ITEM 1. BUSINESS.
Introduction
We are a blank check company incorporated on May 13, 2021 as a Cayman Islands exempted 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 or entities (the “initial business combination”). We will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region in our identification and acquisition of a target company.
The registration statement for our initial public offering (“IPO” or the “public offering”) was declared effective on December 6, 2021. On December 9, 2021, we consummated our IPO of 17,250,000 units (the “Units”), including the issuance of 2,250,000 Units as a result of the underwriters’ exercise of their over-allotment option in full. Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A ordinary shares”), and one-half of one redeemable warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a “Warrant”), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share for $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $172,500,000.
On May 21, 2021, the Sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.006 per share, to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 4,312,500 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 (the “Founder Shares”). On November 8, 2021, the Sponsor transferred 20,000 Founder Shares to each of Angel Losada Moreno and David Proman, two of the Company’s independent directors, for an aggregate purchase price of $231.88 (the same per-share price initially paid by the Sponsor), resulting in the Sponsor holding 4,272,500 Founder Shares. As of December 31, 2022, the Sponsor held 4,272,500 Founder Shares.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, pursuant to the Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, the Company completed the private sale of 8,950,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) to the Sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $8,950,000. The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Warrants included as part of the Units sold in the IPO, except that the Private Placement Warrants, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sale. The issuance of the Private Placement Warrants was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
A total of $175,950,000, comprised of $172,500,000 of the proceeds from the IPO (which amount includes $6,037,500 of the underwriters’ deferred discount) and $8,950,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, was placed in a U.S.-based trust account at Bank of America, National Association maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
On February 27, 2023 we held an extraordinary general meeting (the “EGM”) and our shareholders approved an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and to the Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated December 6, 2021 (the “Investment Management Trust Agreement”), by and between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as trustee, to change the payment required to extend the Combination Period (as defined below) by two three-month periods. In connection with such vote, the holders of 10,693,417 public shares properly exercised their right to redeem their shares (and did not withdraw their request for redemption) for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $111,346,281.12. Following such redemptions, approximately $68,271,080.69 remained in the trust account and 6,556,583 public shares remained issued and outstanding. Such remaining amount in the trust account will be distributed either to (i) all holders of public shares upon our liquidation or (ii) holders of public shares who elect to have their shares redeemed in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination.
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