purchaser Support Parties and each of their respective permitted assigns will agree not to, without the prior written consent of the New X-energy Board, prior to the date that is one year after the Closing Date (the “Lock-Up Period”): (i) sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate or pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, or agree to dispose of or establish or increase a put equivalent position or liquidate or decrease a call equivalent position within the meaning of Section 16 of the Exchange Act (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) with respect to: (a) any shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock the Purchaser Support Parties received upon conversion of its Cayman Class B Shares in connection with the Domestication; and (b) New X-energy Warrants received upon conversion of its the Company private placement warrants in connection with the Domestication (or the shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants) (the securities specified in clauses (a) and (b), collectively, the “Sponsor Lock-Up Shares”); (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any Sponsor Lock-Up Shares, whether any such transaction is to be settled by delivery of such securities in cash or otherwise; (iii) take any action in furtherance of any of the matters described in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii); or (iv) publicly announce any intention to effect any transaction specified in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii). The Sponsor Lock-Up Agreement provides for certain customary permitted transfers, including but not limited to, transfers to certain affiliates or family members and the exercise of certain stock options and warrants.
X-energy Lock-Up Agreement
At the Closing, New X-energy, certain equityholders of X-energy (the “Lock-Up Holders”) will enter into a Lock-Up Agreement (the “X-energy Lock-Up Agreement”), pursuant to which the Lock-Up Holders will agree not to, without the prior written consent of the New X-energy Board, prior to the date that is one year after the Closing: (i) sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate or pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of or agree to dispose of, directly or
indirectly, or establish or increase a put equivalent position or liquidate or decrease a call equivalent position within the meaning of Section 16 of the Exchange Act with respect to: (a) any shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock; or (b) any securities convertible into, or exercisable, redeemable or exchangeable for, New X-energy Class A Common Stock held by such holder immediately after the consummation of the Business Combination (the shares of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and securities specified in clauses (a) and (b), collectively, the “Lock-Up Shares”); (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any Lock-Up Shares, whether any such transaction is to be settled by delivery of such securities in cash or otherwise; (iii) take any action in furtherance of any of the matters described in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii); or (iv) publicly announce any intention to effect any transaction specified in the foregoing clauses (i) or (ii). The X-energy Lock-Up Agreement provides for certain customary permitted transfers, including but not limited to, transfers to certain affiliates or family members and the exercise of certain stock options and warrants.
Amended and Restated Registration Rights Agreement
At the Closing, the Company, the Sponsor and certain securityholders of X-energy will enter into an amended and restated registration rights agreement (the “A&R Registration Rights Agreement”), pursuant to which, among other things, the Sponsor and such other securityholders will be granted certain customary registration rights, on the terms and subject to the conditions in the A&R Registration Rights Agreement, with respect to securities of New X-energy that they will hold following the Business Combination.
Commitment Letter
On December 5, 2022, the Company and X-energy entered into a commitment letter (the “Commitment Letter”) with AAC Holdings II LP (the “Investor”), an affiliate of Ares. On the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Commitment Letter and the summary of terms attached to the Commitment Letter, pursuant to which among other things, the Investor has committed that it or its affiliated vehicles or designees will purchase in a private placement, to close immediately prior to the closing of the Business Combination, 45,000 shares of Series A preferred stock of the Company (the “Series A Preferred Stock”) at a purchase price of $1,000.00 per share, resulting in gross proceeds to the Company of up to $45.0 million (the “PIPE Commitment”) as such amounts may be reduced as described below.
The PIPE Commitment will be reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the amount by which (i) the sum of (a) the amount of cash available in the Trust Account immediately prior to the Closing, less amounts required for any redemptions of Class A common stock by the Company’s public shareholders in connection with the vote to approve the Business Combination (any such redemptions, the “Redemptions”) (to the extent not already paid); plus (b) the aggregate proceeds, if any, actually received by the Company from the PIPE Investment (including any amount actually funded pursuant to the Commitment Letter); plus (c) the aggregate amount actually funded to X-energy in connection with any Permitted Financing (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) prior to January 15, 2023, exceeds (ii) $400.0 million. Any such reduction in the PIPE Commitment shall be applied to reduce the Investor’s obligation under the Commitment Letter. In no event shall any reduction to the PIPE Commitment exceed $25.0 million in the aggregate. X-energy and the Investor may also mutually agree to reduce the amount of the PIPE Commitment.
If the Company enters into subscription or similar agreements with one or more unaffiliated third-party investors (the “Other Investors”) pursuant to which the Other Investors agree to purchase from the Company shares of Class A common stock, shares of one or more series of preferred stock, or convertible debt securities or any other security convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities the Company (such securities, the “Alternative Securities”) substantially concurrently with the Closing, then the obligations of the Investor under the PIPE Commitment will be null and void. In such event, the Investor will enter into a subscription or similar agreement on the same terms and conditions as the Other Investors to purchase Alternative Securities having an aggregate purchase price of $45,000,000, subject to cutbacks based on the formula in the Commitment Letter.
An affiliate of Ares (the “Guarantor”) has provided X-energy with a limited guaranty in favor of X-energy, dated December 5, 2022, with respect to certain of the Investor’s obligations under the Commitment Letter.
Extension
The Company’s Initial Public Offering prospectus and amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provided that the Company had until February 4, 2023 (the date which was 24 months after the consummation of the Initial Public Offering) to complete an initial business combination. As stated in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with SEC on February 3, 2023, the Company held a special meeting of shareholders and approved a proposal to amend the Company’s
amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to extend the date by which the Company has to consummate an initial business combination from February 4, 2023 to August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as its board of directors may determine in its sole discretion (the “Extension”). In connection with the approval of the Extension, shareholders elected to redeem an aggregate of 53,002,919 ordinary shares, of which the Company paid cash from the Trust Account in the aggregate amount of approximately $539.0 million (approximately $10.17 per share) to redeeming shareholders.
Extension Promissory Note
On January 26, 2023, our Sponsor agreed to make monthly deposits directly to the Trust Account of $0.03 for each outstanding Class A ordinary share, up to a maximum of $1.2 million per month (each deposit, a “Contribution”) following the approval and implementation of the Extension. Such Contributions will be made pursuant to a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note (the “Extension Promissory Note”) issued by us to our Sponsor. Such Contributions, which will be paid monthly (or a pro rata portion thereof if less than a full month), began on February 3, 2023, and thereafter on the first day of each month (or if such first day is not a business day, on the business day immediately preceding such first day) until the earlier of (i) the consummation of a business combination, and (ii) August 4, 2023 (or any earlier date of termination, dissolution or winding up of the Company in accordance with our memorandum and articles of association or as otherwise determined in the sole discretion of our board of directors) (the earlier of (i) and (ii), the “Maturity Date”). The Extension Promissory Note does not bear any interest, and is repayable by us to our Sponsor upon the Maturity Date. The Maturity Date may be accelerated upon the occurrence of certain events of default. Any outstanding principal under the Extension Promissory Note may be prepaid at any time by us, at our election and without penalty.
Business Acquisition Criteria
Our acquisition and value creation strategy is to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, further accelerate the growth of a company in the public markets.
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective targets for our initial business combination, including X-energy. We will leverage these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but to the extent our proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated and we search for other acquisition opportunities, we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to acquire target businesses that we believe have the following core attributes:
• a differentiated and sustainable business model with a defensible market position;
• strong people, processes and culture;
• attractive growth prospects, including an ability to capitalize on positive secular tailwinds;
• a strong customer base;
• sufficient scale and resources to achieve a successful transition into the public market;
• will benefit from having a public currency to enhance its ability to grow organically or through M&A; and
• will benefit from Ares’ relationships and deep value creation capabilities.
We may pursue an initial business combination target in any business or industry.
These criteria and guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. As a result of changes in the market since our Initial Public Offering, we may consider a target business in the fossil fuel industry, including the upstream, midstream and energy services sub-sectors. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our directors and executive officers may deem relevant. While we have used these criteria and guidelines in evaluating opportunities such as our proposed Business Combination with X-energy, in the event that we do not consummate the proposed Business Combination with X-energy and decide to enter into our initial business combination with another target business that does not meet these 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. These communications would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
Our Acquisition Process
The Ares investment process leverages the power of the Ares platform and an extensive network of professionals across investment areas to identify and source attractive risk adjusted return opportunities while emphasizing capital preservation. Ares utilizes its collective market and company knowledge, proprietary internal industry and company research, third party information and financial modeling to drive fundamental analysis and investment selection. Ares also recognizes the importance of considering environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors in its investment process and has adopted an ESG policy for the conduct of its business. Ares works collaboratively with its various underwriting, asset management, legal and compliance teams to appropriately integrate relevant ESG considerations into its investment process.
At the center of Ares’ investment process is a systematic approach that emphasizes rigorous due diligence at the company and market level in addition to a risk-adjusted return value assessment. This investment process is comprised of five stages: (i) generate a robust pipeline, (ii) perform initial screening, (iii) conduct due diligence, (iv) drive transaction structuring, funding and overall execution, and (v) use a systematic approach to value creation. We will benefit from the same approach as we pursue our initial business combination.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we conduct a thorough due diligence review that may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, and a review of financial, operational, legal and other information about the target and its industry. We will also utilize our operational and capital planning experience.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with Ares, our Sponsor, or our officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with Ares, our Sponsor, or our 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 or an independent accounting firm.
Our directors and executive officers may directly or indirectly own our ordinary shares 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, 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.
Initial Business Combination
The rules of the NYSE require that we must consummate our initial business combination with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting commissions held in trust) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, or if we are considering an initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we will obtain an opinion with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. We also will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations. Subject to these limitations, our directors and executive officers will have virtually unlimited flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective businesses. Based on the valuation analysis of our management and board of directors, we have determined that the fair market value of X-energy was substantially in excess of 80% of the funds in the Trust Account and that the 80% test was therefore satisfied.
If we do not consummate the proposed Business Combination with X-energy, we may also pursue an acquisition opportunity jointly with Ares, one or more parties affiliated with Ares, including without limitation, officers and affiliates of Ares, or Ares funds, or investors in such Ares funds. Any such party may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by borrowing from or issuing to such parties a class of equity or debt securities. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such joint acquisition or specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-business combination 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-business combination company owns or
acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business to meet certain objectives of the prior owners of the target business, the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons. We will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the regulations thereunder (collectively, the “Investment Company Act”). Even if the post-business combination 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-business combination company, depending on the relative 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-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired will be valued for purposes of the NYSE’s 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the NYSE’s 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 shareholder approval, as applicable.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that is 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 directors and executive officers will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will fully ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
If the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, 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, will not be 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.
Other Considerations
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination or subsequent transaction with a company that is affiliated with Ares or any of our Sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination or, subject to certain exceptions, subsequent material transactions with a company that is affiliated with Ares, our Sponsor or any of our executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination or transaction is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Ares manages multiple investment vehicles, and expects to raise additional funds or accounts in the future, including during the period in which we are seeking our initial business combination. These Ares investment entities are expected to be seeking acquisition opportunities and related financings. We may compete with any one or more of them on any given acquisition opportunity.
In addition, certain of our directors and executive officers currently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities, including without limitation, Ares and the Ares funds or their current or former portfolio companies. These funds may have overlapping investment objectives and potential conflicts may arise with respect to Ares’ decision regarding how to allocate investment opportunities among these funds. If any of our directors and executive officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for a fund or entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations (including, without limitation, any Ares funds or their current or former portfolio companies), then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he or she will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such fund or entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If Ares, the Ares funds or other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. In addition, investment ideas generated within or presented to Ares or our directors and executive officers may be suitable for both us and Ares, a current or future Ares fund or one or more of their portfolio companies and, subject to applicable fiduciary duties or contractual obligations, will first be directed to Ares, such fund, investment vehicle or portfolio company before being directed, if at all, to us. However, we do not expect these fiduciary duties or contractual obligations to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and
restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity (including with respect to any business transaction that may involve another Ares entity) for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other. Accordingly, none of Ares or our directors or officers will have obligations to present a business combination opportunity to us.
Our directors and officers or Ares or its affiliates, including the Ares funds, 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. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates and the director and officer teams. However, we do not currently expect that any such other blank check company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Moreover, our officers and directors are and in the future will be required to commit time and attention to Ares and current and future Ares funds. To the extent any conflict of interest arises between, on the one hand, us and, on the other hand, any of such entities (including, without limitation, arising as a result of certain of officers and directors being required to offer acquisition opportunities to such entities), Ares and its affiliated funds will resolve such conflicts of interest in their sole discretion in accordance with their then existing fiduciary, contractual and other duties and there can be no assurance that such conflict of interest will be resolved in our favor.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer X-energy, and if the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, any other target businesses 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 ordinary shares in the target business for 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. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. 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 the proposed Business Combination is completed, X-energy or if the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, any other 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 such 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 equity 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.
Financial Position
With a Trust Account in the amount of approximately $1,013.4 million as of December 31, 2022 and approximately $446.4 million as of February 21, 2023, after taking into account redemptions in connection with the Extension, the expenses of the Initial Public Offering and $35.0 million of deferred underwriting commissions, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third-party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
General
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time. We intend to effectuate our proposed Business Combination with X-energy using the sources discussed under “—Proposed Business Combination.” If the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, we intend to effectuate another initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering, the sale 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-business combination company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our Trust Account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise. For more information on the financing arrangements related to the Business Combination, please see the description of the Business Combination Agreement and the Commitment Letter under “—Proposed Business Combination” of this item.
Sources of Target Businesses
Our process of identifying acquisition targets leverages Ares Management’s and our directors and executive officers’ 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 Ares and our directors and executive officers, combined with their individual and collective reputations in the investment community, will help to create prospective business combination opportunities.
We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants and private equity groups, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. 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 annual report 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 that they become aware of 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. In addition, we 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.
We may engage the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions, including one of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering or one of their respective affiliates, or other individuals, 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. In addition, the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering may provide these services without additional compensation. We will formally engage a finder only to the extent our directors and executive officers 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 directors and executive officers determine is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the Trust Account. In no event, however, will our Sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any
entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We pay our Sponsor a total of $16,667 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative support and our Sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing the initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-business combination company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of a target business.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors, or from making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our Sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Certain of our directors and executive officers currently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities, including without limitation, Ares Management and the Ares funds or their current or former portfolio companies. These funds may have overlapping investment objectives and potential conflicts may arise with respect to Ares Management’s decision regarding how to allocate investment opportunities among these funds. If any of our directors and executive officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for a fund or entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations (including, without limitation, any Ares funds or their current or former portfolio companies), then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he or she will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such fund or entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If Ares Management, the Ares funds or other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. In addition, investment ideas generated within or presented to Ares Management or our directors and executive officers may be suitable for both us and Ares Management, a current or future Ares fund or one or more of their portfolio companies and, subject to applicable fiduciary duties or contractual obligations, will first be directed to Ares Management, such fund, investment vehicle or portfolio company before being directed, if at all, to us. None of Ares Management or any of our directors and executive officers who are also employed by Ares Management or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware in their capacities as employees of Ares Management, its funds or their portfolio companies. However, we do not expect these duties or contractual obligations to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity (including with respect to any business transaction that may involve another Ares entity) for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.
Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination
In evaluating a prospective target business, we conduct a thorough due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as applicable, 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 our directors and executive officers, 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.
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business, including the management of X-energy, when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of our directors and executive officers, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of our directors and executive officers will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, including our proposed Business Combination with X-energy, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that our directors and executive officers will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination
If the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, we may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote in connection with another initial business combination, pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons.
Under the NYSE listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
•we issue ordinary shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our ordinary shares then outstanding (other than in a public offering);
•any of our directors, officers or substantial security holder (as defined by the rules) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of ordinary shares could result in an increase in issued and outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 1% or more (or 5% or more if the related party involved is classified as such solely because such person is a substantial security holder); or
•the issuance or potential issuance of ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control.
The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and legal reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
•the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine shareholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek shareholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company;
•the expected cost of holding a shareholder vote;
•the risk that the shareholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination;
•other time and budget constraints of the company; and
•additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to shareholders.
Permitted Purchases of Our Securities
We expect to seek shareholder approval of our proposed Business Combination with X-energy. In the event that the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated and we conduct redemptions in connection with another initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.
In the event that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to have their shares redeemed. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination or (ii) to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of Class A ordinary shares) following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact potential selling shareholders who have expressed their election to have their shares redeemed for a pro rata share of the Trust Account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the shareholder meeting related to our initial business combination. Our Sponsor, executive officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Amendments to Facilitate the Consummation of an Initial Business Combination
On February 2, 2023, we held a special meeting of shareholders and approved two proposals to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that will facilitate the consummation of the proposed Business Combination or another initial business combination. The first amendment extended the date by which we have to consummate an initial business combination from February 4, 2023 to August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion. The second amendment (the “Redemption Limitation Amendment”) eliminated from the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association a limitation that we shall not redeem Class A ordinary shares to the extent that such redemption would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (the “Redemption Limitation”). The Redemption Limitation Amendment enables us to redeem public shares irrespective of whether such redemption would exceed the limitation.
Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares in connection with our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of then- outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.00 per public share (plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly elect to redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself before we can validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our Sponsor and each of our directors and executive officers have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any Class B ordinary shares and any public shares in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (a) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with the NYSE rules.
If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
•conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and
•file proxy materials with the SEC.
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of shareholders holding a majority of ordinary shares who attend and vote at a shareholder meeting. In such case, our Sponsor has agreed to vote its Class B ordinary shares and any public shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our Sponsor’s Class B ordinary shares, we would need 10,998,541 or 15.3% (assuming all outstanding shares are voted), or zero or 0% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 46,997,081 Class A ordinary shares that remain outstanding following the Extension to be voted in favor of an initial business combination to have our initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder may elect to have their public shares redeemed irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our Sponsor and each of our directors and executive officers have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Class B ordinary shares and public shares in connection with (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (a) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
•conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and
•file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, we or our Sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Shareholder Approval
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the Initial Public Offering, which we refer to as “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 directors and executive officers 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 the Initial Public Offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our Sponsor or our directors and executive officers 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 the Initial Public 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.
Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
Public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” are required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System (the “DWAC System”), at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself before we can validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. To perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the shareholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming shareholder’s election to require us to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the Trust Account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation If No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we must complete our initial business combination, including the proposed Business Combination with X-energy, by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion. If we are unable to complete an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion, 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 income 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); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the Trust Account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our Sponsor, directors and executive officers have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their Class B ordinary shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion. However, if our Sponsor, directors or executive officers acquire public shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion.
Our Sponsor, 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 (a) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to require us to redeem their public 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 income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. 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.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded out of the approximately $38,000 of proceeds held outside the Trust Account (as of December 31, 2022) plus up to $100,000 of funds from the Trust Account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the Trust Account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the Trust Account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the Trust Account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all material vendors, service providers (except for our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us
waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the Trust Account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case 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 directors and executive officers will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to the company and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if our directors and executive officers believe that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interest of the company given the circumstances. 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 our directors and executive officers to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where our directors and executive officers are unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. The representatives will not execute an agreement 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. To protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, our Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us (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 tax obligations, 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 the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. 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.
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 amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our income tax obligations, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable. 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.
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 material vendors, service providers (except for 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 the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $38,000 of proceeds held outside the Trust Account (as of December 31, 2022) 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, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our Trust Account received by any such shareholder.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the Trust Account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion, (ii) 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 provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion, or (b) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who elect to have their Class A ordinary shares redeemed 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 we have not completed an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the Trust Account. In the event we seek shareholder approval, in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s requiring us to redeem its shares for an applicable pro rata share of the Trust Account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder 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, 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. See “—Other Considerations.”
Facilities
Our executive offices are located at 245 Park Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10167. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $16,667 per month fee we pay to our Sponsor for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have four 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 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.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains such reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to shareholders. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”), or international financial reporting standards (“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 in the 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. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential target business will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential target businesses, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures beginning with the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and to have our internal control procedures audited. X-energy is not and any other target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Prior to the date of this annual report, we filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (2020 Revision) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. In addition to the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this annual report, you should consider carefully the risks and uncertainties related to the proposed Business Combination with X-energy included in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus, including the risks factors relating to X-energy’s business, compliance with law, government regulation and litigation, X-energy’s capital resources and New X-energy’s organizational structure before making an investment decision. If any of the risks and uncertainties occur, our business, financial condition and operations results could be adversely affected in material respects. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to:
•we are an early stage company with no revenues or basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective;
•past performance by Ares or its affiliates or our directors and executive officers, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders;
•our 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 shareholders do not support such a combination;
•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, unless we seek shareholder approval of such business combination;
•if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our Sponsor, directors and executive officers 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 exercise redemption rights for shares that they hold for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets and may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target;
•the ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a significant portion of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure;
•the ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a significant portion of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination is unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation for your shares to be redeemed;
•we may not be able to consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate;
•if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or 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 or warrants;
•if a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed;
•you will not 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;
•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 require us to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares;
•because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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;
•our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses a going concern about our ability to continue as a going concern for liquidity and we will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating if we are unable to complete an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion;
•we may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after the Initial Public Offering, which may include acting as a financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred underwriting commissions that will be released from the Trust Account only upon a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after the Initial Public Offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination;
•we may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, such as X-energy, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all;
•holders of Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any election of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination;
•our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results and thus may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities;
•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;
•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 our directors;
•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; and
•the other risks and uncertainties discussed in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report.
Risk Factors
Risks Related to Our Business and the Initial Business Combination
Our 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 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 for as required by applicable law or stock exchange requirement, 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.
Please see the section entitled “Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to require us to redeem your shares for cash, unless we seek shareholder approval of such business combination.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. 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 our initial 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 Sponsor, directors and executive officers have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Our Sponsor, directors and executive officers have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any Class B ordinary shares and any public shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering held by them in favor of our initial business combination. Our Sponsor and our directors and executive officers 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 provides that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of shareholders holding a majority of ordinary shares who attend and vote at a shareholder meeting, including the Class B ordinary shares. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ Class B ordinary shares, we would need 10,998,541 or 15.3% (assuming all outstanding shares are voted), or zero or 0% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 46,997,081 Class A ordinary shares that remain outstanding following the Extension to be voted in favor of an initial business combination to have our initial business combination approved. We expect that our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 34.7% of our outstanding ordinary shares at the time of any such shareholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our Sponsor and each of our directors and executive officers (and their respective permitted transferees) 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.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights for shares that they hold for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets and 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 public holders of a substantial portion of our shares were to exercise their redemption rights, we may not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of this risk and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a significant portion 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 initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expect, 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. These considerations may limit our ability to complete the most attractive 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 significant portion of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination is unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation for your shares to be redeemed.
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 funds in 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 the redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, including the proposed Business Combination with X-energy. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not consummate an 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 time frame 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 cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the proposed Business Combination or complete an alternative initial business combination by August 4, 2023, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem the Class A ordinary shares and liquidate the Trust Account, and our public shareholders would only receive approximately $10.00 per share and the public warrants would expire worthless.
We cannot assure you that the proposed Business Combination or another initial business combination will be consummated prior to August 4, 2023, the date by which we are required to complete our initial business combination or be forced to liquidate, or that an extension request will enable us to complete the proposed Business Combination or another initial business combination. Our ability to consummate any business combination depends on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Although we are required to offer shareholders redemption rights in connection with any shareholder vote to approve a business combination, or if we seek an extension, there may be no extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders to vote upon the proposed Business Combination, another initial business combination or an extension before August 4, 2023. Even if the proposed Business Combination or an extension is approved by our shareholders, it is possible that redemptions will leave us with insufficient cash to consummate the proposed Business Combination or another initial business combination on commercially acceptable terms, or at all. The fact that we will have separate redemption periods in connection with a shareholder vote upon an extension and vote upon the Business Combination could exacerbate these risks. Other than in connection with a redemption offer or liquidation, our public shareholders may be unable to recover their investment, except through sales of their public shares on the open market. The price of our securities may be volatile, and there can be no assurance that our public shareholders will be able to dispose of their public shares at favorable prices, or at all.
If we are not able to complete the Business Combination with X-energy, complete an alternative business combination or obtain an extension by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 the Company (less tax payable and 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 any remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to its obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, the public shareholders would only receive approximately $10.00 per share and the public warrants would expire worthless.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or 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 or warrants.
In connection with the proposed Business Combination with X-energy, our initial shareholders, Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the consummation of the proposed Business Combination with X-energy, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions.
If the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated and if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions.
In the event that our Sponsor, 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. See “Permitted Purchases of Our Securities” for a description of how our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or 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 the proposed Business Combination with X-energy or a business combination with another target, 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 require us 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 to validly redeem or tender public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
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 an aggregate of 15% of the Class A ordinary shares sold in our Initial Public Offering, you will lose the ability to require us to redeem all such shares in excess of an aggregate of 15% of the Class A ordinary shares sold in our Initial Public Offering.
In connection with the proposed Business Combination with X-energy or if the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated and if we seek shareholder approval of a business combination with another target and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with such initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our 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 Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the Class A ordinary shares sold in the Initial Public 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 require us 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, to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Our ability to consummate a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted global commercial activity and supply chain operations and has contributed to significant volatility in the equity and debt markets. The business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many countries, including the United States and states and municipalities in which we may operate, have issued (and may re-issue) orders requiring the closure of, or certain restrictions on the operation of, certain businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic and preventative measures taken to contain or mitigate its spread have caused, and may continue to cause, business shutdowns or the re-introduction of business shutdowns, cancellations of events and restrictions on travel, significant reductions in demand for certain goods and services, reductions in business activity and financial transactions, supply chain interruptions and overall economic and financial market instability both globally and in the United States. While many of the initial restrictions have been lifted, the risk of future COVID-19 outbreaks remains and restrictions have been or may continue to be reimposed to mitigate risks to public health both in the United States and globally. Moreover, even where restrictions are and remain lifted, certain groups of people may continue to self-isolate and not participate in the economy at pre-pandemic levels for a prolonged period of time, potentially further delaying global economic recovery. We may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 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 consummate a transaction in a timely manner. We are continuing to monitor the impact of COVID-19 and related risks, including risks related to the ongoing spread of COVID-19 (including new variants) and efforts to mitigate the spread and deployment of vaccines. If the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including COVID-19 variants, remain uncertain and the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on our ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 we succeed in effecting the proposed Business Combination with X-energy, there will likely be significant competition from X-energy’s competitors. We cannot assure you that, subsequent to the proposed Business Combination, we
will have the resources or ability to compete effectively. In the event that the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, we expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of the Initial Public 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. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to require us 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 limitations and obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient for us to operate until August 4, 2023, it could limit the amount available to fund our business and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our Sponsor or directors and executive officers to fund our business and to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, only $1,500,000 will be available to us initially outside the Trust Account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the Trust Account, together with funds available from loans from our Sponsor, will be sufficient for us to operate until August 4, 2023; however, our operating and transaction expenses may exceed this amount.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our Sponsor, directors and executive officers or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our Sponsor, directors or executive officers 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 Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our Trust Account. If we have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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.
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, including X-energy, 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. These 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.
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, including any regulatory actions successfully made against the Trust Account. Although, following our Initial Public Offering, we will seek to have all material vendors, service providers (except for our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account for the benefit of our public shareholders, 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 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 directors and executive officers will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to the company and will only enter into an agreement with such third party that has not executed a waiver if our directors and executive officers believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. The underwriters will not execute an agreement with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account.
A third party may refuse to execute a waiver in numerous circumstances, such as the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by our directors and executive officers to be superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where our directors and executive officers are unable to retain 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 consummated an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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, our Sponsor has agreed that it 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 tax obligations, 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 (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
However, we have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. 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.
The grant of registration rights to our Sponsor 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 the Initial Public Offering, our Sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the Class A ordinary shares into which Class B ordinary 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 the Working Capital Loan (described elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K) and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the Class B ordinary shares and the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such Private Placement Warrants. 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 Sponsor or its permitted transferees are registered.
Because we are not limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector and have not selected any specific target businesses to pursue in our initial business combination, you will not have the opportunity to assess the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
In the event that the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, we may focus our search for a target business in North America, Europe or Asia. We may pursue business combination opportunities in any industry, sector or location, 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. If 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 those businesses. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to fully assess all of the risks or have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and we may be unable 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 decline in the value of their securities. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value of their securities.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our directors and executive officers’ area of expertise.
We may consider a business combination outside of our directors and executive officers’ 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 directors and executive officers 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 the Initial Public 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 directors and executive officers’ expertise, our directors and executive officers’ expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this annual report regarding the areas of our directors and executive officers’ expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our directors and executive officers 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. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. As a result of changes in the market since our Initial Public Offering, we may consider a target business in the fossil fuel industry, including the upstream, midstream and energy services sub-sectors. 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 have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 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 issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained therein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2022 there were 200,000,000 and 5,000,000 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 or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, if any. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. As of December 31, 2022, there were no preference shares issued and outstanding.
Due to additional ordinary share issuances, if the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is consummated, our shareholders will experience dilution. If the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is not consummated, we may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete another proposed 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 as described in “Description of Securities—Warrants—Company Public Shareholders’ 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 as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, 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 preference shares:
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| | • | | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in the Initial Public Offering; |
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| | • | | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares; |
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| | • | | 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; |
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| | • | | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants; and |
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| | • | | may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants. |
Unlike most other similarly structured blank check companies, our Sponsor will receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the consummation of our initial 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 the Initial Public Offering, plus (ii) the total number of Class A 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 consummation of the initial business combination, 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 the initial business combination and any Private Placement Warrants issued to our Sponsor upon conversion of the Working Capital Loan. 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 and adversely affect subsequent attempts to identify and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 and adversely affect subsequent attempts to identify and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion, 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.
Our assessment of the management of a target business may be limited, and we may be unable to retain that management following a business combination.
When evaluating a prospective target business, our assessment of the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills or qualifications necessary to manage a public company or the acquired business, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted.
Although we would expect to retain some or all members of a target business’s management team following our initial business combination, members of the management of a target business may elect to depart. This could negatively affect the operations and profitability of the post-combination business. As a result of any of the foregoing, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a decline in the value of their shares.
Ares may choose not to refer certain opportunities to us due to reputational interests, financial interests, confidentiality concerns, legal, regulatory, tax and any other interests or considerations relevant to Ares, its clients and their respective portfolio companies.
Ares, together with its affiliates, engages in a broad range of business activities and invests in a broad range of businesses and assets. Ares takes into account interests of its affiliates, funds and each of their respective portfolio companies (including reputational interests, financial interests, confidentiality concerns, legal, regulatory, tax and any other interests or considerations that arise from time to time) when determining whether to pursue (or how to structure) a potential transaction or investment opportunity. As a result, it is possible that Ares may choose not to refer a business opportunity to us or our officers or directors who are affiliated with Ares may choose not to pursue an opportunity notwithstanding that such opportunity would be attractive to us due to the reputational, financial, confidentiality, legal, regulatory, tax and/or other interests or considerations of Ares and its affiliates.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that are affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders, which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our Sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our Sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Conflicts of Interest.” Our Sponsor, directors and executive officers, Ares, or its affiliates may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Although we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination, any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination and may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our Sponsor, executive officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not specifically focus on, or target, a 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 “Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination” 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 or an independent accounting firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our Sponsor, 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.
Our Sponsor, 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 the Initial Public Offering), and conflicts of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On June 5, 2020, our Sponsor paid $25,000 to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the Sponsor, the Company had no assets, tangible or intangible. As a result of various transactions, our Sponsor (together with its permitted transferees) currently holds an aggregate of 25,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, which represents 20% of the outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering. In addition, our Sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 15,333,333 Private Placement Warrants, including 1,733,333 additional Private Placement Warrants to cover over-allotments, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, in a private placement that closed simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering. If we do not consummate an initial business by August 4, 2023,or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence them in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and operating the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the Initial Public Offering nears, which is the deadline for our consummation of an initial business combination.
To complete a business combination, we may issue notes or other debt securities or otherwise incur substantial debt, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and negatively impact the value of our shares.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this annual report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following the Initial Public 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:
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| | • | | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
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| | • | | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
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| | • | | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; |
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| | • | | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding; |
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| | • | | our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares; |
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| | • | | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
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| | • | | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
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| | • | | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation or prevailing interest rates; and |
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| | • | | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, which will cause us to be dependent on a single business that may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from the Initial Public Offering and the private placement of warrants provided us with up to $967.1 million that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $35,000,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the Trust Account and the expenses of the Initial Public 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. The lack of diversification that may result from completing our initial business combination with a single entity may subject us to numerous economic, competitive, geographic and regulatory factors. 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 that 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:
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| | • | | solely depend on the performance of a single business, property or asset; or |
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| | • | | depend on the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
Any of the foregoing risks could have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate following our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need 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 to complete our initial business combination timely or at all. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable or attractive as the limited information may have indicated.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company such as X-energy. 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 or attractive as the limited information may have indicated.
Our directors and executive officers 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-business combination 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-business combination 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-business combination 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 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, our directors and executive officers may be unable to maintain control of the acquired 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 directors and executive officers will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to fully 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 we may be unable 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.
To effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We may 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 some of our shareholders may not support.
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 or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association requires 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 shareholder meeting of the company, and amending our warrant agreement requires a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the Private Placement Warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the Private Placement Warrants, 50% of the number of the then-outstanding Private Placement Warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association requires us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to have their public shares redeemed for cash if we propose
an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. 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 seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination to effectuate our initial 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 of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a shareholder 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 to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Some blank check companies have a provision in their charters that prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those relating 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 between 90% and 100% of the company’s shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement Warrants into the Trust Account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) 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 shareholder 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; provided that the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at our shareholder meeting which shall include the affirmative vote of a simple majority of our Class B ordinary shares. Our Sponsor and its permitted transferees, if any, who collectively beneficially own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering, may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association 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 Sponsor, executive officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (i) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to have their Class A ordinary shares redeemed 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 income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. 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 Sponsor, executive officers, directors or director nominees 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.
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 have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants prove to be insufficient for our initial business combination, 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 have not completed our initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 income taxes, 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.
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 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, GAAP, or IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
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 and comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting beginning with this annual report. 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.
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.
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:
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| | • | | costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations; |
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| | • | | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
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| | • | | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
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| | • | | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
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| | • | | exchange listing or delisting requirements; |
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| | • | | tariffs and trade barriers; |
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| | • | | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
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| | • | | local or regional economic policies and market conditions; |
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| | • | | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
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| | • | | challenges in managing and staffing international operations; |
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| | • | | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
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| | • | | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
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| | • | | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
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| | • | | cultural and language differences; |
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| | • | | employment regulations; |
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| | • | | underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems; |
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| | • | | protection of intellectual property; |
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| | • | | social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances; |
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| | • | | regime changes and political upheaval; |
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| | • | | terrorist attacks and wars; and |
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| | • | | deterioration of political relations with the United States. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of 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 and catastrophic events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and pandemics, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
A new 1% U.S. federal excise tax is expected to be imposed on us in connection with redemptions of New X-energy Class A
Common Stock.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 became law, which, among other things, imposes a 1% excise tax on the fair market value of certain repurchases (including certain redemptions) of stock by publicly traded domestic (i.e., U.S.) corporations (and certain non-U.S. corporations treated as “surrogate foreign corporations”). The excise tax will
apply to stock repurchases occurring in 2023 and beyond. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares of stock repurchased at the time of the repurchase. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of, the excise tax; however, only limited guidance has been issued to date.
The 1% excise tax is not expected to apply to redemptions of Class A ordinary shares to the extent such redemptions occur prior to the Domestication (absent any regulations and other additional guidance that may be issued in the future with retroactive effect). However, absent any additional guidance, if we domesticate and continue as a Delaware corporation prior to the redemptions, and because our securities are trading on the NYSE, we currently expect that New X-energy will be subject to the excise tax with respect to any redemptions of its New X-energy Class A Common Stock in connection with the Business Combination that are treated as repurchases for this purpose if the Business Combination closes on a date after December 31, 2022. Furthermore, we currently expect that New X-energy will generally be subject to the excise tax with respect to any other future redemptions of its New X-energy Class A Common Stock after December 31, 2022 (other than, pursuant to recently issued guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, redemptions in complete liquidation of New X-energy). In all cases, the extent of the excise tax that may be incurred would depend on a number of factors, including the fair market value of the New X-energy Class A Common Stock redeemed, the extent such redemptions could be treated as dividends and not repurchases, and the content of any regulations and other additional guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury that may be issued and applicable to the redemptions. Issuances of stock by a repurchasing corporation in a year in which such corporation repurchases stock may reduce the amount of excise tax imposed with respect to such repurchase. It is not clear to what extent such reduction would be available with respect to redemptions of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and the issuance of New X-energy Class B Common Stock and New X-energy Class C Common Stock. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not the stockholders from which stock is repurchased. The imposition of the excise tax could, however, reduce the amount of cash available to New X-energy (or the cash contribution to X-energy following the Closing in connection with the Business Combination).
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after the Initial Public Offering, which may include acting as financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions that will released from the trust only on a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after the Initial Public Offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after the Initial Public Offering, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay such underwriter or its affiliate fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation. The underwriters are also entitled to receive deferred commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The underwriters’ or their respective affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and
officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
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, 2022, we had a working capital deficit of $9.6 million. Further, we have incurred and expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our business combination plans. If we are unable to raise sufficient capital when needed, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected, and we will need to significantly modify our operational plans to continue as a going concern. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this annual report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.
Please see the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations—Going Concern Considerations, Liquidity, and Capital Resources” for additional information.
Risks Relating to Our Proposed Business Combination with X-energy
The proposed Business Combination with X-energy may not be completed on the anticipated terms and there are uncertainties and risks related to consummating the proposed Business Combination with X-energy.
On December 5, 2022, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement with X-energy, pursuant to which the combined company will be organized in an umbrella partnership C corporation structure, in which substantially all of the assets and the business of the combined company will be held by X-energy. The combined company’s business will continue to operate through X-energy and its subsidiaries. In connection with the Closing, the Company will change its name to “X-Energy, Inc.”
The Closing may not be completed on the anticipated terms and there are uncertainties and risks related to consummating the proposed Business Combination. Even if the Business Combination Agreement is approved by the shareholders of the Company, specified conditions must be satisfied or waived before the parties to the Business Combination Agreement are obligated to complete the Business Combination. The Company does not control the satisfaction of all of such conditions. The Company and X-energy may not satisfy all of the closing conditions in the Business Combination Agreement. If the closing conditions are not satisfied or waived, the Business Combination will not occur, or will be delayed pending later satisfaction or waiver, and such delay may cause the Company and X-energy to each lose some or all of the intended benefits of the Business Combination.
Subsequent to the Closing, New X-energy may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on its financial condition and its share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Although the Company has conducted due diligence on X-energy, it cannot assure you that this diligence has identified all material issues that may be present within X-energy, that it is possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of X-energy’s and outside of the Company’s or New X-energy’s control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, New X-energy may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure its
operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in it reporting losses. Even if due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with the Company’s preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on New X-energy’s liquidity, the fact that New X-energy reports charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about New X-energy or its securities. Accordingly, any of the Company’s public shareholders who choose to remain stockholders of New X-energy following the Business Combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders 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 relating to the Business Combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Some of our executive officers and directors may have conflicts of interest that may influence or have influenced them to support or approve the Business Combination without regard to your interests or in determining whether X-energy is an appropriate target for our initial business combination.
Our Sponsor and independent directors currently hold an aggregate of 25,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, which represents 20% of the outstanding shares after our Initial Public Offering. The Sponsor holds 15,333,333 Private Placement Warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.50 per warrant. Pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement, our Sponsor has agreed to forfeit up to 73.1% of its Class B ordinary shares and Private Placement Warrants in connection with the consummation of the Business Combination, with 50% of the Purchaser Support Parties’ retained shares (subject to the terms of the Sponsor Support Agreement and following the automatic conversion of each issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share, on a one-for-one basis, into a Class A ordinary share) and the Purchaser Support Parties’ retained warrants (subject to the terms of the Sponsor Support Agreement) vesting in equal installments at share price thresholds of $12.50 and $15.00 following the proposed Business Combination. If we do not consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. The personal and financial interests of our Sponsor, executive officers and directors may influence or have influenced their motivation in identifying and selecting a target for our initial business combination, their support for completing the proposed Business Combination and the operation of New X-energy following the proposed Business Combination.
Our Sponsor, its directors and executive officers, and their respective affiliates have incurred out-of-pocket expenses in connection with performing due diligence on suitable targets for business combinations and the negotiation of the proposed Business Combination. At the Closing, our Sponsor, its directors and officers, and 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 targets for business combinations. If a business combination is not completed by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, our Sponsor, directors and officers, and any of their respective affiliates will not be eligible for any such reimbursement.
On February 2, 2023, we extended the date by which we have to consummate an initial business combination from February 4, 2023, to August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion. In connection with the Extension, on January 26, 2023, our Sponsor agreed to make monthly deposits directly to the Trust Account of $0.03 for each outstanding Class A ordinary share, up to a maximum of $1.2 million per month following the approval and implementation of the Extension. Such Contributions will be made pursuant to the Extension Promissory Note issued by us to our Sponsor. In the event that the proposed Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay this loan, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay this loan.
Certain officers and members of our board of directors also participate in arrangements that may provide them with other interests in the proposed Business Combination that are different from yours, including, among others, arrangements for their continued service as directors of New X-energy.
Further, our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed: (i) to vote any ordinary shares owned by them in favor of the proposed Business Combination; and (ii) not to redeem any shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve the proposed Business Combination.
These interests, among others, may influence or have influenced our Sponsor and the executive officers and members of our board of directors to support or approve the proposed Business Combination.
An active, liquid trading market for New X-energy’s securities may not develop, which may limit your ability to sell such securities.
Although we intend to apply to list the New X-energy Class A Common Stock and New X-energy Warrants on the NYSE under the ticker symbols “XE” and “XEW”, respectively, an active trading market for such securities may never develop or be sustained following the Closing. The initial valuation of $10.00 per share may not be indicative of the market price of New X-energy Class A Common Stock that will prevail in the open market after the Closing. A public trading market having the desirable characteristics of depth, liquidity and orderliness depends upon the existence of willing buyers and sellers at any given time, such existence being dependent upon the individual decisions of buyers and sellers over which neither we nor any market maker has control. The failure of an active and liquid trading market to develop and continue would likely have a material adverse effect on the value of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and New X-energy Warrants. The market price of New X-energy Class A Common Stock may decline below $10.00 per share, and you may not be able to sell your New X-energy Class A Common Stock at or above $10.00 per share, or at all. An inactive market may also impair our ability to raise capital to continue to fund operations by issuing New X-energy Class A Common Stock and New X-energy Warrants.
During the pendency of the proposed Business Combination, the Company will not be able to enter into a business combination with another party because of restrictions in the Business Combination Agreement. Furthermore, certain provisions of the Business Combination Agreement will discourage third parties from submitting alternative takeover proposals, including proposals that may be superior to the arrangements contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement.
Covenants in the Business Combination Agreement impede the ability of the Company to make acquisitions or complete other transactions that are not in the ordinary course of business pending completion of the Business Combination. As a result, the Company may be at a disadvantage to its competitors during that period. While the Business Combination Agreement is in effect, neither the Company nor X-energy may solicit, assist, initiate, engage or facilitate the making, submission or announcement of or encourage, any alternative acquisition proposal, such as a merger, material sale of assets or equity interests or other business combination, with any third party, even though any such alternative acquisition could be more favorable to the Company’s shareholders than the Business Combination. If the Business Combination is not completed, these provisions will make it more difficult to complete an alternative business combination following the termination of the Business Combination Agreement due to the passage of time during which these provisions have remained in effect.
The exercise of the Company’s directors’ and executive officers’ discretion in agreeing to changes or waivers in the terms of the Business Combination may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether such changes to the terms of the Business Combination or waivers of conditions are appropriate and in the Company’s shareholders’ best interests.
In the period leading up to the Closing, events may occur that, pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, would require the Company to consider agreeing to amend the Business Combination Agreement, to consent to certain actions taken by X-energy or to waiving rights to which the Company is entitled under the Business Combination Agreement. Such events could arise because of changes in the course of X-energy’s businesses or a request by X-energy to undertake actions that would otherwise be prohibited by the terms of the Business Combination Agreement. In any of such circumstances, it would be at the Company’s discretion, acting through board of directors of the Company and the Special Committee, to grant its consent or waive those rights. The existence of financial and personal interests of one or more of the directors described in the preceding risk factors may result in a conflict of interest on the part of such director(s) between what such director may believe is best for the Company and its shareholders and what such director may believe is best for themselves in determining whether or not to take the requested action. The Company does not believe there will be any changes or waivers that the Company’s directors and executive officers would be likely to make after shareholder approval of the Business Combination Proposal has been obtained.
The Domestication may result in adverse tax consequences for holders of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares and warrants, including holders exercising their redemption rights with respect to the Company Class A ordinary shares if the Domestication were to occur prior to such redemptions.
The Company intends for the Domestication to qualify as a reorganization within the meaning of Section 368(a)(1)(F) of the Code, i.e., an “F Reorganization. If the Domestication fails to qualify as an F Reorganization, a U.S. Holder (as defined in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus) of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares or warrants generally would recognize gain or loss with respect to our Class A ordinary shares or warrants in an amount equal to the difference, if any, between the fair market value of the corresponding common stock or warrants of New X-energy received in the Domestication and the U.S. Holder’s
adjusted tax basis in our Company Class A ordinary shares or warrants surrendered. If the Domestication were to occur prior to the redemption of U.S. Holders that exercise redemption rights with respect to the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, U.S. Holders exercising such redemption rights will be subject to the potential tax consequences of the Domestication. Additionally, Non-U.S. Holders (as defined in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus) may become subject to withholding tax on any amounts treated as dividends paid on New X-energy Class A Common Stock after the Domestication.
Assuming that the Domestication qualifies as an F Reorganization, subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, U.S. Holders generally will be subject to Section 367(b) of the Code in connection with the Domestication, and, as a result:
•a U.S. Holder who is a 10% U.S. Shareholder on the date of the Domestication generally will be required to include in income as a deemed dividend deemed paid by the Company the “all earnings and profits amount” (as defined in the Treasury Regulations under Section 367 of the Code) attributable to the Company’s Class A ordinary shares held directly by such U.S. Holder;
•a U.S. Holder whose Class A ordinary shares have a fair market value of $50,000 or more on the date of the Domestication and who, on the date of the Domestication, is not a 10% U.S. Shareholder generally will recognize gain (but not loss) with respect to our Company Class A ordinary shares as if such U.S. Holder exchanged our Company Class A ordinary shares for New X-energy Class A Common Stock in a taxable transaction, unless such U.S. Holder elects in accordance with applicable Treasury Regulations to include in income as a deemed dividend deemed paid by the Company the “all earnings and profits” amount (as defined in the Treasury Regulations under Section 367 of the Code) attributable to such U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares; and
•a U.S. Holder whose Class A ordinary shares have a fair market value of less than $50,000 on the date of the Domestication and who, on the date of the Domestication, is not a 10% U.S. Shareholder, generally will not recognize any gain or loss or include any part of the Company’s earnings and profits in income under Section 367 of the Code in connection with the Domestication.
Additionally, even if the Domestication qualifies as an F Reorganization, proposed Treasury Regulations promulgated under Section 1291(f) of the Code and certain other PFIC rules (which have retroactive effective dates) generally require that a U.S. person who disposes of stock of a PFIC (including for this purpose, under a proposed Treasury Regulation that generally treats an “option” to acquire the stock of a PFIC as stock of the PFIC, exchanging warrants for newly issued New X-energy Warrants in the Domestication) must recognize gain equal to the excess of the fair market value of such PFIC stock over its adjusted tax basis, notwithstanding any other provision of the Code. the Company believes that it is likely classified as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, these proposed Treasury Regulations, if finalized in their current form, would generally require a U.S. Holder of Class A ordinary shares to recognize gain under the PFIC rules on the exchange of Class A ordinary shares for New X-energy Class A Common Stock pursuant to the Domestication unless such U.S. Holder has made certain tax elections with respect to such U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares. The proposed Treasury Regulations provide coordinating rules with other sections of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including Section 367(b), which affect the manner in which the rules under such other sections apply to transfers of PFIC stock. These proposed Treasury Regulations, if finalized in their current form, would also apply to a U.S. Holder who exchanges warrants for newly issued New X-energy Warrants; under current law, however, the elections mentioned above do not apply to warrants. Any gain recognized from the application of the PFIC rules described above would be taxable income with no corresponding receipt of cash. The tax on any such gain would be imposed at the rate applicable to ordinary income and an interest charge would apply based on complex rules designed to offset the tax deferral to such U.S. Holder on the undistributed earnings, if any, of the Company. It is not possible to determine at this time whether, in what form, and with what effective date, final Treasury Regulations under Section 1291(f) of the Code may be adopted or how any such Treasury Regulations would apply.
Upon the Closing, the rights of holders of the New X-energy Common Stock arising under the DGCL will differ from and may be less favorable to the rights of holders of Company Ordinary Shares arising under the Companies Act.
Upon the Closing, the rights of holders of the New X-energy Class A Common Stock, the New X-energy Class B Common Stock, the New X-energy Class C Common Stock and the New X-energy Class D Common Stock (collectively, the “New X-energy Common Stock”) will arise under the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). The DGCL contains provisions that differ in some respects from those in the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands (the “Companies Act”), and, therefore, some rights of holders of New X-energy Common Stock could differ from the rights that holders of Company Ordinary Shares currently possess. For instance, while class actions are generally not available to shareholders under Cayman Islands law, such actions are generally available under Delaware law. This change could increase the likelihood that New X-energy becomes involved in costly litigation, which could have a material adverse effect on New X-energy.
Delaware law and the proposed certificate of incorporation and proposed bylaws of New X-energy will contain certain provisions, including anti-takeover provisions, that limit the ability of stockholders to take certain actions and could delay or discourage takeover attempts that stockholders may consider favorable.
The proposed certificate of incorporation and proposed bylaws of New X-energy that will be in effect at the Closing differ from our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Among other differences, the proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy, and the DGCL, contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by the New X-energy Board and therefore depress the trading price of the New X-energy Class A Common Stock. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the then-current members of the New X-energy Board or taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in management. Among other things, the proposed certificate of incorporation and proposed bylaws of New X-energy include provisions regarding:
•the ability of the New X-energy Board to issue shares of preferred stock, including “blank check” preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquirer;
•the limitation of the liability of, and the indemnification of, New X-energy’s directors and officers;
•the right of the New X-energy Board to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the New X-energy board of directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on the New X-energy Board;
•the requirement that directors may only be removed from the New X-energy Board for cause and upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the total voting power of then outstanding New X-energy Common Stock;
•a prohibition from and after the time New X-energy ceases to be a controlled company under applicable NYSE rules, on stockholder action by written consent (except for actions by the holders of New X-energy Class B Common Stock, New X-energy Class C Common Stock or as required for holders of future series of preferred stock), which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of stockholders and could delay the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a stockholder proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
•the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by the New X-energy Board, the chairman of the New X-energy Board or New X-energy’s chief executive officer or (ii) for so long as New X-energy is a controlled company under applicable NYSE rules, by the secretary of New X-energy at the request of any holder of record of at least 25% of the voting power of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of New X-energy, which could delay the ability of stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;
•controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of the New X-energy Board and stockholder meetings;
•the requirement for the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the total voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of the voting stock, voting together as a single class, to amend, alter, change or repeal certain provisions in the proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy which could preclude stockholders from bringing matters before annual or special meetings of stockholders and delay changes in the New X-energy Board and also may inhibit the ability of an acquirer to effect such amendments to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt;
•the ability of the New X-energy Board to amend the proposed bylaws of New X-energy, which may allow the New X-energy Board to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and inhibit the ability of an acquirer to amend the proposed bylaws of New X-energy to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and
•advance notice procedures with which stockholders of New X-energy must comply to nominate candidates to the New X-energy Board or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting, which could preclude stockholders from bringing matters before annual or special meetings of stockholders and delay changes in the New X-energy Board and also may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of New X-energy.
These provisions, alone or together, could delay or prevent hostile takeovers and changes in control or changes in the New X-energy Board or management.
As a Delaware corporation, New X-energy will generally be subject to provisions of Delaware law, including the DGCL.
The proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy will designate a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware as the exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings between New X-energy and its stockholders, and the federal district courts as the exclusive forum for Securities Act claims, which could limit New X-energy’s stockholders’ ability to choose the judicial forum for disputes with New X-energy or its directors, officers, or employees.
The proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy will provide that, unless New X-energy consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, and any State of Delaware appellate court therefrom, will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action, suit or proceeding brought on behalf of New X-energy; (ii) any action, suit or proceeding asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by director, officer, other employee or stockholder of New X-energy to it or its stockholders; (iii) any action, suit or proceeding asserting a claim against New X-energy, claim against New X-energy governed by the internal affairs doctrine of the law of the State of Delaware. The proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy will also provide that, unless New X-energy consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for the resolutions of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. This provision in the proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy will not address or apply to claims that arise under the Exchange Act; however, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations under the Exchange Act. To the extent these provisions could be construed to apply to such claims, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions in connection with such claims, and stockholders cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations under the federal securities laws.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of the securities of New X-energy will be deemed to have notice of and consented to the provisions of the proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy described in the preceding paragraph. These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with New X-energy or its directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against New X-energy and its directors, officers, and other employees. The enforceability of similar exclusive-forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that, in connection with one or more actions or proceedings described above, a court could rule that this provision in the proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy is inapplicable or unenforceable. If a court were to find these exclusive-forum provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, New X-energy may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm its results of operations.
New X-energy will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE listing standards and, as a result, will qualify for, and intends to rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.
The X-energy Founder will own more than 50% of the combined voting power for the election of directors to the New X-energy Board, and, as a result, New X-energy will be considered a “controlled company” for the purposes of the NYSE rules. As such, New X-energy will qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements, including that a majority of the New X-energy Board consist of “independent directors,” as defined under the NYSE rules. New X-energy will not be required to have a nominating and corporate governance committee or compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities or to conduct annual performance evaluations of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees.
As permitted for a “controlled company,” a majority of the New X-energy Board and New X-energy’s Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees will not be independent. Accordingly, New X-energy stockholders may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE rules.
If at any time New X-energy ceases to be a “controlled company” under the NYSE rules, the New X-energy Board intends to take any action that may be necessary to comply with the NYSE rules, subject to a permitted “phase-in” period.
These and any other actions necessary to achieve compliance with such rules may increase New X-energy’s legal and administrative costs, will make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly and may also place additional strain on New X-energy’s personnel, systems and resources.
The proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy will not limit the ability of the Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds
associated with the Sponsor or our non-employee directors to compete with us.
The Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds associated with the Sponsor and our non-employee directors and their respective affiliates engage in a broad spectrum of activities, including investments in similar business activities or lines of business in which the Company now engages or proposes to engage. In the ordinary course of their business activities, the Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds associated with the Sponsor and our non-employee directors and their respective affiliates may engage in activities where their interests conflict with New X-energy’s interests or those of its stockholders. The proposed certificate of incorporation of New X-energy will provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, none of the Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds associated with the Sponsor, our non-employee directors or any of their respective affiliates (including any non-employee director who serves an officer of New X-energy in such person’s director and officer capacities) will have any duty to refrain from engaging, directly or indirectly, in the same business activities or similar business activities or lines of business in which New X-energy engages or proposes to engage or otherwise competing with New X-energy, its stockholders, or any of its affiliates. Further, to the fullest extent permitted by law, in the event that the Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds associated with the Sponsor and our non-employee directors and their respective affiliates acquires knowledge of a potential transaction or other business opportunity which may be a corporate opportunity for itself, herself or himself and New X-energy or any of its affiliates, they will have no duty to communicate or offer such transaction or other business opportunity to New X-energy or any of its affiliates and will not be liable to New X-energy or its stockholders or to any of its affiliates for breach of any fiduciary duty as a stockholder, director or officer of New X-energy solely by reason of the fact that they pursue or acquire such corporate opportunity for themselves, offer or direct such corporate opportunity to another person, or does not communicate information regarding such corporate opportunity to New X-energy or any of its affiliates. The Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds associated with the Sponsor and their respective directors and officers may pursue, in their capacities other than as directors of the New X-energy Board, acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to New X-energy’s business, and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to New X-energy. The Sponsor, certain affiliates or funds associated with the Sponsor and their respective directors and officers may have an interest in pursuing acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions that, in its judgment, could enhance its investment, even though such transactions might involve risks to you.
The Company’s executive officers and directors and their affiliates may enter into agreements concerning the Company’s securities prior to the extraordinary general meeting, which may have the effect of increasing the likelihood of completion of the Business Combination or decreasing the value of the Company securities.
At any time prior to the extraordinary general meeting, during a period when they are not then aware of any material non-public information regarding the Company or its securities, the Company’s executive officers and directors and their affiliates may enter into a written plan to purchase the Company’s securities pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act, and may engage in other public market purchases, as well as private purchases, of securities. Further, at any time prior to the extraordinary general meeting, during a period when they are not then aware of any material non-public information regarding the Company or its securities, the Company’s executive officers and directors and their respective affiliates may: (i) purchase shares from institutional and other holders who vote, or indicate an intention to vote, against the proposal to approve the Business Combination or the other shareholder proposals in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus, or who elect to redeem or indicate an intention to redeem public shares; (ii) execute agreements to purchase such shares from such holders in the future; and (iii) enter into transactions with such holders to provide such holders with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of the proposal to approve the Business Combination or the other shareholder proposals in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus or not redeem their public shares. Such an agreement may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of Company Ordinary Shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that the Company’s executive officers and directors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from the Company 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 public shares. While the exact nature of any such incentives has not been determined as of the record date, they might include, without limitation, arrangements to protect such investors or holders against potential loss in value of their public shares, including the granting of put options and the transfer of shares or Private Placement Warrants owned by the Sponsor for nominal value to such investors or holders.
The purpose of such share purchases and other transactions by the Company’s executive officers and directors and their respective affiliates would be to increase the likelihood of satisfaction of the requirements that the holders of the requisite number of Company Ordinary Shares present and voting at the extraordinary general meeting vote in favor of the proposal to approve the Business Combination and the other shareholder proposals in the Proxy Statement/Prospectus when it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met.
Any such arrangements may have a depressive effect on the Company Ordinary Shares. For example, as a result of these arrangements, an investor or holder may have the ability to effectively purchase shares at a price lower than market and may therefore be more likely to sell the shares it owns, either prior to or immediately after the extraordinary general meeting.
Beginning in January 2022, there has been a precipitous drop in the market values of growth-oriented companies. The market values of growth-oriented and early stage companies, including X-energy, may be more volatile than other securities and may involve special risks.
Beginning in January 2022, there has been a precipitous drop in the market values of growth-oriented companies like ours. In recent months, inflationary pressures, increases in interest rates and other adverse economic and market forces have contributed to these drops in market value. As a result, the public shares are subject to potential downward pressures, which may result in high redemptions of the cash available from the Trust Account. If there are substantial redemptions, there will be a lower float of New X-energy Class A Common Stock outstanding, which may cause further volatility in the price of New X-energy Class A Common Stock and adversely impact New X-energy’s ability to secure financing following the closing of the Business Combination.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) or other regulatory agencies may modify, delay or prevent our Business Combination.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) has authority to review direct or indirect foreign investments in U.S. companies. Among other things, CFIUS is empowered to require certain foreign investors to make mandatory filings, to charge filing fees related to such filings and to self-initiate national security reviews of foreign direct and indirect investments in U.S. companies if the parties to that investment choose not to file voluntarily. In the case that CFIUS determines an investment to be a threat to national security, CFIUS has the power to unwind or place restrictions on the investment. Whether CFIUS has jurisdiction to review an acquisition or investment transaction depends on, among other factors, the nature and structure of the transaction, including the level of beneficial ownership interest and the nature of any information or governance rights involved. For example, investments that result in “control” of a U.S. business by a foreign person always are subject to CFIUS jurisdiction. CFIUS’s expanded jurisdiction under the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 and implementing regulations that became effective on February 13, 2020 further includes investments that do not result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person but afford certain foreign investors certain information or governance rights in a U.S. business that has a nexus to “critical technologies,” “critical infrastructure” and/or “sensitive personal data.”
Because the proposed Business Combination contemplates interim financing where non-U.S. persons may become investors in X-energy, the Business Combination may be subject to CFIUS review or other regulatory review, which depends in large part on the ultimate share ownership of the Company following the Business Combination, among other factors. If the Business Combination were to fall within CFIUS’s jurisdiction, we risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the transaction. CFIUS may decide to modify or delay our Business Combination, impose conditions with respect to such Business Combination, request the President of the United States to order us to divest all or a portion of X-energy if we were to acquire it without first obtaining CFIUS approval or prohibit the Business Combination entirely. The time necessary for CFIUS review of the transaction or a decision to delay or prohibit the transaction may also prevent the Business Combination from occurring within the applicable time period required under the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. These risks may limit the attractiveness of, delay or prevent us from pursuing our initial Business Combination.
Moreover, the process of government review, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy, and we have limited time to complete our Business Combination. If we are unable to consummate our Business Combination within the applicable time period required under the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we will be required to wind up, redeem and liquidate. In such event, our shareholders will miss the opportunity to benefit from an investment in a target company and the appreciation in value of such investment through a Business Combination. Additionally, there will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless in the event of our winding up.
If we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities would be severely restricted and, as a result, we may fail to satisfy a condition in the Business Combination Agreement and be required to wind up, redeem and liquidate.
On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued a rule proposal relating to, among other things, circumstances in which special purpose acquisition companies (the “SPAC Rule Proposal”) could potentially be subject to the Investment Company Act. The SPAC Rule Proposal includes a proposed safe harbor for such companies from the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act if a special purpose acquisition company satisfies certain criteria, including a limited time period to announce and complete a de-SPAC transaction. Specifically, to comply with the proposed safe harbor, the SPAC Rule Proposal would require a company to file a Current Report on Form 8-K announcing that it has entered into an agreement with a target company for an initial business combination no later than 18 months after the effective date of its registration statement for its initial public offering (the “IPO Registration Statement”). To avail itself of the safe harbor in the SPAC Rule Proposal, a company would then be required to complete its initial business combination no later than 24 months after the effective date of its IPO Registration Statement.
There is currently uncertainty concerning the applicability of the Investment Company Act to a SPAC. We completed our Initial Public Offering in February 2021 and have operated as a blank check company searching for a target business with which to consummate an initial business combination since such time until our announcement regarding our proposed Business Combination on December 6, 2022. It is possible that a claim could be made that we have been operating as an unregistered investment company.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities would be severely restricted. In addition, we would be subject to burdensome compliance requirements. We do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. However, if we are deemed to be an investment company and subject to compliance with and regulation under the Investment Company Act, we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and expenses for which we have not allotted funds. In addition, unless we were to modify our activities so that we would not be deemed an investment company, we may fail to satisfy a condition in the Business Combination Agreement, which could result in the termination of the Business Combination Agreement. After any such termination, we may be required to wind up, redeem and liquidate.
To mitigate the risk that we might be deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we may, at any time, instruct the trustee to sell the securities held in the Trust Account and instead to hold the funds in the Trust Account in cash until the earlier of the consummation of an initial Business Combination or our liquidation. As a result, following sale of securities in the Trust Account, if any, we would likely receive minimal interest, if any, on the funds held in the Trust Account, which would reduce the dollar amount the public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company.
The funds in the Trust Account have, since our Initial Public Offering, been held only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. However, to mitigate the risk of us being deemed to be an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act) and thus subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, we may, at any time, including prior to August 4, 2023, instruct the trustee with respect to the Trust Account to sell the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the Trust Account and thereafter, to hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash until the earlier of consummation of the Business Combination or liquidation of the Company. Following any such sale of the securities held in the Trust Account, we would likely receive minimal interest, if any, on the funds held in the Trust Account. However, interest previously earned on the funds held in the Trust Account still may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, and certain other expenses as permitted. As a result, any decision to sell the securities held in the Trust Account and thereafter to hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash would reduce the dollar amount the public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company.
In addition, even prior to August 4, 2023, we may be deemed to be an investment company. The longer that the funds in the Trust Account are held in short-term U.S. government treasury obligations or in money market funds invested exclusively in such securities, even prior to the 24-month anniversary, the greater the risk that we may be considered an unregistered investment company, in which case we may be required to liquidate the Company. The risk of being deemed subject to the Investment Company Act may increase the longer the Company holds securities (i.e., the longer past two years the securities are held), and also may increase to the extent the funds in the Trust Account are not held in cash. Accordingly, we may determine, in our discretion, to sell the securities held in the Trust Account at any time, even prior to August 4, 2023, and
instead hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash, which would further reduce the dollar amount the public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company.
Risks Relating to Our Management Team
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, who are employed by an affiliate of our Sponsor, 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, our officers and directors including, our chief executive officer, David B. Kaplan are and in the future will be required to commit time and attention to Ares and current and future Ares funds. To the extent any conflict of interest arises between, on the one hand, us and, on the other hand, any of such entities (including, without limitation, arising as a result of certain of officers and directors being required to offer acquisition opportunities to such entities), Ares and its affiliated funds will resolve such conflicts of interest in their sole discretion in accordance with their then existing fiduciary, contractual and other duties and there can be no assurance that such conflict of interest will be resolved in our favor. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers.
In addition, if any of our executive officers ceased to be employed by an affiliate of our Sponsor, such individual may also no longer serve as one of our 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 effectuate our initial business combination and to successfully operate thereafter will depend on our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of, or inability to attract, key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to effectuate our initial business combination depends on the diligence, skill, judgment, business contacts and personal reputations of our key personnel. Our future success will depend upon our ability to retain our current key personnel and to recruit additional qualified personnel. If any of our key personnel join competitors or from competing companies, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. We do not carry any “key person” insurance that would provide us with proceeds in the event of the death or disability of any of our key personnel.
We anticipate that it will be necessary for us to add key personnel to complete our initial business combination or operate our post-combination business. However, the market for qualified professionals is extremely competitive and we may not succeed in recruiting additional personnel or we may fail to effectively replace current personnel who depart with qualified or effective successors.
Our failure to appropriately address conflicts of interest could adversely affect our business and reputation.
Following the completion of the Initial Public Offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we will seek to identify and combine with one or more businesses. Certain of our officers and directors have, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which they are or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. For example, certain of our officers and directors are also officers, managers or directors of Ares and certain of its affiliated funds and investment vehicles, and certain of their current or former portfolio companies. Some of these entities have limited partners or public equityholders to whom these individuals owe fiduciary duties. Accordingly, conflicts of interest may arise in determining the allocation of specific investment opportunities among Ares, its funds and investment vehicles, and us and the allocation of fees and costs among these entities. 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.
In addition, our directors and officers or Ares or its affiliates may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, conflicts of interest may arise in determining the allocation of specific investment opportunities to any such companies and us and the allocation of fees and costs among these entities. 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 amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity (including with respect to any business transaction that may involve another Ares entity) for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.
Though we believe we and Ares have appropriate means and oversight to resolve the foregoing conflicts, our judgment on any particular decision could be challenged. If we fail to appropriately address any such conflicts, it could negatively impact our reputation and ability to raise additional funds and the willingness of counterparties to do business with us or result in potential litigation against us.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses, which 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 professional time to our affairs, which may result in conflicts of interest in allocating their time between our operations and identifying a potential acquisition target and their other professional responsibilities. 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 or she 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. Our independent directors also serve as, and may in the future 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.
Certain of our officers and directors have or will have direct and indirect economic interests in us and/or our Sponsor after the consummation of the Initial Public Offering and such interests may potentially conflict with those of our public shareholders as we evaluate and decide whether to recommend a potential business combination to our public shareholders.
Certain of our officers and directors may own membership interests in our Sponsor and indirect interests in our Class B ordinary shares and Private Placement Warrants which may result in interests that differ from the economic interests of the investors in the Initial Public Offering, which includes making a determination of whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. There may be a potential conflict of interest between our officers and directors that hold membership interests in our Sponsor and our public shareholders that may not be resolved in favor of our public shareholders.
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. Although it is not our intention, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, or one or more of our directors or executive officers or in which they have a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest. We do not have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence them 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. This could give rise to claim by us or our shareholders for a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law. However, we may not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them.
Compliance with United States securities laws may require additional time and resources.
Following our initial business combination, our directors and executive officers 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 may
remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws, compliance with which may place a strain on our systems and resources. If our directors and executive officers are not able to develop the necessary expertise, procedures and processes, we may be unable to report our financial information on a timely or accurate basis, which could subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions by the Commission or violations of applicable NYSE listing rules. There could also be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements. Confidence in the reliability of our financial statements could also suffer if our independent registered public accounting firm were to report a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. This could have a material adverse effect on us and lead to a decline in the price of our securities.
Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Securities
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 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 consummate an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, or (b) with respect to any other provisions relating to rights of our shareholders’ right or pre-business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who elect to have their Class A ordinary shares redeemed 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 we have not completed an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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.
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.
We have been approved to have our units listed on the NYSE and to have our Class A ordinary shares and warrants on or promptly after their date of separation. Although after giving effect to the Initial Public 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 continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. 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 300 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 initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE continued listing requirements, to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE.
For instance, for our shares to be listed upon the consummation of our business combination, at such time our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our total market capitalization would be required to be at least $200.0 million, the aggregate market value of publicly held shares would be required to be at least $100.0 million and we would be required to have at least 400 round lot shareholders. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those 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:
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| | • | | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
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| | • | | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
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| | • | | a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
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| | • | | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
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| | • | | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we have been approved to have our Class A ordinary shares and warrants 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.
Our investors are not entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of blank check companies.
We are a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, since we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,001 upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering and have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the SEC on February 10, 2021, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors of blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors are not afforded the benefits or protections of those rules which would, for example, completely restrict the transferability of our securities, require us to complete our initial business combination within 18 months of the closing of the Initial Public Offering and restrict the use of interest earned on the funds held in the trust account. Because we are not subject to rule 419, our Units are immediately tradable, we will be entitled to withdraw amounts from the funds held in the Trust Account prior to the completion of our initial business combination and we may have a longer period of time to complete such a business combination than we would if we were subject to such rule.
Anti-dilution provisions of the Class B ordinary shares and other securities may result in additional dilution to holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
Our Sponsor acquired the Class B ordinary shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to the dilution of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B ordinary shares result in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public shareholders seek redemptions from the trust for their public shares. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the Class B ordinary 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.
The terms of the warrants may be amended in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants.
Our warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the Private Placement Warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the Private Placement Warrants, 50% of the number of the then-outstanding Private Placement Warrants. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants to effect any
change thereto, including to increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption, and provided that certain other conditions are met. 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. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. 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, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. Except as otherwise set forth herein, none of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, provided that (i) the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and (ii) certain other conditions are met, including that 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 (a) 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 (b) 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.
None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us as so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants 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 20,000,000 of our Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered in the Initial Public Offering, and we issued in a private placement 15,333,333 Private Placement Warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. In addition, if our Sponsor makes any working capital loan, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loan into up to an additional 1,000,000 Private Placement Warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant.
Because each unit contains one-fifth 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-fifth 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 similar offerings 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 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 fifth 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.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, if (i) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per 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 consummation 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 $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Our Sponsor controls 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.
Our Sponsor (together with its permitted transferees) owns, on an as-converted basis, 34.7% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, it 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 Sponsor purchases any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. Neither our Sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this annual 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 Sponsor, 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 shareholder meeting to elect 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 shareholder 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 Sponsor, will control the outcome. In addition, prior to the
completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B ordinary shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, our Sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
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 are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We are also 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 Maples and Calder, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by our directors and executive officers, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench our directors.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contains 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, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference 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 Sponsor, are entitled to vote on the election of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of our directors and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Since only holders of our Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote on the election 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.
Only holders of our Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote on the election 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 of directors that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of the NYSE;
•we have a compensation committee of our board of directors 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 of directors 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.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our Sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the Trust Account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per 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 tax obligations, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable. 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 consummate 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 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 or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us and 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 and 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.
If we have not consummated an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such date before redemption from our Trust Account.
If we have not consummated an initial business combination by August 4, 2023, or such earlier date as our board of directors may determine in its sole discretion, 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 income taxes, if any, (less up to $100,000 of 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 Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond August 4, 2023 before the redemption proceeds of our Trust Account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our Trust Account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to require us to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we have not completed our initial business combination and have not amended certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association by August 4, 2023. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the Trust Account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our 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 were 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 or as having 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 offense and may be liable for a fine of $18,293 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold an annual shareholder meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination.
In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual shareholder meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold shareholder meetings to elect directors. Until we hold an annual shareholder meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to elect 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 shareholder meeting) serving a three-year term.
Holders of Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any election of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B ordinary 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 consummation of an initial business combination.
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 and 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 amount of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, unless an exemption is 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. 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 the Initial Public Offering. In such an instance, our Sponsor and its 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.
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, 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.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and there is no 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 for which there is no 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 20 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
We may be a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”), which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception. Depending on the particular circumstances, the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, 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, to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. investors to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders or warrant holders.
If the proposed Business Combination with X-energy is consummated, we will, and if we consummate an initial business combination with another target, and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, 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 domesticate under the laws of a state of the United States (the “U.S. domestication”) in connection with our initial business combination and after such U.S. domestication any redemptions of our common stock may result in a new 1% excise taxes imposed on us.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 became law, which, among other things, imposes a 1% excise tax on the fair market value of certain repurchases (including certain redemptions) of stock by publicly traded domestic (i.e., U.S.) corporations (and certain non-U.S. corporations treated as “surrogate foreign corporations”). The excise tax will apply to stock repurchases occurring in 2023 and beyond. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares of stock repurchased at the time of the repurchase. The U.S. Department of Treasury has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of, the excise tax.
The 1% excise tax is not expected to apply to redemptions of our stock to the extent such redemptions occur prior to the U.S. domestication (absent any regulations and other additional guidance that may be issued in the future with retroactive effect). However, absent any additional guidance, if the U.S. domestication occurs prior to the redemptions, we currently expect to be subject to the excise tax with respect to any redemptions of our common stock in connection with the initial business combination that are treated as repurchases for this purpose (other than, pursuant to recently issued guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, redemptions in complete liquidation of us). In all cases, the extent of the excise tax that may be incurred would depend on a number of factors, including the fair market value of the common stock redeemed, the extent such redemptions could be treated as dividends and not repurchases, and the content of any regulations and other additional guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury that may be issued and applicable to the redemptions. Issuances of stock by a repurchasing corporation in a year in which such corporation repurchases stock may reduce the amount of excise tax imposed
with respect to such repurchase. It is not clear to what extent such reduction would be available with respect to redemptions of our common stock. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not the stockholders from which stock is repurchased. The imposition of the excise tax could, however, reduce the amount of cash available to us (or the cash contribution to the target company or business in connection with the initial business combination).
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 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.
The securities in the Trust Account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The proceeds held in the Trust Account are invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the Trust Account, plus any interest income not released to us, net of taxes payable. Negative interest rates could impact the per-share redemption amount that may be received by public shareholders. In addition, we are allowed to remove permitted withdrawals to pay our taxes; this means that even with a positive interest rate, most or all of the interest income may be withdrawn by us and not be available to fund our business combination or to be returned to investors upon a redemption.
Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results and thus may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities.
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” (the “SEC Statement”). Specifically, the SEC Statement focused on warrants that have certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers or warrants which do not meet the criteria to be considered indexed to an entity’s own stock, which terms are similar to those contained in the warrant agreement governing our warrants. As a result of the SEC Statement, we evaluated the accounting treatment of our 20,000,000 Public Warrants and 15,333,333 Private Placement Warrants, and determined that the Warrants should be recorded as derivative liabilities measured at fair value, with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings.
As a result, included on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2022 contained elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K are derivative liabilities related to embedded features contained within our Warrants. Accounting Standards Codification 815-40, “Derivatives and Hedging - Contracts on an Entity's Own Equity”, 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 audited statements 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. The volatility introduced by changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on our quarterly financial results.
General Risk Factors
We are an early stage company with no revenues or basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are an early stage with no revenues or 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 may be unable to complete an initial business combination, including the proposed Business Combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Past performance by Ares or its affiliates or our directors and executive officers, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, Ares or its affiliates or our directors and executive officers is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance of Ares or its affiliates or our directors and executive officers is not a guarantee either: (i) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (ii) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of Ares or its affiliates or our directors and executive officers’ performance as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us, including whether we can provide an attractive return to our shareholders, or as indicative of every prior investment by our directors and executive officers. Ares and our directors and executive officers have had limited experience with blank check companies and special purpose acquisition companies. The market price of our securities may be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, and our shareholders may experience losses on their investment in our securities.
Cybersecurity failures and data security incidents could adversely affect our business by causing a disruption to our operations, a compromise or corruption of our confidential, personal or other sensitive information and/or damage to our business relationships, any of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and operating results.
We and our Sponsor and its affiliates face increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyber and security threats, with attacks ranging from those common to businesses generally to more advanced and persistent attacks. We may be a target for attacks because we are affiliated with an alternative asset management firm and may hold confidential and other price sensitive information, including price information, about existing and potential investments. We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of Ares and its third party vendors, and other third parties. Cyber-attacks and other security threats could originate from a wide variety of sources, including cyber criminals, nation state hackers, hacktivists and other outside or inside parties. As a result, we may face a heightened risk of a security breach or disruption with respect to confidential, personal or other sensitive information resulting from an attack by computer hackers, foreign governments or cyber terrorists.
The efficient operation of our business is dependent on computer hardware and software systems, as well as data processing systems and the secure processing, storage and transmission of information, which are vulnerable to security breaches and cyber incidents. A cyber incident is considered to be any adverse event that threatens the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our information resources. These incidents may be an intentional attack or an unintentional event and could involve gaining unauthorized access to our information systems for purposes of misappropriating assets, stealing confidential information, corrupting data or causing operational disruption. In addition, we and our employees may be the target of fraudulent emails or other targeted attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary or sensitive information. The result of these incidents may include disrupted operations, misstated or unreliable financial data, increased cybersecurity protection and insurance costs, litigation and damage to our business relationships. Any processes, procedures and internal controls we may implement to mitigate cybersecurity risks and cyber intrusions, as well as our increased awareness of the nature and extent of a risk of a cyber-incident, will not guarantee that a cyber-incident will not occur or that our financial results, operations or confidential information will not be negatively impacted by such an incident, especially because the techniques of threat actors change frequently and are often not recognized until launched and because cyber-incidents can originate from a wide variety of sources. We may not have sufficient funding and resources to comply with evolving cybersecurity regulations and to continually monitor and enhance our cybersecurity procedures and controls.
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.