424B4
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Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4)
Registration No. 333-253308

 

PROSPECTUS   

$220,000,000

CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

22,000,000 Units

 

 

CF Acquisition Corp. VIII is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target regarding an initial business combination with our company.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of our Class A common stock and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. The warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation, as described in this prospectus. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional 3,300,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of our Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem 100% of the public shares for cash, subject to applicable law and certain conditions as further described herein.

Our sponsor, CFAC Holdings VIII, LLC, has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit ($5,400,000 in the aggregate), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. The private placement units are identical to the units sold in this offering, subject to certain limited exceptions as described in this prospectus.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company.

Our initial stockholders own an aggregate of 6,325,000 shares of our Class B common stock (up to 825,000 shares of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised), which will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, as described herein.

Our units have been approved for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “CFFEU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We expect the Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our satisfaction of certain conditions. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “CFFE” and “CFFEW,” respectively.

 

 

We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors ” beginning on page 40 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

     Per Unit      Total  

Public offering price

   $ 10.00      $ 220,000,000  

Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)

   $ 0.20      $ 4,400,000  

Proceeds, before expenses, to CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

   $ 9.80      $ 215,600,000  

 

(1)

No commissions will be paid on any units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ over-allotment option. We will also pay $100,000 to Odeon Capital Group, LLC for acting as a “qualified independent underwriter” in this offering. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)” beginning on page 152 for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement units, $220.0 million or $253.0 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case) will be deposited into a trust account in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and $1,000,000, together with $1,750,000 of additional committed loans by our sponsor, will be available to pay fees and expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following the closing of this offering.

The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. The underwriters expect to deliver the units to the purchasers on or about March 16, 2021.

 

 

Sole Book-Running Manager

Cantor

March 11, 2021


Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

     Page  

Summary

     1  

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

     38  

Risk Factors

     40  

Use of Proceeds

     83  

Dividend Policy

     88  

Dilution

     89  

Capitalization

     91  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     92  

Proposed Business

     99  

Management

     135  

Principal Stockholders

     147  

Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions

     150  

Description of Securities

     154  

United States Federal Income Tax Considerations

     171  

Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest)

     179  

Legal Matters

     187  

Experts

     187  

Where You Can Find Additional Information

     187  

Index to Financial Statements

     F-1  

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information, and we take no responsibility for any other information others may give to you. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

Trademarks

This prospectus contains references to trademarks and service marks belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that the applicable licensor will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.


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SUMMARY

This summary only highlights the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the information under the section of this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before investing.

Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus, or the context otherwise requires, references to:

 

   

“Cantor” are to Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, an affiliate of us, our sponsor and of CF&Co;

 

   

“CF&Co” are to Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the representative of the underwriters in this offering;

 

   

common stock” are to our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock, collectively;

 

   

“founder shares” are to shares of our Class B common stock initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering, and the shares of our Class A common stock issued upon the conversion thereof as provided herein;

 

   

“initial stockholders” are to our sponsor and any other holders of our founder shares prior to this offering (or their permitted transferees);

 

   

“management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors;

 

   

“private placement shares” are to the shares of Class A common stock sold as part of the private placement units;

 

   

“private placement units” are to the units issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering, which private placement units are identical to the units sold in this offering, subject to certain limited exceptions as described in this prospectus;

 

   

“private placement warrants” are to the warrants sold as part of the private placement units;

 

   

“public shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market);

 

   

“public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our initial stockholders and management team to the extent our initial stockholders and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that each initial stockholder’s and member of our management team’s status as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares;

 

   

“public warrants” are to our redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market) and to any private placement warrants that are sold to third parties that are not initial purchasers or officers or directors (or permitted transferees) following the consummation of our initial business combination;

 

   

“specified future issuance” are to an issuance of a class of equity or equity-linked securities to specified purchasers, which may include affiliates of Cantor, that we may determine to make in connection with financing our initial business combination, to the extent permitted under applicable regulatory and contractual requirements related to those funds and accounts;

 

   

“sponsor” are to CFAC Holdings VIII, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company which is 100% owned by Cantor;

 

   

“warrants” are to our redeemable warrants, which includes the public warrants as well as the private placement warrants to the extent they are no longer held by the initial holders of the private placement warrants or their permitted transferees; and

 

   

“we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” are to CF Acquisition Corp. VIII.



 

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Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in this prospectus, and only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase a multiple of four units, the number of warrants issuable to you upon separation of the units will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of warrants.

Unless we tell you otherwise, the information in this prospectus assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option and gives effect to a 1.1-for-1 stock split of our common stock on March 11, 2021.

Our Company

We are a blank check company formed on July 8, 2020 as a Delaware corporation for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target regarding an initial business combination with our company.

We intend to focus our search on businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns. Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region, although we expect to focus on a target in an industry where we believe our management team and founders’ expertise will provide us with a competitive advantage, including the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries.

Our officers consist of:

 

   

Howard W. Lutnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who joined Cantor in 1983 and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor since 1992 and as Chairman since 1996;

 

   

Anshu Jain, our President, who also serves as the President of Cantor, a position he has held since January 2017, and previously served as a senior executive of Deutsche Bank, which firm he joined from Merrill Lynch in 1995, most recently in the position of Co-CEO from June 2012 to June 2015; and

 

   

Alice Chan, our Chief Financial Officer, who joined Cantor in March 2015 and has served as Global Controller and Managing Director of Cantor since March 2019.

We, our sponsor, and CF&Co are all affiliates of Cantor. Cantor is a diversified company specializing in financial and real estate services for customers operating in the global financial and commercial real estate markets, whose businesses include CF&Co, a leading independent middle market investment bank and primary dealer; BGC Partners, Inc., or BGC, whose common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “BGCP”, a leading global financial technology and brokerage business primarily servicing the global financial markets; and Newmark Group, Inc., or Newmark, whose Class A common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “NMRK”, a leading full-service commercial real estate services business. We believe that the combination of our management team’s and our affiliates’ financial services, financial and real estate technology, and real estate industry expertise and proven ability to grow businesses through acquisitions make us uniquely qualified to pursue acquisitions.

Cantor was founded 75 years ago and has been led by Mr. Lutnick since 1992. Over the past several decades Cantor has successfully built a well-capitalized business across multiple and growing business lines, with



 

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numerous market-leading financial services products and large and growing commercial real estate businesses. Cantor has been at the forefront of financial and technological innovation in its industries, developing new markets, new technologies and providing superior service to thousands of customers globally.

Mr. Lutnick has led Cantor’s expansion from a broker of fixed income and equity products to a premier global financial services provider, which is recognized for its leading offerings across several areas including:

 

   

institutional equity and fixed income capital markets services;

 

   

investment banking;

 

   

prime brokerage;

 

   

fully electronic execution of various financial asset classes;

 

   

market data;

 

   

financial software and analytics;

 

   

wholesale financial brokerage;

 

   

insurance brokerage;

 

   

commercial real estate services;

 

   

commercial real estate asset management;

 

   

commercial real estate loan servicing; and

 

   

commercial real estate financing operations.

Our officers, in their positions as officers of Cantor and its affiliates, have a history of making successful acquisitions. From 2005 through 2019, Cantor acquired over 75 companies in the financial and real estate services industries. In financial services, these acquisitions have included, among others, the publicly traded wholesale and inter-dealer brokerage firm GFI Group, Inc., or GFI, Sunrise Brokers Group, a global leader in listed and over the counter (“OTC”) derivative products brokerage, and Ed Broking Group Limited (“Ed Broking”), an independent Lloyd’s of London insurance broker. In real estate services, these acquisitions have included, among others, Newmark & Company Real Estate, Inc., Berkeley Point Financial LLC, which is one of the nation’s leading providers of multifamily capital solutions, engaged primarily in the origination, funding, sale and servicing of multifamily loans guaranteed by Government Sponsored Enterprises, Grubb & Ellis, Apartment Realty Advisors (“ARA”), and Cornish & Carey. Most of Newmark’s subsidiaries, including, ARA, Berkeley Point, and Cornish & Carey now operate under the name “Newmark Knight Frank”, “NKF” or “Newmark”.

Mr. Lutnick has also led Cantor’s successful exit from many of its acquisitions and investments. For example, in 1996, Cantor launched eSpeed, its fully electronic treasuries trading platform. Cantor developed and launched eSpeed into which BGC was merged in 2008. In June 2013, BGC sold the eSpeed business to Nasdaq, Inc. for $750 million in cash and up to $484 million earn-out shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (based on the stock price of Nasdaq, Inc. at the time the deal was announced). Following BGC’s acquisition of GFI in 2015, BGC, whose Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is Mr. Lutnick, sold GFI’s Trayport business a leading intermediary and provider of trading technologies and support services to the global OTC and listed markets, to Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (“ICE”) for $650 million in exchange for 2,527,658 ICE common shares issued with respect to the $650 million purchase price as adjusted at closing.

Cantor and its affiliates, under the guidance of Mr. Lutnick and our other officers, have a history of making accretive acquisitions, as set forth above, and of creating shareholder value, as evident from the revenue growth in Cantor’s BGC and Newmark businesses.



 

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BGC’s revenues more than quadrupled between 2003 (which at the time included eSpeed) and the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2020 to approximately $2.1 billion (excluding revenues from of eSpeed, which was sold in 2013 as set forth above). BGC’s business has significantly increased its revenue-generating headcount over the last ten years, including as a result of BGC’s acquisition and integration of more than 25 companies over this timeframe.

Cantor entered the commercial real estate brokerage market by acquiring Newmark in 2011 for total consideration of approximately $99 million (based on BGC’s stock price as of the day the deal closed). Since such acquisition, Newmark’s revenues increased from approximately $230 million (unaudited) in 2011 to approximately $2.1 billion for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2020 at a compounded annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 30%. In December 2017, Newmark debuted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market after an initial public offering. On November 30, 2018, BGC completed its distribution of all of the shares of Newmark it held to BGC’s stockholders. BGC distributed these Newmark shares through a special pro rata stock dividend.

Over Cantor’s and its affiliates’ history, its employees have developed long-term relationships with a wide range of U.S. and foreign private and public organizations of all sizes. As a result, we believe that our management team is well positioned to identify and execute attractive business combination opportunities. We will seek to capitalize on the substantial resources and the global infrastructure of Cantor and we believe the relationships of Cantor and our officers will provide us with exposure to a broad selection of potential acquisition targets. However, there is no formal agreement between us and Cantor with respect to the provision of any services to us by Cantor or its employees. Consequently, while we expect Cantor and its employees to provide us services so that we can capitalize on the substantial resources of Cantor and leverage Cantor’s relationships, there is no guarantee that Cantor or its employees will provide any services to us or that we will be able to do so.

Our objectives are to generate attractive returns for shareholders and enhance shareholder value through selecting a high quality target at an attractive valuation, negotiating favorable acquisition terms for our stockholders and helping improve operational performance of the acquired company. We expect to favor potential target companies with certain industry and business characteristics. Key industry characteristics include compelling long term growth prospects, opportunities to affect valuation improvements at the company, attractive competitive dynamics and consolidation opportunities. Key business characteristics include competitive advantages, significant streams of recurring revenue, opportunity for operational improvement, attractive steady-state margins, high incremental margins and attractive free cash flow characteristics.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also served as executive officers and directors of CF Finance Acquisition Corp., or Cantor SPAC I, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in December 2018 and consummated its initial business combination with GCM Grosvenor, Inc. (“GCM Grosvenor”) in November 2020. Upon the closing of such business combination, GCM Grosvenor indirectly held approximately 21.7% of the outstanding equity interests of Grosvenor Capital Management Holdings, LLLP, or Grosvenor Capital, a global alternative asset management firm. In connection therewith, Cantor SPAC I entered into subscription agreements with certain investors, pursuant to which such investors purchased an aggregate of 19,500,000 shares of GCM Grosvenor Class A common stock at $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $195,000,000. In addition, the sponsor of Cantor SPAC I purchased 3,500,000 shares of GCM Grosvenor Class A common stock and 1,500,000 warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $30,000,000.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also served as executive officers and directors of CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II, or Cantor SPAC II, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in August 2020 and consummated its initial business combination in March 2021 with View, Inc. (“View”), a Silicon Valley-based company that is the market leader in next-generation smart windows that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to tint the glass to optimize natural light while controlling heat and glare to enhance mental and physical well-being for occupants, creating smart connected buildings which reduce energy



 

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consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In connection therewith, Cantor SPAC II entered into subscription agreements with certain investors pursuant to which such investors purchased approximately $480,000,000 of shares of Cantor SPAC II Class A common stock in the aggregate (of which approximately $39 million was satisfied through open market purchases), which included the sponsor of Cantor SPAC II purchasing 5,000,000 shares of Cantor SPAC II common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $50,000,000.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of CF Finance Acquisition Corp. III, or Cantor SPAC III, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in November 2020. On February 17, 2021, Cantor SPAC III entered into an agreement and plan of merger (the “CF III Merger Agreement”) among Cantor SPAC III, Meliora Merger Sub, Inc., a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of Cantor SPAC III (“CF III Merger Sub”), and AEye, Inc. (“AEye”), a Silicon Valley-based company and global leader in active, high-performance LiDAR solutions. Pursuant to the CF III Merger Agreement, upon the closing of the transactions contemplated thereby (the “CF III Transactions”), CF III Merger Sub will merge with and into AEye, with AEye being the surviving corporation and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Cantor SPAC III, and Cantor SPAC III will change its name to “AEye Holdings, Inc.” In connection with the entry into the CF III Merger Agreement, Cantor SPAC III entered into subscription agreements with certain investors, pursuant to which, at closing of the CF III Transactions, such investors will purchase an aggregate of 22,500,000 shares of Cantor SPAC III’s public equity at $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $225,000,000. The CF III Transactions are expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of CF Acquisition Corp. IV, or Cantor SPAC IV, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in December 2020, CF Acquisition Corp. V, or Cantor SPAC V, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in February 2021, and CF Acquisition Corp. VI, a blank check company that priced, but has not yet consummated, its initial public offering in February 2021. Each of Cantor SPAC IV, Cantor SPAC V and Cantor SPAC VI is focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. We refer to Cantor SPAC III, Cantor SPAC IV, Cantor SPAC V and Cantor SPAC VI herein as the Prior Cantor SPACs. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of CF Acquisition Corp. VII, or Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus.

With respect to the foregoing descriptions, past performance of Cantor, its affiliates and our management team is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical performance record of Cantor, its affiliates, or our management team as indicative of our future performance. Our officers and directors may have conflicts of interest with other entities to which they owe fiduciary or contractual obligations with respect to initial business combination opportunities, including for our officers with respect to the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated). In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from multiple affiliations, our officers who are also officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs will be required to present all suitable target businesses to the applicable Prior Cantor SPAC (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) prior to presenting them to us, unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such individual solely in his capacity as an officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent such individual is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. For a list of our officers and directors and entities for which a conflict of interest may or does



 

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exist between such officers or directors and the company, as well as the priority and preference that such entity has with respect to performance of obligations and presentation of business opportunities to us, please refer to the table and subsequent explanatory paragraph under “Management — Conflicts of Interest”.

Business Strategy

Our acquisition and value creation strategy is to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, help to build a company in an industry that complements the experience and expertise of our management team. Our acquisition selection process will leverage the network of contacts developed by our management team and those of our sponsor and its affiliates, including relationships in the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries, comprising management teams of public and private companies, investment bankers, private equity sponsors, venture capital investors, advisers, attorneys and accountants that we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. We intend to deploy a proactive sourcing strategy and to focus on companies where we believe the combination of our operating experience, relationships, capital and capital markets expertise can be catalysts to transform a target company and can help accelerate the target’s growth and performance. Upon completion of this offering, our management team will communicate with their network of relationships, including employees of Cantor and its affiliates, to set forth the type of company that we would like to target so that we can begin the process of locating, identifying, pursuing and reviewing potential target companies and promising leads.

Our management team and Cantor and its affiliates have experience in:

 

   

sourcing, structuring, acquiring and selling businesses;

 

   

fostering relationships with sellers, capital providers and target management teams;

 

   

negotiating transactions favorable to investors;

 

   

executing transactions in multiple geographies and under varying economic and financial market conditions;

 

   

accessing the capital markets, including financing businesses and helping companies transition to public ownership;

 

   

operating companies, setting and changing strategies, and identifying, monitoring and recruiting world-class talent;

 

   

acquiring and integrating companies; and

 

   

developing and growing companies, both organically and through acquisitions and strategic transactions and expanding the product range and geographic footprint of a number of target businesses.

Investment Criteria

We will seek to acquire one or more businesses with an aggregate enterprise value of approximately $500 million to $1.25 billion or more. We have developed the following high level, non-exclusive investment criteria that we will use to screen for and evaluate target businesses. We will seek to acquire a business that (1) has sustainable competitive advantages, (2) generates, or has the near-term potential to generate, predicable free cash flows, (3) would benefit from the capabilities of our sponsor and management team to improve its operations and market position, (4) has an experienced and capable management team, (5) has the potential to grow both organically and through additional acquisitions and (6) can be acquired at an attractive valuation to maximize potential returns to our stockholders.



 

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While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus on industries that complement our management team’s background, and to capitalize on the ability of our officers and directors to identify and acquire a business or businesses consistent with the experience of our management team and affiliates of our sponsor. We therefore intend to focus on potential target companies in the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries. Within the universe of potential targets set forth above, an important focus for us will be the following:

 

   

Brokerage — We believe that Cantor’s model of compensating brokers partly in equity is conducive to brokerage businesses. Cantor uses a unique compensation structure in compensating its brokers and other revenue-generating employees in its various businesses, which Cantor believes provides it with numerous competitive advantages. Unlike many of its competitors, virtually all of Cantor’s key executives and revenue-generating employees have equity stakes in its businesses. Cantor believes this aligns its employees and management with its equity holders (including the shareholders of its public companies, BGC and Newmark), and encourages a collaborative culture that drives cross-selling and improves revenue growth. Additionally, Cantor’s compensation structure reduces recruitment costs by encouraging retention, as equity stakes are subject to redemption or forfeiture in the event that employees leave the firm to compete with it. We believe that this structure, which we may use if we acquire a brokerage business, promotes an entrepreneurial culture that will enable us to further build such business by attracting key producers in key markets and services.

 

   

Healthcare — Cantor’s industry leading healthcare franchise has over 75 professionals across investment banking, capital markets, research, sales and trading. Cantor’s healthcare team is focused on all subsectors, including biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical technology and healthcare services. Cantor’s team is comprised of professionals with deep industry knowledge, corporate and institutional contacts, equity and debt capital markets expertise and all forms of advisory capabilities. In 2019, Cantor’s healthcare franchise completed approximately 80 transactions across capital markets and M&A, representing over $7 billion in transaction value.

 

   

Technology — Our officers have experience operating, developing, growing and acquiring technology businesses. Mr. Lutnick oversaw the launch and growth of eSpeed, a fully electronic treasuries trading platform, which was sold by BGC to Nasdaq, Inc. in June 2013. BGC continues to build proprietary electronic trading platforms across various asset classes and operate and grow market leading electronic trading businesses, including through its fully electronic Fenics business, which had net revenues of $283 million during the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2020, significantly in excess of the annualized revenues of eSpeed from prior to its sale. Our officers have also led Newmark to its position of being in the forefront of technology software for the commercial real estate market, as Newmark continues to build and roll out proprietary technology systems to enhance broker productivity and maximize collaboration and cross-selling efforts. We believe that brokerage businesses are continuing to become more automated and thus profitable. Cantor, through the leadership of Messrs. Lutnick and Jain, is a leader in this trend as it continues to lead various technology initiatives across Cantor’s businesses. We believe that we can leverage the success and history of our officers to successfully acquire and tangibly grow and improve the operations and market position of a technology business.

These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.



 

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Initial Business Combination

So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors. If we are no longer listed on Nasdaq, we would not be required to satisfy the above-referenced fair market value test.

We may, at our option, pursue a business combination opportunity jointly with Cantor or one or more entities affiliated with Cantor, which we refer to as an “Affiliated Joint Acquisition.” We do not expect that we would pursue any such opportunity with a Prior Cantor SPAC. Any such parties would co-invest only if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and Cantor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination. An Affiliated Joint Acquisition may be effected through a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business combination by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. We refer to this potential future issuance, or a similar issuance to other specified purchasers, as a “specified future issuance” throughout this prospectus. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof. We are not obligated to make any specified future issuance and may determine not to do so. This is not an offer for any specified future issuance. Pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, any such specified future issuance would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio such that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units) plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance, unless the holders of a majority of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock agreed to waive such adjustment with respect to the specified future issuance at the time thereof. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any such specified future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. They may waive such adjustment due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the agreement for our initial business combination; (ii) negotiation with Class A stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; (iii) negotiation with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock; or (iv) as part of the Affiliated Joint Acquisition. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock. The issuance of the forward purchase securities (or other securities issued in



 

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connection with a financing provided by an affiliate of ours relating to an Affiliated Joint Acquisition) will not result in such an adjustment to the conversion ratio of our Class B common stock.

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition as described above. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the “Investment Company Act”. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% fair market value test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.

We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. In addition, we intend to target businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units, and, as a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds the amount available from the trust account, net of amounts needed to satisfy redemptions by public stockholders, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We may also obtain financing prior to the closing of our initial business combination to fund our working capital needs and transaction costs in connection with our search for and completion of our initial business combination. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds through the issuance of equity or equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop arrangements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In addition, following our initial business combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.



 

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Our Business Combination Process

In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets to the extent possible, discussion with customers and suppliers, document reviews, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us and which we deem appropriate. We will also utilize our expertise and our sponsor’s expertise in analyzing companies and evaluating operating projections, financial projections and determining the appropriate return expectations.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with Cantor or its affiliates or our sponsor, officers or directors, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with Cantor or its affiliates or our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company.

Cantor will be the beneficial owner of founder shares and/or private placement units following this offering by virtue of its ownership of our sponsor and members of our management team may indirectly own such securities. Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion. Because of such ownership and interests, Cantor and our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

All of our officers are employed by Cantor or its affiliates. Cantor is continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for an initial business combination. While Cantor will not have any duty to offer acquisition opportunities to us, Cantor may become aware of a potential transaction that is an attractive opportunity for us, which Cantor may decide to share with us. We have not, however, selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target regarding an initial business combination with our company.

Our sponsor, officers, directors, Cantor and their affiliates may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve, or will serve, as executive officers or directors of the Prior Cantor SPACs and Cantor SPAC VII, each of which is, or will be, focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved.



 

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Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated). In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first. In particular, subject to a Prior Cantor SPAC’s focus on targets with a specific range of enterprise values, a particular target’s cash and other deal requirements, the ongoing discussions and negotiations with other targets by a Prior Cantor SPAC at such time, a potential business combination opportunity will be offered to the Prior Cantor SPACs and us by order of the closing date of each such SPAC’s initial public offering and investors are advised that based on the foregoing our directors and officers who are also directors and officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs have discretion in determining whether a potential target is directed towards us or any Prior Cantor SPAC, and, as such, potential targets may be directed or introduced to a Prior Cantor SPAC even though such target may be an opportunity for our company. Our officers and directors will only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

Corporate Information

Our executive offices are located at 110 East 59th Street, New York, New York 10022 and our telephone number is (212) 938-5000.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to emerging growth company will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.



 

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Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.

In addition, after completion of this offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. As a result, Nasdaq will consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements. We intend to utilize these exemptions. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.



 

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THE OFFERING

In deciding whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the backgrounds of the members of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company and the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors.”

 

Securities offered

22,000,000 units (or 25,300,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:

 

   

one share of Class A common stock; and

 

   

one-fourth of one redeemable warrant.

 

Nasdaq symbols

Units: “CFFEU”

Class A Common Stock: “CFFE”

Warrants: “CFFEW”

 

Trading commencement and separation of Class A common stock and warrants

The units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We expect the Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless CF&Co informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase a multiple of four units, the number of warrants issuable to you upon separation of the units will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of warrants.

 

Separate trading of the Class A common stock and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K

In no event will the Class A common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the SEC containing an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering, which closing is anticipated to take place three business days from the date of this prospectus. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.


 

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Units:

 

Number outstanding before this offering

0                                                                                                                                                  

 

Number outstanding after this offering and the private placement

22,540,000(1)                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Common stock:

 

Number outstanding before this offering

6,325,000 shares of Class B common stock(2)(3)                                                               

 

Number outstanding after this offering and the private placement

22,540,000 shares of Class A common stock and 5,500,000 shares of Class B common stock(1)(3)                                                                                    

Redeemable Warrants:

 

Number outstanding before this offering

0                                                                                                                              

 

Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the private
placement

5,635,000(1)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

Exercisability

Each whole warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of our Class A common stock and only whole warrants are exercisable.

 

  We structured each unit to contain one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock, as compared to units issued by some other similar blank check companies which contain whole warrants exercisable for one whole share, in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of an initial business combination as compared to units that each contain a warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive initial business combination partner for target businesses.
 

 

(1) 

Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 825,000 founder shares.

(2) 

Includes up to 825,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.

(3) 

The shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of our Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described below adjacent to the caption “Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights.”



 

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Exercise price

$11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination (not including any securities to be issued in connection with the forward purchase agreement to be entered into with our sponsor) at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors, and in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor, initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by them prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of each warrant will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) such that the effective exercise price per full share will be equal to 115% of the higher of (i) the Market Value and (ii) the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of warrants for cash” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of (i) the Market Value and (ii) the Newly Issued Price.

 

Exercise period

The warrants will become exercisable on the later of:

 

   

30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, or

 

   

12 months from the closing of this offering;

 

  provided in each case that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement).

 

 

We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective within 60 business days after the



 

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closing of our initial business combination, and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrantholders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

 

  The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation; provided, however, that the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g). On the exercise of any warrant, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.

 

Redemption of warrants

Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrantholders.



 

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  We will not redeem the warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering.

 

  If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. Please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants” for additional information.

 

  None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

 

Election of directors; voting rights

Prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of the Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by at least 90% of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except



 

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as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, holders of our Class A common stock and holders of our Class B common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.

 

Private placement at initial business combination

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

 

Founder shares

In July 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2021, our sponsor transferred 10,000 founder shares to each of Mr. Robert Hochberg and Ms. Charlotte Blechman, our independent directors (none of which are subject to forfeiture in the event that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). On March 11, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares outstanding and held by our initial stockholders (up to 825,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). Prior to the initial investment in the company by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the aggregate number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). As such, our initial stockholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). Neither our sponsor nor any of our officers or directors have expressed an intention to purchase any units in this offering. Up to 825,000 founder shares will be subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised so that our initial stockholders will maintain ownership of 20% of our common stock after this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units).


 

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  The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that:

 

   

only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination;

 

   

the founder shares are shares of Class B common stock that automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein;

 

   

the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below;

 

   

our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

 

   

pursuant to a letter agreement with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares and private placement shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business



 

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combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised); and

 

   

the founder shares are entitled to registration rights.

 

Transfer restrictions on founder shares

Our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares or any of the additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase contract, until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property (except as described herein under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units”). Any permitted transferees will be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders with respect to any founder shares. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up.

 

Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights

The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in this prospectus and related to the closing of the initial business combination, including pursuant to a specified future issuance, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance, including a specified future issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon the completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units) plus all shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in



 

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connection with the initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination or any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us and any securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract).

 

  The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt. Securities could be “deemed issued” for purposes of the conversion rate adjustment if such shares are issuable upon the conversion or exercise of convertible securities, warrants or similar securities.

 

Voting Rights

Holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, with each share of common stock entitling the holder to one vote per share, except with respect to the voting for directors prior to our initial business combination as set forth above.

 

Private placement units and underlying securities

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units, at a price of $10.00 per unit ($5,400,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. The private placement units are identical to the units sold in this offering except that the private placement warrants included therein, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) will be entitled to registration rights and (v) for so long as they are held by our sponsor, will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g). A portion of the purchase price of the private placement units will be added to the proceeds from this offering to be held in the trust account such that at the time of closing $220.0 million (or $253.0 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full) will be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds from the sale of the private placement units held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the private placement units will expire worthless.


 

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  The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering.

 

Transfer restrictions on private placement units and underlying securities

The private placement units (including the underlying private placement warrants, the private placement shares and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except as described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units”).

 

Cashless exercise of private placement warrants

If holders of private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following an initial business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who could sell the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants freely in the open market, the insiders could be significantly restricted from doing so. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

 

Proceeds to be held in trust account

Nasdaq rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement units must be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units, $220,000,000, or $10.00 per unit ($253,000,000, or $10.00 per unit, if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be placed into a trust account in the



 

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United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.

 

  Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations, the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement units will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (a) the completion of our initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, and (c) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.

 

Anticipated expenses and funding sources

Except as described above with respect to the payment of taxes from interest, unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government securities 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. We will disclose in each quarterly and annual report filed with the SEC prior to our initial business combination whether the proceeds deposited in the trust account are invested in U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds or a combination thereof. Based upon current interest rates, we expect the trust account to generate approximately $220,000 of interest annually assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from:

 

   

the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units not held in the trust account, which will be approximately $250,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $750,000 in expenses relating to this offering; and

 

   

any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or their affiliates or other third parties, including the $1,750,000 loan commitment made by our sponsor for working capital, although they are under no obligation to advance additional funds or invest in us, and provided that any such loans (i) will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the



 

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trust account unless such proceeds are released to us upon completion of an initial business combination and (ii) will not be convertible into our securities and the holders will not have any recourse against us to issue securities in conversion thereof.

 

Conditions to completing our initial business combination

So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately, including pursuant to any specified future issuance, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination.

 

 

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition as described above. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders



 

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immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% fair market value test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.

 

Permitted purchases of public shares and public warrants by our affiliates

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination. See “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities” for a description of how our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

 

 

The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement



 

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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 warrantholders 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 shares of Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

 

Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, 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 $10.00 per public share. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them and any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or otherwise.

 

  We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements.


 

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Manner of conducting redemptions

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial 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 stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.

 

  If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

   

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.

 

  Such provisions may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon.

 

  Whether or not we maintain our registration under the Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above. Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.


 

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  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 stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.

 

  If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will:

 

   

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.

 

 

If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares, private placement shares and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is



 

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not exercised). We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.

 

  We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. We believe that this will allow our transfer agent to efficiently process any redemptions without the need for further communication or action from the redeeming public stockholders, which could delay redemptions and result in additional administrative cost. If the proposed initial business combination is not approved and we continue to search for a target company, we will promptly return any certificates delivered, or shares tendered electronically, by public stockholders who elected to redeem their shares.

 

  Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.


 

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Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold a stockholder vote

Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against an initial business combination if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem to no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those stockholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination.

 

Redemption rights in connection with proposed amendments to our certificate of incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, other than with respect the right of only our holders of shares of Class B common stock to vote for directors prior to our initial business combination, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, or applicable stock exchange rules. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we may not issue



 

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additional securities that can vote with common stockholders on matters related to our pre-initial business combination activity, on any amendment to certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or on our initial business combination, or that would entitle holders thereof to receive funds from the trust account. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Our sponsor, officers, and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.

 

Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination

On the completion of our initial business combination, the funds held in the trust account will be used to pay amounts due to any public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination.” We will use the remaining funds to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination, including the fee payable to CF&Co pursuant to the Business Combination Marketing Agreement described under “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest) — Business Combination Marketing Agreement,” which fee we refer to throughout this prospectus as the Marketing Fee. 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 common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account, as well as the $10,000,000



 

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private placement described elsewhere in this prospectus, for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

 

Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 12 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) above to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.

 

  Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our initial stockholders acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.

 

Limited payments to insiders

There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, non-cash payments, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that



 

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it is) other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

 

   

Repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor, which our sponsor has committed to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;

 

   

Repayment to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services, in an amount equal to $10,000 per month;

 

   

Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion;

 

   

Reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination;

 

   

Repayment of loans, including the $1,750,000 loan commitment made by our sponsor for working capital, which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto (provided that in no event will such loans be convertible into our securities); and

 

   

Payment to CF&Co of its underwriting discount, Marketing Fee, fees for any financial advisory, placement agency or other similar investment banking services CF&Co may provide to our company in the future, including in connection with the closing of our initial business combination, and reimbursement of CF&Co for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by it in connection with the performance of such services.

 

  Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.

 

Audit Committee

We have established and maintain an audit committee, which is composed of three directors, including two independent directors, to, among other things, monitor compliance with the terms described above and the other terms relating to this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to immediately take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. We intend to appoint one additional independent director to our audit committee to replace our non-independent member within one year following this offering pursuant to the Nasdaq phase-in provisions for initial public offerings. For more information, see the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Committees of the Board of Directors — Audit Committee.”


 

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Conflicts of Interest

We, our sponsor and CF&Co are controlled by Cantor. CF Group Management, Inc. (“CFGM”) is the managing general partner of Cantor and Howard W. Lutnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is the trustee of CFGM’s sole stockholder. Therefore, we are deemed to be an affiliate of CF&Co, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or FINRA. As a result, CF&Co is deemed to have a “conflict of interest” under Rule 5121(f)(5) of the Conduct Rules of FINRA. Accordingly, this offering will be made in compliance with Rule 5121 of FINRA’s Conduct Rules, which prohibits CF&Co from making sales to discretionary accounts without the prior written approval of the account holder and requires that a “qualified independent underwriter,” as defined by FINRA participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standard of due diligence with respect to such document. We have engaged Odeon Capital Group, LLC, or Odeon, to be the qualified independent underwriter and participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standards of “due diligence” in respect thereto. We agreed to pay Odeon a fee of $100,000 upon the completion of this offering in consideration for its services and expenses as the qualified independent underwriter. Odeon will receive no other compensation.

All of our officers are employed by Cantor or its affiliates. Cantor is continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for an initial business combination. While Cantor will not have any duty to offer acquisition opportunities to us, Cantor may become aware of a potential transaction that is an attractive opportunity for us, which Cantor may decide to share with us. In addition, our officers and directors may have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to other entities to which they owe duties or clients of affiliates of our sponsor.

 

  As a result, affiliates of our sponsor and their respective clients may compete with us for acquisition opportunities in the same industries and sectors as we may target for our initial business combination. If any of them decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas generated within Cantor, including by any of our officers and other persons who may make decisions for the company, may be suitable both for us and for affiliates of our sponsor or any of their respective clients, and will be directed initially to such persons rather than to us. None of Cantor nor members of our management team who are also employed by Cantor or any of its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware unless it is offered to them solely in their capacity as a director or officer of the Company and after they have satisfied their contractual and fiduciary obligations to other parties.


 

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  Our sponsor, officers, directors, Cantor and their affiliates may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve, or will serve, as executive officers or directors of the Prior Cantor SPACs and Cantor SPAC VII, each of which is, or will be, focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved.

 

  As described herein, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated). Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first. In particular, subject to a Prior Cantor SPAC’s focus on targets with a specific range of enterprise values, a particular target’s cash and other deal requirements, the ongoing discussions and negotiations with other targets by a Prior Cantor SPAC at such time, a potential business combination opportunity will be offered to the Prior Cantor SPACs and us by order of the closing date of each such SPAC’s initial public offering and investors are advised that based on the foregoing our directors and officers who are also directors and officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs have discretion in determining whether a potential target is directed towards us or any Prior Cantor SPAC, and, as such, potential targets may be directed or introduced to a Prior Cantor SPAC even though such target may be an opportunity for our company. Our officers and directors will only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us (including as described above). 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. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

 

  The potential conflicts described above may limit our ability to enter into a business combination or other transactions. These circumstances could give rise to numerous situations where interests may conflict. There can be no assurance that these or other conflicts of interest with the potential for adverse effects on the Company and investors will not arise.


 

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  Notwithstanding the foregoing, in addition to the forward purchase obligation described elsewhere in this prospectus, we may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. This would only occur, though, if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and Cantor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination. An Affiliated Joint Acquisition could involve a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business combination. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract.

 

Indemnity

Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 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, less interest released to pay taxes, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

RISKS

We are a company that has conducted no operations and has generated no revenues. Until we complete our initial business combination, we will have no operations and will generate no operating revenues. In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the background of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company. This offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. For additional information concerning how Rule 419 blank check offerings differ from this offering, please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.” You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 29 of this prospectus.



 

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SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

The following table summarizes the relevant financial data for our business and should be read with our financial statements, which are included in this prospectus. We have not had any significant operations to date, so only balance sheet data is presented.

 

     December 31,
2020
 

Balance Sheet Data:

  

Working capital (deficiency)

   $ 23,579  

Total assets

   $ 25,000  

Total liabilities

   $ 1,421  

Stockholder’s equity

   $ 23,579  

If no initial business combination is completed within 12 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.



 

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

AND RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

Some of the statements contained in this prospectus may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following risks, uncertainties and other factors:

 

   

our being a company with no operating history and no revenues;

 

   

our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;

 

   

our ability to complete our initial business combination;

 

   

our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses;

 

   

our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;

 

   

our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;

 

   

our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;

 

   

our pool of prospective target businesses;

 

   

our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the continued uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic;

 

   

the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;

 

   

our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

 

   

the lack of a market for our securities;

 

   

the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;

 

   

the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties;

 

   

our financial performance following this offering;

 

   

risks and uncertainties related to the financial services, commercial real estate services, financial technology, healthcare, software and technology industries; and

 

   

the other risks and uncertainties discussed in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

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Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

 

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RISK FACTORS

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks

Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.

We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the initial business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons. Except as required by law, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or will allow stockholders 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 stockholder approval. Even if we seek stockholder approval, the holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public shares do not approve of the initial business combination we complete. Please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business — Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

Pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares and private placement shares, as well as any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions), in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised). Our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own shares representing 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock immediately following the completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination.

Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of the initial 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 an initial business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the initial business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote.

 

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Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.

The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into an initial business combination with a target.

We may seek to enter into an initial business combination agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. While we will have access to the proceeds from the $10,000,000 private placement from our sponsor, if too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the initial business combination. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the initial business combination. Furthermore, we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into an initial business combination with us.

The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and, therefore, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the Class B common stock results in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.

The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.

If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account.

 

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If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.

The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular 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 stockholders.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning an initial business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we must complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein.

If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the status of debt and equity markets, as well as protectionist legislation in our target markets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has and may continue to adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with

 

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which we may consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, 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. In addition, countries or supranational organizations in our target markets may develop and implement legislation that makes it more difficult or impossible for entities outside such countries or target markets to acquire or otherwise invest in companies or businesses deemed essential or otherwise vital. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for and ability to consummate a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, and result in protectionist sentiments and legislation in our target markets, 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 the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events.

As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.

In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.

In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.

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. The premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. There can be no assurance that these trends will not continue.

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

 

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business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity will likely 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.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed initial business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock or warrants.

If we seek stockholder 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, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants or a combination thereof 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, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions.

Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.

In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares. For example,

 

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we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business — Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination — Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder 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.

You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.

Since the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the successful completion of this offering and the sale of the private placement units and will file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we may have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if this offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”

 

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Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire, including affiliates of our sponsor. 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 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 this offering and the sale of the private placement units, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, because we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of Class A common stock which our public stockholders redeem in connection with our initial business combination, target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. This may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.

If the net proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement units not being held in the trust account, and the loan committed by our sponsor for working capital are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 12 months, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.

The funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with the loan committed by our sponsor for working capital, may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 12 months, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. We believe that, upon closing of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 12 months, however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed initial business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or merger agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business

 

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combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.

If the net proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement units not being held in the trust account and the loan committed by our sponsor for working capital are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on additional loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search for an initial business combination, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.

Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units, only approximately $250,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $750,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. The amount held in the trust account will not be impacted as a result of such increase or decrease. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $750,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor has committed $1,750,000 to be provided to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements after this offering and prior to our initial business combination. None of our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance additional 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. 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 are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.

Subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present 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

 

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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 debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination. Accordingly, any securityholders who choose to remain securityholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such securityholders 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 initial business combination constituted an actionable material misstatement or 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 stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, 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 stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. WithumSmith+Brown, PC, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement, the form of which is filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, 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 registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 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, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all

 

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rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

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 stockholders.

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 which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations.

While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. 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 stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.

We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and 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. 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 stockholders 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 stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’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 stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and we and our board may be exposed to claims of punitive damages.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.

 

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If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, 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 stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.

Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 12th month from the closing of this offering in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.

Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.

 

 

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We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to elect directors.

In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.

Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.

We will seek to complete an initial business combination with an operating company in any industry or sector, though we intend to focus on the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries, except that we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any securityholders who choose to remain securityholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such securityholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise.

We will consider a business combination in sectors which may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise if such business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in this offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in an initial business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly

 

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applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors relevant to such acquisition. Accordingly, any securityholders who choose to remain securityholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such securityholders 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. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these criteria and 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 stockholders 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 stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.

We may seek business combination opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.

We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.

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valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders 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 materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.

Because we must furnish our stockholders 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 an initial business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target 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 initial business combination.

We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete an initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct

 

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redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our stockholders may not support.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 65% of the public warrants. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires us to provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.

The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account), including an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, may be amended with the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, 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 certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that any of its provisions (other than amendments relating to the appointment of directors, which require the approval by at least 90% of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting) related to pre-initial business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein and including to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be

 

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amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. We may not issue additional securities that can vote with common stockholders on matters related to our pre-initial business combination activity, on any amendment to certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or on our initial business combination. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own up to 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which govern our pre-initial business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete an initial business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock 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, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our sponsor, officers and directors. Our stockholders 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, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder 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.

We have not selected any specific business combination target, but intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement units as well as the $10,000,000 private placement to be made by our sponsor pursuant to the forward purchase contract. As a result, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. Further, the amount of additional financing we may be required to obtain could increase as a result of future growth capital needs for any particular transaction, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination and/or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination. 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 stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk

 

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factor entitled “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 stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.

In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management will rely on the availability of all of the funds from the sale of the forward purchase securities to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of some or all of the forward purchase securities fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of the forward purchase securities are expected to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in our initial business combination, and may be used to pay expenses in connection with our initial business combination or for working capital in the post-transaction company. The obligations under the forward purchase contract do not depend on whether any public stockholders elect to redeem their shares in connection with our initial business combination and provide us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination. However, if the sale of the forward purchase securities does not close by reason of the failure of our sponsor to abide by its contractual obligation to fund the purchase price for the forward purchase securities, either because our sponsor lacks sufficient funds or because our sponsor determines that it is not in the best interest of our sponsor or its members to fund the purchase price for the forward purchase securities, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination, or we may need to seek alternative financing. In the event of any such failure to fund by our sponsor, we may not be able to obtain additional funds to account for such shortfall on terms favorable to us or at all. Any such shortfall may also reduce the amount of funds that we have available for working capital of the post-business combination company. We have not obligated our sponsor to reserve funds to satisfy its obligations under the forward purchase contract.

Our initial stockholders will control the election of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination and will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they will elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.

Upon the closing of this offering, our initial stockholders will own shares representing 21.5% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock (including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units and assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the securities issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract). In addition, the founder shares, all of which are held by our initial stockholders, will entitle the holders to elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. Holders of our public shares will have no right to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended by at least 90% of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election of directors prior to our initial business combination.

Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any units in this offering or any

 

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additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our initial stockholders, is and will be divided into two classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of two years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders 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 initial business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a portion of the board of directors will be considered for election. In addition, since only holders of our shares of Class B common stock will have the right to vote on directors prior to our initial business combination, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a stockholder vote. Please see “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities.”

Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account 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, consultants and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.

Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.

Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the initial business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the initial business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

 

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We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.

When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any securityholders who choose to remain securityholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such securities are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.

If our management team pursues 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:

 

   

higher costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;

 

   

rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;

 

   

complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;

 

   

laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;

 

   

tariffs and trade barriers;

 

   

regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

 

   

longer payment cycles and challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

 

   

tax issues, including but not limited to tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;

 

   

currency fluctuations and exchange controls;

 

   

rates of inflation;

 

   

cultural and language differences;

 

   

employment regulations;

 

   

crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;

 

   

deterioration of political relations with the United States; and

 

   

government appropriations of assets.

 

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We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.

Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the Company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination could remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.

We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete an initial business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.

Although we have no commitments as of the date of this prospectus (other than up to $1,750,000 in loans which our sponsor has committed to cover working capital costs and to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination following this offering) to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following this offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

 

   

default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

 

   

acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

 

   

our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;

 

   

our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;

 

   

our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;

 

   

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 common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund other general corporate purposes;

 

   

limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

 

   

increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;

 

   

limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; and

 

   

other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.

 

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We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement units and the $10,000,000 forward purchase contract, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of services and limited operating activities. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operating results and profitability.

Of the net proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement units, $220,000,000 (or $253,000,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be available to complete our initial business combination and pay related fees and expenses. In addition, our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration).

We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

 

   

solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or

 

   

dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.

This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.

We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.

If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. We do not, however, intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

In pursuing our initial business combination strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private

 

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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 an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

Risks Relating to Cantor, our Sponsor and Management Team

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we employ after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements. In addition, the officers and directors of an initial business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of an initial business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an initial business combination candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an initial business combination candidate’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an initial business combination candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.

Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.

Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

In July 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2021, our sponsor transferred 10,000 founder shares to each of Mr. Robert Hochberg and Ms. Charlotte Blechman, our independent directors (none of which are subject to forfeiture in the event that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). On March 11, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares outstanding and held by our initial stockholders (up to 825,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). The founder shares will

 

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be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units, for a purchase price of $5,400,000, or $10.00 per unit, that will also be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. Holders of founder shares and private placement shares have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed initial business combination and (B) not to redeem any founder shares or private placement shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, any loans from our sponsor will not be repaid if our business combination is not consummated. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.

Since our officers and directors will not be eligible to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses, and our sponsor will not be eligible to be repaid for loans our sponsor has provided to us, if our business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Reimbursement for such expenses will be paid by us out of loans by our sponsor and interest earned on the trust account. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf. In addition, at the closing of our initial business combination, our sponsor will be repaid an aggregate of up to $1,750,000 in loans, which our sponsor has committed to cover working capital costs and to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination following this offering, in addition to any additional loans our sponsor chooses to make. These financial interests of our sponsor, officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination and completing an initial business combination.

Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for an initial business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. In particular, our officers and non-independent directors are employed by Cantor and/or certain of its affiliates and our other directors are employees of other companies. Our directors and officers also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management — Directors and Officers.”

All of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity or other transaction should be presented.

Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment

 

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vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business, including the Prior Cantor SPACs. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from multiple affiliations, our officers who are also officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs will be required to present all suitable target businesses to the applicable Prior Cantor SPAC (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) prior to presenting them to us, unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such individual solely in his capacity as an officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent such individual is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

We do not have employment contracts with our officers and directors that will limit their ability to work at other businesses. In addition, our officers and directors may become an officer or director of any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act even if we have not yet entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination. As a result, our officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) and Cantor SPAC VII. Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary, contractual or other duties.

Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. 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. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see the sections of this prospectus entitled “Management — Directors and Officers,” “Management — Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.

We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by

 

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us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so, or we may acquire a target business through an Affiliated Joint Acquisition with one or more affiliates of Cantor. 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.

In particular, Cantor, its affiliates, our directors and our officers have invested, and may in the future invest, in a broad array of sectors, including those in which our company may invest, and are also focused on acquisitions and investments in industries in which we may search for a target business. As a result, there may be substantial overlap between companies that would be a suitable business combination for us and companies that would make an attractive target for such other affiliates.

We may engage in an initial business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.

In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other businesses, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated or competitive with our sponsor, officers or directors or their respective affiliates. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, 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 preliminary discussions concerning an initial business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for an initial business combination as set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business — Selection 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 another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions regarding the fairness to our stockholders from a financial point of view of an initial business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the initial business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest. In order to satisfy applicable regulatory or other legal requirements applicable to an Affiliated Joint Acquisition, our initial business combination may be effected on less favorable terms than otherwise would apply if the initial business combination were not an Affiliated Joint Acquisition.

We may acquire a target business through an Affiliated Joint Acquisition with one or more affiliates of Cantor. This may result in conflicts of interest as well as dilutive issuances of our securities.

We may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We do not expect that we would pursue any such opportunity with a Prior Cantor SPAC. Any such parties would co-invest only if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and Cantor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination. An Affiliated Joint Acquisition may be effected through a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business combination by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract.

 

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In addition, any specified future issuance in connection with Affiliated Joint Acquisition would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, which, unless waived, would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio of our Class B common stock such that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units) plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance. If such adjustment is not waived as described elsewhere in this prospectus, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. The issuance of the forward purchase securities (or other securities issued in connection with a financing provided by an affiliate of ours relating to an Affiliated Joint Acquisition) will not result in such an adjustment to the conversion ratio of our Class B common stock.

We may engage CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as our lead financial advisor on our business combination and other transactions. Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor. Any fee in connection with such engagement may be conditioned upon the completion of such transactions. This financial interest in the completion of such transactions may influence the advice such affiliate provides.

We may engage CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor in connection with our initial business combination and pay such affiliate a customary financial advisory fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions. Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor. Pursuant to any such engagement, the affiliate may earn its fee upon closing of the initial business combination. The payment of such fee would likely be conditioned upon the completion of the initial business combination. Therefore, our sponsor may have additional financial interests in the completion of the initial business combination. These financial interests may influence the advice any such affiliate provides us as our financial advisor, which advice would contribute to our decision on whether to pursue a business combination with any particular target.

We may compete with other affiliates of Cantor for acquisition opportunities for our company, which could negatively impact our ability to locate a suitable business combination.

Our business strategy may overlap with some of the strategies of Cantor and certain of its other affiliates. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from multiple affiliations, our officers will be required to present all suitable target businesses to the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) prior to presenting them to us, unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such individual solely in his capacity as an officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent such individual is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. In addition, Cantor and its affiliates specialize in financial services and real estate services and finance for institutional customers operating in the global financial and commercial real estate markets. Acquisition opportunities that may be of interest to us may come to those other affiliates instead of us or may be pursued by those affiliates. Our affiliates are not restricted from competing with our business and none of our affiliates are required to refer any such opportunities to us. Our sponsor and its affiliates face conflicts of interest relating to performing services on our behalf and allocating investment opportunities to us, and such conflicts may not be resolved in our favor, meaning we could find less suitable acquisition opportunities which could limit our ability to find a business combination that we find attractive.

 

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Our initial business combination will require approval of Howard Lutnick, as well as a majority of our independent directors.

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our initial business combination will require the approval of certain directors appointed by our sponsor, who will initially be Howard Lutnick. In addition, under Nasdaq rules, our initial business combination will also require the approval of a majority of our independent directors. Unless we receive the requisite board member approvals, we will not be able to enter into a definitive merger or similar agreement relating to our initial business combination.

Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination.

We may structure an initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the 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 initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock 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 shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.

Risks Relating to Our Securities

The securities in which we invest the funds held 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 will be 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 certificate of incorporation, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates 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.

 

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If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:

 

   

restrictions on the nature of our investments; and

 

   

restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

 

   

registration as an investment company;

 

   

adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

 

   

reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are not currently subject to.

In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete an initial business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.

We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. This offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities.

The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete an initial business combination or may result in our liquidation. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive

 

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only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

If we seek stockholder 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 stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.

If we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder 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 this offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

Our units have been approved to list on Nasdaq on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. Following the date the shares of our Class A common stock and warrants are eligible to trade separately, we anticipate that the shares of our Class A common stock and warrants will be separately listed on Nasdaq. Although after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the Nasdaq listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our stock price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 300 round lot holders (with at least 50% of such round lot holders holding securities with a market value of at least $2,500) of our securities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list such securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

 

   

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

 

   

reduced liquidity for our securities;

 

   

a determination that our Class A common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock 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

 

   

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A common stock and warrants will be covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities, including in connection with our initial business combination.

Our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.005 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class B common stock.

The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the Class A common stock and none to the warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in this offering. Our initial stockholders acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon the closing of this offering, and assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units and that the over-allotment option is not exercised, you and the other public stockholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 92.3% (or $9.23 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.77 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit. In addition, because of the anti-dilution rights of the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A common stock.

We may issue additional common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 201,000,000 shares of common stock, including 160,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 40,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 131,825,000 and 34,500,000 (assuming, in each case, that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option) authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount takes into account the shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of Class B common stock. Immediately after the consummation of this offering, there will be no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding. Shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of our Class A common stock initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein, including in certain circumstances in which we issue Class A common stock or equity-linked securities related to our initial business combination. These amounts exclude the issuance of 1,000,000 units issuable pursuant to our sponsor’s forward purchase contract

 

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and an additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination.

We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination (including pursuant to a specified future issuance) or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination (although our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may not issue securities that can vote with common stockholders on matters related to our pre-initial business combination activity, on any amendment to certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or on our initial business combination). We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination.

These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with the approval of our stockholders. However, our officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares.

The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:

 

   

may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering;

 

   

may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;

 

   

could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and

 

   

may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants.

We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of warrants is not registered, 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.

We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock 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 that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration under the Securities Act of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to cause the same to

 

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become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock 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, complete 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. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration or qualification is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and there is no exemption available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering. However, there may be instances in which holders of our public warrants may be unable to exercise such public warrants but holders of our private placement warrants may be able to exercise such private placement warrants.

If you exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis,” you will receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.

There are circumstances in which the exercise of the public warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrantholders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Second, if our Class A common stock is at any time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Third, if we call the public warrants for redemption, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (as defined in the next sentence) by (y) the fair market value. The

 

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“fair market value” is the average volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, as applicable. As a result, you would receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.

We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the warrants could be converted into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.

Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement 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 a majority 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 a majority of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of a majority of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.

Our initial stockholders may purchase public warrants with the intention of reducing the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to warrantholders for approval, including amending the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. While our initial stockholders have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for such transactions, there is no limit on the number of our public warrants that our initial stockholders may purchase and it is not currently known how many public warrants, if any, our initial stockholders may hold at the time of our initial business combination or at any other time during which the terms of the public warrants may be proposed to be amended. Please see “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities.”

Our warrant agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York in the Borough of Manhattan 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 will provide 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 in the Borough of Manhattan 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 will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the

 

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forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York in the Borough of Manhattan 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 the Borough of Manhattan 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 last reported sales price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to 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. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.

We will be issuing warrants to purchase 5,500,000 shares of our Class A common stock (or up to 6,325,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) as part of the units offered by this prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of this offering, we will be issuing, in a private placement, units, which consist of (i) an aggregate of 540,000 private placement shares and (ii) private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 135,000 shares of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. Furthermore, our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). Our initial stockholders currently own an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein.

To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to effectuate an initial business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of

 

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these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive business combination vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the shares of Class A common stock issued to complete the initial business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate an initial business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.

The private placement warrants and warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) will be entitled to registration rights and (v) for so long as they are held by our sponsor, will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g).

Because each unit contains one-fourth of one redeemable 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-fourth of one redeemable warrant. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase a multiple of four units, the number of warrants issuable to you upon separation of the units will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of warrants. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of an initial business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-fourth of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a warrant to purchase one whole 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 they 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.

If

 

   

we issue additional shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination (not including any securities to be issued in connection with the forward purchase agreement to be entered into with our sponsor) at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), 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

 

   

the Market Value is below $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like),

then the exercise price of each warrant will be adjusted such that the effective exercise price per full share will be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

 

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The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees 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 common stock.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement units, the private placement shares, the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the founder shares, the private placement warrants and the securities (and underlying securities) issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract held, or to be held, by them may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders 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 common stock that is expected when the securities owned by our initial stockholders or their respective permitted transferees are registered.

The determination of the offering price of our units and the size of this offering is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our units properly reflects the value of such units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.

Prior to this offering there has been no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the units and the terms of the warrants were negotiated between us and the underwriters. In determining the size of this offering, management held customary organizational meetings with representatives of the underwriters, both prior to our inception and thereafter, with respect to the state of capital markets, generally, and the amount the underwriters believed they reasonably could raise on our behalf. Factors considered in determining the size of this offering, prices and terms of the units, including the Class A common stock and warrants underlying the units, include:

 

   

the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;

 

   

prior offerings of those companies;

 

   

our prospects for acquiring an operating business;

 

   

a review of debt to equity ratios in leveraged transactions;

 

   

our capital structure;

   

an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;

 

   

general conditions of the securities markets at the time of this offering; and

 

   

other factors as were deemed relevant.

Although these factors were considered, the determination of our offering price is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities of an operating company in a particular industry since we have no historical operations or financial results.

There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.

There is currently no market for our securities. Stockholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or

 

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economic conditions. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.

Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors, upon the listing of our shares on Nasdaq, Nasdaq will consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.

After completion of this offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. As a result, Nasdaq will consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:

 

   

we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of Nasdaq; and

 

   

we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities.

We intend to utilize these exemptions. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, which may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

Section 203 of the DGCL affects the ability of an “interested stockholder” to engage in certain business combinations, for a period of three years following the time that the stockholder becomes an “interested stockholder.” We will elect in our certificate of incorporation not to be subject to Section 203 of the DGCL. Nevertheless, our certificate of incorporation will contain provisions that have the same effect as Section 203 of the DGCL, except that it will provide that affiliates of our sponsor and their transferees will not be deemed to be “interested stockholders,” regardless of the percentage of our voting stock owned by them, and will therefore not be subject to such restrictions. These charter provisions may limit the ability of third parties to acquire control of our company.

An investment in this offering may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

An investment in this offering may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we are issuing in this offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the share of common stock and the one-fourth of one warrant to purchase common stock included in each unit could be challenged by the IRS or the courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the units we are issuing in this offering is unclear under current law. It is also unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our shares of common stock suspend the running of a

 

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U.S. holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of common stock is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for federal income tax purposes. See the section titled “U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations” for a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax consequences of an investment in our securities. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will, subject to certain exceptions, be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel, which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This choice of forum provision may limit or make more costly a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. 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 thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

 

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General Risk Factors

We are a company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

We are a company with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through this offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning an initial business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

Past performance by Cantor, its affiliates and members of our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company.

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, Cantor, its affiliates and members of our management team is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance, including related to acquisitions, of Cantor, its affiliates and members of our management team is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record or performance of Cantor, its affiliates and members of our management team as indicative of the future performance of us or an investment in the Company or the returns the Company will, or is likely to, generate going forward. An investment in us is not an investment in Cantor or any of its affiliates.

Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.

We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.

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.

 

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Business combinations with financial services, commercial real estate services or financial technology businesses may involve special considerations and risks.

Business combinations with financial services, commercial real estate services or financial technology businesses entail special considerations and risks. If we are successful in completing a business combination with such a target business, we will be subject to, and possibly adversely affected by, the following risks:

 

   

businesses that we target in the financial services and real estate sectors, including their financial condition, cash flows, results of operations and prospects, may be affected, both positively and negatively, by conditions in the global economy and financial and commercial real estate markets generally;

 

   

we could face strong competition from brokerage and financial services firms, as well as commercial real estate brokerage firms, many of which have greater market presence, marketing capabilities and technological, personnel and financial resources than we have, which could lead to pricing pressures that could adversely impact the revenues of any potential business we acquire, make it more difficult to find a target business and could materially adversely affect any business we acquire, including its cash flows, financial condition, results of operation and prospects;

 

   

many aspects of businesses in the financial services sector are subject to extensive government regulation; if we acquire a business in this sector and fail to comply with these regulations, we may be subject to disciplinary or other action by regulatory organizations, and any business we acquire may be harmed;

 

   

any business that we acquire, including its financial condition, cash flows, results of operations and prospects, could be materially adversely affected by new laws, rules or regulations or by changes in existing laws, rules or regulations or the application thereof;

 

   

extensive regulation of financial services businesses restricts and limits operations and activities of such businesses and results in ongoing exposure to potential significant costs and penalties, including fines, sanctions, enhanced oversight, increased financial and capital requirements, and additional restrictions or limitations on the ability to conduct or grow such businesses;

 

   

procedures and requirements of anti-money laundering laws including the USA PATRIOT Act may expose financial services firms to significant costs or penalties;

 

   

if a commercial real estate firm fails to comply with laws, rules and regulations applicable to their commercial real estate activities, then such businesses may incur significant financial penalties;

 

   

negative general economic conditions and commercial real estate market conditions could have a material adverse effect on the business of a firm we seek to acquire, including its financial condition, cash flows, results of operations and prospects;

 

   

the financial services and commercial real estate services markets are generally affected by seasonality, which could have a material adverse effect on the results of operations of a business we acquire in a given period;

 

   

actions taken by central banks in major global economies may have a material negative impact on financial services businesses;

 

   

because competition for the services of brokers is intense, it could affect the ability of any business we acquire to attract and retain a sufficient number of highly skilled brokers or other professional services personnel, in turn adversely impacting the revenues of such business, resulting in a material adverse effect on such business, including its financial condition, results of operations and prospects;

 

   

we may be adversely affected by the impact of recent income tax regulations;

 

   

we may be subject to claims from both the firms to whom we provide our products and services and the clients they serve;

 

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if we are unable to keep pace with evolving technology and changes in the financial services industry, our revenues and future prospects may decline;

 

   

our ability to provide financial technology products and services to customers may be reduced or eliminated by regulatory changes;

 

   

difficulties with any products or services we provide could damage our reputation and business; and

 

   

a failure to comply with privacy regulations could adversely affect relations with customers and have a negative impact on business.

However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will not be limited to financial services, commercial real estate services or financial technology businesses. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks will likely not affect us and we will be subject to other risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, none of which can be presently ascertained.

There are risks related to the healthcare industry to which we may be subject.

Business combinations with businesses operations in the healthcare industry entail special considerations and risks. If we are successful in completing a business combination with such a target business, we will be subject to, and possibly adversely affected by, the following risks:

 

   

Competition could reduce profit margins.

 

   

Our inability to comply with governmental regulations affecting the healthcare industry could negatively affect our operations.

 

   

An inability to license or enforce intellectual property rights on which our business may depend.

 

   

The success of our planned business following consummation of our initial business combination may depend on maintaining a well-secured business and technology infrastructure.

 

   

If we are required to obtain governmental approval of our products, the production of our products could be delayed and we could be required to engage in a lengthy and expensive approval process that may not ultimately be successful.

 

   

Continuing government and private efforts to contain healthcare costs, including through the implementation of legal and regulatory changes, may reduce our future revenue and our profitability following such business combination.

 

   

Changes in the healthcare related wellness industry and markets for such products affecting our customers or retailing practices could negatively impact customer relationships and our results of operations.

 

   

The healthcare industry is susceptible to significant liability exposure. If liability claims are brought against us following a business combination, it could materially adversely affect our operations.

 

   

Dependence of our operations upon third-party suppliers, manufacturers or contractors whose failure to perform adequately could disrupt our business.

 

   

The Affordable Care Act, possible changes to it or its repeal, and how it is implemented could negatively impact our business.

 

   

A disruption in supply could adversely impact our business.

Any of the foregoing could have an adverse impact on our operations following a business combination. However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will not be limited to the healthcare industry. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks will likely not affect us and we will be subject to other risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, none of which can be presently ascertained.

 

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There are risks related to the software and technology industries to which we may be subject.

Business combinations with companies with operations in the software and technology industries entail special considerations and risks. If we are successful in completing a business combination with a target business with operations in the software and technology industries, we will be subject to, and possibly adversely affected by, the following risks, including but not limited to:

 

   

if we do not develop successful new products or improve existing ones, our business will suffer;

 

   

we may invest in new lines of business that could fail to attract or retain users or generate revenue;

 

   

we will face significant competition and if we are not able to maintain or improve our market share, our business could suffer;

 

   

disruption or failure of our networks, systems, platform or technology that frustrate or thwart our users’ ability to access our products and services, may cause our users, advertisers, and partners to cut back on or stop using our products and services altogether, which could seriously harm our business;

 

   

mobile malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks, spamming, and improper or illegal use of our products could seriously harm our business and reputation;

 

   

if we are unable to successfully grow our user base and further monetize our products, our business will suffer;

 

   

if we are unable to protect our intellectual property, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished, and our business may be seriously harmed;

 

   

we may be subject to regulatory investigations and proceedings in the future, which could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a way that could seriously harm our business; and

 

   

components used in our products may fail as a result of a manufacturing, design, or other defect over which we have no control, and render our devices inoperable.

Any of the foregoing could have an adverse impact on our operations following a business combination. However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will not be limited to the software and technology industries. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks will likely not affect us and we will be subject to other risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, none of which can be presently ascertained.

We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether

 

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investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We are offering 22,000,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement units will be used as set forth in the following table.

 

     Without
Over-Allotment
Option
    Over-Allotment
Option Fully
Exercised
 

Gross proceeds

    

Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1)

   $ 220,000,000     $ 253,000,000  

Gross proceeds from private placement units offered in the private placement

     5,400,000       5,400,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total gross proceeds

     225,400,000       258,400,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Offering expenses(2)

    

Underwriting commissions (2% of gross proceeds from units offered to public, other than units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ overallotment option)(3)

   $ 4,400,000     $ 4,400,000  

Payment to qualified independent underwriter

     100,000       100,000  

Legal fees and expenses

     250,000       250,000  

Accounting fees and expenses

     37,500       37,500  

SEC/FINRA Expenses

     66,052       66,052  

Travel and road show

     25,000       25,000  

Nasdaq listing and filing fees

     5,000       5,000  

Printing and engraving expenses

     40,000       40,000  

Miscellaneous

   $ 226,448     $ 226,448  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total offering expenses (excluding underwriting commissions)

   $ 750,000     $ 750,000  

Proceeds after offering expenses

   $ 220,250,000     $ 253,250,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Held in trust account(3)

   $ 220,000,000     $ 253,000,000  

% of public offering size

     100     100

Not held in trust account

   $ 250,000     $ 250,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

The following table shows the use of the approximately $250,000 of net proceeds not held in the trust account, as well as up to $1,750,000 in working capital loans committed by our sponsor, its affiliates or designees.(4)

 

     Amount      % of Total  

Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel, and other expenses in connection with any business combination

   $ 450,000        22.5

Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations

     150,000        7.5

Director and Officer liability insurance premiums

     800,000        40.0

Payment for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services ($10,000 per month for up to 12 months)

     120,000        12.0

Working capital to cover miscellaneous expenses

     480,000        18.0
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 2,000,000        100.0
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1)

Includes gross proceeds from this offering of $220,000,000 (or $253,000,000 if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full) as well as amounts payable to public stockholders who properly redeem their shares in connection with our successful completion of our initial business combination.

 

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(2)

A portion of the offering expenses will be paid from the proceeds of loans from our sponsor of up to $300,000 as described in this prospectus. As of December 31, 2020, we had borrowed $0 (of up to $300,000 available to us) under the promissory note with our sponsor to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. These amounts will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions). In the event that offering expenses are more than as set forth in this table, they will be repaid using a portion of the $250,000 of offering proceeds not held in the trust account and set aside for post-closing working capital expenses. In the event that offering expenses are less than set forth in this table, any such amounts will be used for post-closing working capital expenses.

(3)

Upon completion of our initial business combination, the funds held in the trust account, less amounts released to the trustee to pay redeeming stockholders, will be released to us and can be used to pay all or a portion of the purchase price of the business or businesses with which our initial business combination occurs, to pay the Marketing Fee of $7,700,000 (or $9,515,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) or for general corporate purposes, including payment of principal or interest on indebtedness incurred in connection with our initial business combination, to fund the purchases of other companies or for working capital.

(4)

These expenses are estimates only and do not include interest which may be available to us from the trust account. Our actual expenditures for some or all of these items may differ from the estimates set forth herein. For example, we may incur greater legal and accounting expenses than our current estimates in connection with negotiating and structuring our initial business combination based upon the level of complexity of such business combination. In the event we identify an initial business combination target in a specific industry subject to specific regulations, we may incur additional expenses associated with legal due diligence and the engagement of special legal counsel. In addition, our staffing needs may vary and as a result, we may engage a number of consultants to assist with legal and financial due diligence. We do not anticipate any change in our intended use of proceeds, other than fluctuations among the current categories of allocated expenses, which fluctuations, to the extent they exceed current estimates for any specific category of expenses, would not be available for our expenses.

Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units, $220,000,000 (or $253,000,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be placed in a trust account in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills 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. We estimate that the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $220,000 per year, assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year; however, we can provide no assurance regarding this amount. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations, the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement units will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of: (a) the completion of our initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (c) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law.

The net proceeds held in the trust account may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we ultimately complete our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released from the trust account, as well as the $10,000,000 private placement described elsewhere in this prospectus, for general corporate purposes, including

 

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for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to forward purchase agreements we may enter into following consummation of this offering.

We believe that amounts not held in trust, together with the loan committed by our sponsor for working capital, will be sufficient to pay the costs and expenses to which such proceeds are allocated. This belief is based on the fact that while we may begin preliminary due diligence of a target business in connection with an indication of interest, we intend to undertake in-depth due diligence, depending on the circumstances of the relevant prospective business combination, only after we have negotiated and signed a letter of intent or other preliminary agreement that addresses the terms of an initial business combination. However, if our estimate of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may be required to raise additional capital, the amount, availability and cost of which is currently unascertainable. If we are required to seek additional capital, we could seek such additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or their affiliates, but such persons are not under any obligation to advance funds to, or invest in, us.

Prior to the closing of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. To date, we had borrowed $0 under the promissory note with our sponsor to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 or the closing of this offering. The loan will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated to the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions).

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor has committed $1,750,000 to be provided to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements after this offering and prior to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us additional funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. The terms of such additional loans by our sponsor, its affiliates and our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

We have entered into an administrative services agreement pursuant to which we will pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

 

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If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination. See “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities” for a description of how our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders 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 shares of Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

We may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) and the agreement for our initial business combination may require as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights so that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement or any net worth or cash requirements, we would not proceed with the redemption of our public shares or the initial business combination, and instead may search for an alternate business combination.

A public stockholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein and any limitations (including but not limited to cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

 

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Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, our initial stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. However, if our sponsor or any of our officers, directors or affiliates acquires public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

 

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DILUTION

The difference between the public offering price per share of Class A common stock, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units we are offering pursuant to this prospectus or the private placement units, and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to investors in this offering. Such calculation does not reflect any dilution associated with the sale and exercise of warrants, including the private placement warrants, which would cause the actual dilution to the public stockholders to be higher, particularly where a cashless exercise is utilized. Net tangible book value per share is determined by dividing our net tangible book value, which is our total tangible assets less total liabilities (including the value of Class A common stock which may be redeemed for cash), by the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock.

At December 31, 2020, our net tangible book value was $23,579, or approximately $0.004 per share of common stock. After giving effect to the sale of 22,000,000 shares of Class A common stock included in the units we are offering by this prospectus (or 25,300,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), the sale of the private placement units and the deduction of underwriting commissions and estimated expenses of this offering, our pro forma net tangible book value at December 31, 2020 would have been $5,000,009, or approximately $0.77 per share (or $0.68 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value, as decreased by the value of 21,527,357 shares of Class A common stock that may be redeemed for cash, (or 24,827,357 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of $0.77 per share (or $0.68 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) to our initial stockholders as of the date of this prospectus. Total dilution to public stockholders from this offering will be $9.23 per share (or $9.32 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full).

The following table illustrates the dilution to the public stockholders on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units or the private placement warrants:

 

     Without
Over-allotment
    With
Over-allotment
 

Public offering price

      $ 10.00        $ 10.00  

Net tangible book value before this offering

     0.00          0.00     

Increase attributable to public stockholders

     0.77          0.68     
  

 

 

      

 

 

    

Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering and the sale of the private placement units

        0.77          0.68  
     

 

 

      

 

 

 

Dilution to public stockholders

      $ 9.23        $ 9.32  
     

 

 

      

 

 

 

Percentage of dilution to public stockholders

        92.3        93.2

For purposes of presentation, we have reduced our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) by $215,273,570 because holders of up to approximately 97.9% of our public shares may redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account at a per share redemption price equal to the amount in the trust account as set forth in our tender offer or proxy materials (initially anticipated to be the aggregate amount held in trust two business days prior to the commencement of our tender offer or stockholders meeting, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes), divided by the number of shares of Class A common stock sold in this offering.

 

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The following table sets forth information with respect to our initial stockholders and the public stockholders:

 

     Shares Purchased     Total Consideration     Average
Price Per
Share
 
     Number      Percentage     Amount      Percentage  

Initial Stockholders(1)

     5,500,000        19.6   $ 25,000        0.0   $ 0.005  

Private Placement Stockholders

     540,000        1.9     5,400,000        2.4   $ 10.000  

Public Stockholders

     22,000,000        78.5     220,000,000        97.6   $ 10.000  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   
     28,040,000        100.0   $ 225,425,000        100.0  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

(1)

Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of an aggregate of 825,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our sponsor.

The pro forma net tangible book value per share after the offering is calculated as follows:

 

     Without
Over-allotment
    With
Over-allotment
 

Numerator:

    

Net tangible book value before this offering

   $ 23,579     $ 23,579  

Net proceeds from this offering and sale of the private placement units(1)

     220,250,000       253,250,000  

Less: Proceeds held in trust subject to redemption(2)

     (215,273,570     (248,273,570
  

 

 

   

 

 

 
   $ 5,000,009     $ 5,000,009  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Denominator:

    

Class B common stock outstanding prior to this offering

     6,325,000       6,325,000  

Class B common stock forfeited if over-allotment is not exercised

     (825,000     —    

Class A common stock included in the units offered

     22,000,000       25,300,000  

Class A common stock included in the private placement units offered

     540,000       540,000  

Less: Shares subject to redemption

     (21,527,357     (24,827,357
  

 

 

   

 

 

 
     6,512,643       7,337,643  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

Expenses applied against gross proceeds include offering expenses of $750,000 and underwriting commissions of $4,400,000. See “Use of Proceeds.”

(2)

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. In the event of any such purchases of our shares prior to the completion of our initial business combination, the number of shares of Class A common stock subject to redemption will be reduced by the amount of any such purchases, increasing the pro forma net tangible book value per share. See “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Permitted Purchases of Our Securities.”

(3)

The actual number of shares subject to redemption may exceed this amount so long as we have at least $5,000,001 immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization at December 31, 2020, and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our units in this offering and the sale of the private placement units and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities, assuming no exercise by the underwriters of its over-allotment option:

 

     December 31, 2020  
     Actual     As Adjusted  

Note payable to related party

   $ —       $ —    

Deferred underwriting commissions

     —         —    
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Class A common stock subject to possible redemption; -0- and 21,527,357 shares, actual and as adjusted, respectively(1)

     —         215,273,570  

Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted

    

Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, 160,000,000 shares authorized; -0- and 1,012,643 shares issued and outstanding (excluding -0- and 21,527,357 shares subject to possible redemption), actual and as adjusted, respectively

     —         101  

Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, 40,000,000 shares authorized; 6,325,000 and 5,500,000 shares issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted, respectively(2)

     633       550  

Additional paid-in capital

     24,367       5,000,779  

Accumulated deficit

     (1,421     (1,421
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total stockholders’ equity

   $ 23,579     $ 5,000,009  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total capitalization

   $ 23,579     $ 200,273,579  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

Upon the completion of our initial business combination, we will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account 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 taxes, subject to the limitations described herein whereby our net tangible assets will be maintained at a minimum of $5,000,001 and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed initial business combination. The actual number of shares subject to redemption may exceed this amount so long as we have at least $5,000,001 immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination.

(2)

Actual share amount is prior to any forfeiture of founder shares by our sponsor and as adjusted amount assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target regarding an initial business combination with our company. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the private placement of the private placement units, the proceeds of the sale of our securities in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to the forward purchase contract described in this prospectus, additional forward purchase contracts or any backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing.

The issuance of additional shares in connection with an initial business combination to the owners of the target or other investors:

 

   

may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B common stock resulted in the issuance of Class A shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock;

 

   

may subordinate the rights of holders of our common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;

 

   

could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;

 

   

may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; and

 

   

may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Class A common stock and/or warrants.

Similarly, if we issue debt securities or otherwise incur significant debt to bank or other lenders or the owners of a target, it could result in:

 

   

default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

 

   

acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

 

   

our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;

 

   

our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;

 

   

our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;

 

   

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 common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund other general corporate purposes;

 

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limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

 

   

increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;

 

   

limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; and

 

   

other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.

As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, at December 31, 2020, we had $25,000 in cash and no deferred offering costs. Further, we expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our initial business combination plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial business combination will be successful.

Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for this offering. Following this offering, we will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents after this offering. There has been no significant change in our financial or trading position and no material adverse change has occurred since the date of our audited financial statements. After this offering, we expect to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as expenses as we conduct due diligence on prospective business combination candidates. We expect our expenses to increase substantially after the closing of this offering.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our liquidity needs have been satisfied prior to the completion of this offering through a capital contribution from our sponsor of $25,000 for the founder shares and up to $300,000 in loans available from our sponsor under an unsecured promissory note. We estimate that the net proceeds from (i) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of approximately $750,000, underwriting commissions of $4,400,000 and (ii) the sale of the private placement units for a purchase price of $5,400,000 will be $220,250,000 (or $253,250,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $220,000,000 (or $253,000,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be held in the trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account will be 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. The remaining approximately $250,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $750,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $750,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay taxes. We estimate our annual franchise tax obligations, based on the number of shares of our common stock authorized and outstanding after the completion of this offering, to be $200,000, which is the maximum amount of annual franchise taxes payable by us as a Delaware corporation per annum, which we may pay from funds from this offering held outside of the trust account or from interest earned on the funds held in our trust account and released to us for this purpose. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and

 

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other income earned on the amounts held in the trust account. We expect the interest earned on the amount in the trust account will be sufficient to pay our income taxes. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.

Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we will have available to us the approximately $250,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, together with the $1,750,000 loan committed by our sponsor for working capital. We will use these funds to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete an initial business combination.

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor has committed $1,750,000 to be provided to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements after this offering and prior to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us additional funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. The terms of such additional loans by our sponsor, its affiliates and our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

We expect our primary liquidity requirements during that period to include approximately $450,000 for legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses associated with structuring, negotiating and documenting successful business combinations; $150,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting requirements; $800,000 for director and officer liability insurance premiums; up to $120,000 for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services; and approximately $480,000 for working capital that will be used for miscellaneous expenses and reserves.

These amounts are estimates and may differ materially from our actual expenses. In addition, we could use a portion of the funds not being placed in trust to pay commitment fees for financing, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed initial business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into an agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business, the amount that would be used as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision would be determined based on the terms of the specific business combination and the amount of our available funds at the time. Our forfeiture of such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise) could result in our not having sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conducting due diligence with respect to, prospective target businesses.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration).

 

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We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination, which may include a specified future issuance. In addition, we intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement units as well as the $10,000,000 private placement to be made by our sponsor pursuant to the forward purchase contract, and may as a result be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In addition, following our initial business combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.

Controls and Procedures

We are not currently required to maintain an effective system of internal controls as defined by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will be required to comply with the internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer would we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement.

Prior to the closing of this offering, we have not completed an assessment, nor has our independent registered public accounting firm tested our systems, of internal controls. We expect to assess the internal controls of our target business or businesses prior to the completion of our initial business combination and, if necessary, to implement and test additional controls as we may determine are necessary in order to state that we maintain an effective system of internal controls. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding the adequacy of internal controls. Many small and mid-sized target businesses we may consider for our initial business combination may have internal controls that need improvement in areas such as:

 

   

staffing for financial, accounting and external reporting areas, including segregation of duties;

 

   

reconciliation of accounts;

 

   

proper recording of expenses and liabilities in the period to which they relate;

 

   

evidence of internal review and approval of accounting transactions;

 

   

documentation of processes, assumptions and conclusions underlying significant estimates; and

 

   

documentation of accounting policies and procedures.

Because it will take time, management involvement and perhaps outside resources to determine what internal control improvements are necessary for us to meet regulatory requirements and market expectations for our operation of a target business, we may incur significant expense in meeting our public reporting responsibilities, particularly in the areas of designing, enhancing, or remediating internal and disclosure controls. Doing so effectively may also take longer than we expect, thus increasing our exposure to financial fraud or erroneous financing reporting.

 

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Once our management’s report on internal controls is complete, we will retain our independent registered public accounting firm to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The independent registered public accounting firm may identify additional issues concerning a target business’s internal controls while performing their audit of internal control over financial reporting.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

The net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units held in the trust account will be invested in U.S. government treasury bills 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. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

Related Party Transactions

In July 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2021, our sponsor transferred 10,000 founder shares to each of Mr. Robert Hochberg and Ms. Charlotte Blechman, our independent directors (none of which are subject to forfeiture in the event that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). On March 11, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares outstanding and held by our initial stockholders (up to 825,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). The per share purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the aggregate number of founder shares issued.

Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NASDAQ through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion.

Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.

Prior to the consummation of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 or the closing of this offering. The loan will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated to the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions).

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor has committed $1,750,000 to be provided to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and

 

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selecting a target business and other working capital requirements after this offering and prior to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us additional funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. The terms of such additional loans by our sponsor, its affiliates and our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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. Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

Our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 p private placement units at a price of $10.00 per unit ($5,400,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering.

The private placement units and the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract will be identical to the units sold in this offering except that the private placement warrants and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) will be entitled to registration rights and (v) for so long as they are held by our sponsor, will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g). Our sponsor will be permitted to transfer the private placement units, the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract, and underlying securities, held by it to certain permitted transferees, including our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with or related to it, but the transferees receiving such securities will be subject to the same agreements with respect to such securities as our sponsor. These securities will not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.

The private placement warrants and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. The private placement warrants and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract may also be exercised by our sponsor and its permitted transferees for cash or on a cashless basis. Otherwise, the private placement warrants and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.

Pursuant to a registration rights agreement we have entered into with our initial stockholders, we may be required to register certain securities (including securities issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract) for sale under the Securities Act. These holders are entitled under the registration rights agreement to make up to three demands that we register certain of our securities held by them for sale under the Securities Act and to have the securities covered thereby registered for resale pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. In addition,

 

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the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights on registration statements filed after the consummation of our initial business combination. We will bear the costs and expenses of filing any such registration statements. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.” Notwithstanding the foregoing, our sponsor may not exercise its demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years, respectively, after the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and may not exercise its demand rights on more than one occasion.

We will pay the underwriters an aggregate of $4,400,000 (or $0.20 per unit) in underwriting discounts and commissions in connection with this offering. No commissions will be paid on any units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ over-allotment option. We will also pay $100,000 to Odeon for acting as the “qualified independent underwriter” in this offering.

We have engaged CF&Co as an advisor in connection with our business combination, pursuant to the Business Combination Marketing Agreement described under “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest) — Business Combination Marketing Agreement.” We will pay CF&Co a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the base offering and 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the full or partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. As a result, CF&Co will not be entitled to such fee unless we consummate our initial business combination.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations

As of December 31, 2020, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations.

JOBS Act

On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company”, we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an independent registered public accounting firm’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the report of independent registered public accounting firm providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of this offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.

 

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PROPOSED BUSINESS

Introduction

We are a blank check company formed on July 8, 2020 as a Delaware corporation for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target regarding an initial business combination with our company.

We intend to focus our search on businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns. Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region, although we expect to focus on a target in an industry where we believe our management team and founders’ expertise will provide us with a competitive advantage, including the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries.

Our officers consist of:

 

   

Howard W. Lutnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who joined Cantor in 1983 and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor since 1992 and as Chairman since 1996;

 

   

Anshu Jain, our President, who also serves as the President of Cantor, a position he has held since January 2017, and previously served as a senior executive of Deutsche Bank, which firm he joined from Merrill Lynch in 1995, most recently in the position of Co-CEO from June 2012 to June 2015; and

 

   

Alice Chan, our Chief Financial Officer, who joined Cantor in March 2015 and has served as Global Controller and Managing Director of Cantor since March 2019.

We, our sponsor, and CF&Co are all affiliates of Cantor. Cantor is a diversified company specializing in financial and real estate services for customers operating in the global financial and commercial real estate markets, whose businesses include CF&Co, a leading independent middle market investment bank and primary dealer; BGC, whose common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “BGCP”, a leading global financial technology and brokerage business primarily servicing the global financial markets; and Newmark, whose Class A common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “NMRK”, a leading full-service commercial real estate services business. We believe that the combination of our officers’ and our affiliates’ financial services, financial and real estate technology, and real estate industry expertise and proven ability to grow businesses through acquisitions make us uniquely qualified to pursue acquisitions.

Cantor was founded 75 years ago, and has been led by Mr. Lutnick since 1992. Over the past several decades Cantor has successfully built a well-capitalized business across multiple and growing business lines, with numerous market-leading financial services products and large and growing commercial real estate businesses. Cantor has been at the forefront of financial and technological innovation in its industries, developing new markets, new technologies and providing superior service to thousands of customers globally.

Mr. Lutnick has led Cantor’s expansion from a broker of fixed income and equity products to a premier global financial services provider, which is recognized for its leading offerings across several areas including:

 

   

institutional equity and fixed income capital markets services;

 

   

investment banking;

 

   

prime brokerage;

 

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fully electronic execution of various financial asset classes;

 

   

market data;

 

   

financial software and analytics;

 

   

wholesale financial brokerage;

 

   

insurance brokerage;

 

   

commercial real estate services;

 

   

commercial real estate asset management;

 

   

commercial real estate loan servicing; and

 

   

commercial real estate financing operations.

Our officers, in their positions as officers of Cantor and its affiliates, have a history of making successful acquisitions. From 2005 through 2019, Cantor acquired over 75 companies in the financial and real estate services industries. In financial services, these acquisitions have included, among others, the publicly traded wholesale and inter-dealer brokerage firm GFI, Sunrise Brokers Group, a global leader in listed and OTC derivative products brokerage, and Ed Broking, an independent Lloyd’s of London insurance broker. In real estate services, these acquisitions have included, among others, Newmark & Company Real Estate, Inc., Berkeley Point Financial LLC, which is one of the nation’s leading providers of multifamily capital solutions, engaged primarily in the origination, funding, sale and servicing of multifamily loans guaranteed by Government Sponsored Enterprises, Grubb & Ellis, ARA, and Cornish & Carey. Most of Newmark’s subsidiaries, including, ARA, Berkeley Point, and Cornish & Carey now operate under the name “Newmark Knight Frank”, “NKF” or “Newmark”.

Mr. Lutnick has also led Cantor’s successful exit from many of its acquisitions and investments. For example, in 1996, Cantor launched eSpeed, its fully electronic treasuries trading platform. Cantor developed and launched eSpeed into which BGC was merged in 2008. In June 2013, BGC sold the eSpeed business to Nasdaq, Inc. for $750 million in cash and up to $484 million earn-out shares of Nasdaq, Inc. (based on the stock price of Nasdaq, Inc. at the time the deal was announced). Following BGC’s acquisition of GFI in 2015, BGC, whose Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is Mr. Lutnick, sold GFI’s Trayport business, a leading intermediary and provider of trading technologies and support services to the global OTC and listed markets, to ICE for $650 million in exchange for 2,527,658 ICE common shares issued with respect to the $650 million purchase price as adjusted at closing.

Cantor operates its business through four business lines: Capital Markets and Investment Banking, Wholesale Financial Brokerage, Real Estate Brokerage and Finance, and Private Equity.

Cantor’s Capital Markets and Investment Banking

Cantor’s Capital Markets operates primarily through CF&Co and globally mainly through hubs in New York, London, Toronto, Hong Kong, and offices in Ireland. CF&Co is one of only 24 Primary Dealers permitted to trade U.S. government securities directly with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition, CF&Co is registered as a Futures Commission Merchant with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which enables it to broker and clear trades in U.S. based exchange-traded futures and options on exchange-traded futures.

Fixed Income

Fixed Income acts as a broker-dealer in a wide array of fixed income securities and listed derivatives, including U.S. government and agency securities, mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), small business

 

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administration loans (“SBAs”), emerging market bonds, corporate bonds and interest rate futures. The Fixed Income structured products group provides customized solutions to meet its customers’ specific fixed income needs, including the structuring and syndication of investment products and facilities collateralized by different assets, such as auto loans, consumer loans, residential mortgage loans and non-qualified mortgage loans. Fixed Income also has an agency foreign exchange business and conducts U.S. government and agency securities financing activities, including repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements.

Equities

Equities is a leading trading and execution business, with a global customer base of thousands of institutional customers, which include insurance companies, asset managers, Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies, middle market companies, investment advisors, regional broker-dealers, small and mid-sized banks, hedge funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”), and specialty investment firms. Equities offers U.S. investors access to over 50 non-U.S. markets and non-U.S. investors access to the U.S. markets. Equities’ activities include OTC and listed trading, equity derivatives, portfolio trading, stock loan, equity research, equity underwriting and advisory services and algorithmic execution through Precision — Optimized Trading DNATM, Cantor’s agency algorithmic execution platform.

Both Fixed Income and Equities also operate through affiliate company trading hubs in certain major financial centers, and execute trades through various unaffiliated broker-dealers globally.

Investment Banking

Cantor’s Investment Banking division underwrites public and private offerings of equity, equity-linked, and debt securities, arranges leveraged and asset-backed financing and provides financial advisory services in connection with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and other transactions to companies in the U.S. through CF&Co, in Canada through Cantor Fitzgerald Canada Corporation, in Europe through Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, and in other jurisdictions through other affiliated broker-dealers.

Globally, Cantor’s client coverage is organized around industry sectors with senior industry focused bankers providing services to sectors healthcare, power and infrastructure, real estate, metals and mining, and consumer industries. CF&Co’s Investment Banking franchise has grown over the past few years, driven by a more diverse revenue base. CF&Co is a market leader in underwriting at-the-market stock offerings and special purpose acquisition companies.

Growth and New Initiatives

Capital Markets and Investment Banking initiatives include Cantor Prime Services and Asset Management. Cantor Prime Services is a comprehensive prime brokerage service platform, emphasizing superior client service and affording clients multiple options for financing of fixed income and equity products. Cantor Prime Services also serves as a securities clearing intermediary for fixed income and equities transactions. The clients of Cantor Prime Services are primarily hedge funds, family offices, and institutional asset managers. CF Secured, LLC, a registered broker dealer, which is part of Cantor Prime Services, commenced operations in February 2018.

Asset Management includes Efficient Market Advisors (“EMA”), which constructs proprietary investment portfolios using lower-cost, tax-efficient, and transparent ETFs. Cantor’s asset management businesses benefit from leveraging Cantor’s expertise and, in many cases, Cantor’s institutional client network. Cantor’s management has extensive experience in a broad spectrum of alternative asset classes, including hedge funds, private equity, structured products, real estate, and various fixed income investments.

Cantor’s Wholesale Financial Brokerage

Cantor conducts its wholesale financial brokerage business primarily through BGC, in which Cantor owns a controlling interest. BGC is a leading global brokerage and financial technology company servicing the global

 

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financial markets. Through brands including BGC®, GFI®, Sunrise, Besso, Ed Broking®, Poten & Partners and RP Martin, among others, BGC’s businesses specialize in the brokerage of a broad range of products, including fixed income such as government bonds, corporate bonds, and other debt instruments, as well as related interest rate derivatives and credit derivatives. BGC also brokers products across FX, equities, energy and commodities, shipping, insurance, and futures. BGC’s businesses also provide a wide variety of services, including trade execution, brokerage services, clearing, trade compression, post-trade, information, and other back-office services to a broad assortment of financial and non-financial institutions. BGC’s integrated platform is designed to provide flexibility to customers with regard to price discovery, execution and processing of transactions, and enables them to use voice, hybrid, or in many markets, fully electronic brokerage services in connection with transactions executed either OTC or through an exchange. Through its Fenics® group of electronic brands, BGC offers a number of market infrastructure and connectivity services, fully electronic marketplaces, and the fully electronic brokerage of certain products that also may trade via voice and hybrid execution. The full suite of Fenics® offerings include fully electronic brokerage, market data and related information services, compression and other post-trade services, analytics related to financial instruments and markets, and other financial technology solutions. Fenics® brands operate under the names Fenics®, BGC Trader, CreditMatch®, Fenics MD, BGC Market Data, kACE2®, EMBonds®, Capitalab®, Swaptioniser®, CBID® and Lucera®.

BGC’s customers include many of the world’s largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, and investment firms. BGC has dozens of offices globally in major markets including New York and London, as well as in Bahrain, Beijing, Bermuda, Bogotá, Brisbane, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Nyon, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Toronto.

BGC’s revenues more than quadrupled between 2003 (which at the time included eSpeed) and the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2020 to approximately $2.1 billion (excluding revenues from of eSpeed, which was sold in 2013 as set forth above). BGC’s business has significantly increased its revenue-generating headcount over the last ten years, including as a result of BGC’s acquisition and integration of more than 25 companies over this timeframe.

Cantor’s Real Estate Brokerage

Cantor’s Real Estate Brokerage business principally consists of commercial real estate brokerage services, conducted by Newmark, which generally conducts business as “Newmark Knight Frank”, “Newmark” or “NKF”.

Newmark, through its subsidiaries, operates as a full-service commercial real estate services business with a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers across the entire commercial real estate industry. The investor/owner services and products of Newmark’s subsidiaries include capital markets (including investment sales), agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence and underwriting. Newmark’s subsidiaries also offer government sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance and loan sales. Newmark’s occupier services and products include tenant representation, global corporate services, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, consulting, project management, lease administration and facilities management. Newmark enhances these services and products through innovative real estate technology solutions and data analytics designed to enable its clients to increase their efficiency and profits by optimizing their real estate portfolios. Newmark has relationships with many of the world’s largest commercial property owners, real estate developers and investors, as well as Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies.

Cantor entered the commercial real estate brokerage market by acquiring Newmark in 2011 for total consideration of approximately $99 million (based on BGC’s stock price as of the day the deal closed). Since such acquisition, Newmark’s revenues increased from approximately $230 million (unaudited) in 2011 to

 

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approximately $2.1 billion for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2020 at a CAGR of 30%. In December 2017, Newmark debuted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market after an initial public offering. On November 30, 2018, BGC completed its distribution of all of the shares of Newmark it held to BGC’s stockholders. BGC distributed these Newmark shares through a special pro rata stock dividend.

Cantor’s Private Equity

Through its Private Equity business, Cantor has invested in distribution-and-intermediary-related businesses that Cantor believes enables it to leverage its business knowledge, relationships, brand and established platform. Cantor invests in technology businesses that embody its low risk, customer service, distribution/brokerage model.

Cantor and its affiliates, under the guidance of Mr. Lutnick and our other officers, have a history of making accretive acquisitions and of creating shareholder value, as evident from the revenue growth in its BGC and Newmark businesses as described above.

Cantor’s growth has been driven by over 75 acquisitions including:

 

   

Maxcor/Eurobrokers

 

   

Newmark

 

   

Grubb & Ellis

 

   

Dolmen Stockbrokers

 

   

Cornish & Carey

 

   

Fintan Partners

 

   

Berkeley Point

 

   

ARA (included 17 separate transactions from 2014 through 2016)

 

   

GFI

 

   

Sunrise

 

   

EMA

 

   

Besso

 

   

LMP Group

 

   

Poten & Partners

 

   

Ed Broking Group

 

   

10 Integra Realty Resources offices

 

   

Jackson Cooksey

 

   

RKF Retail Holdings

We believe that the combination of our management team’s and our affiliates’ financial services, financial and real estate technology, and real estate industry expertise and proven ability to grow businesses through acquisitions make us uniquely qualified to pursue acquisitions.

Over Cantor’s and its affiliates’ history, its employees have developed long-term relationships with a wide range of U.S. and foreign private and public organizations of all sizes. As a result, we believe that our management team is well positioned to identify and execute attractive business combination opportunities. We will seek to capitalize on the substantial resources and the global infrastructure of Cantor and we believe the

 

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relationships of Cantor and our officers will provide us with exposure to a broad selection of potential acquisition targets. However, there is no formal agreement between us and Cantor with respect to the provision of any services to us by Cantor or its employees. Consequently, while we expect Cantor and its employees to provide us services so that we can capitalize on the substantial resources of Cantor and leverage Cantor’s relationships, there is no guarantee that Cantor or its employees will provide any services to us or that we will be able to do so.

Our objectives are to generate attractive returns for shareholders and enhance shareholder value through selecting a high quality target at an attractive valuation, negotiating favorable acquisition terms for our stockholders and helping improve operational performance of the acquired company. We expect to favor potential target companies with certain industry and business characteristics. Key industry characteristics include compelling long term growth prospects, opportunities to affect valuation improvements at the company, attractive competitive dynamics and consolidation opportunities. Key business characteristics include competitive advantages, significant streams of recurring revenue, opportunity for operational improvement, attractive steady-state margins, high incremental margins and attractive free cash flow characteristics.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also served as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC I, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in December 2018 and consummated its initial business combination with GCM Grosvenor in November 2020. Upon the closing of such business combination, GCM Grosvenor indirectly held approximately 21.7% of the outstanding equity interests of Grosvenor Capital, a global alternative asset management firm. In connection therewith, Cantor SPAC I entered into subscription agreements with certain investors, pursuant to which such investors purchased an aggregate of 19,500,000 shares of GCM Grosvenor Class A common stock at $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $195,000,000. In addition, the sponsor of Cantor SPAC I purchased 3,500,000 shares of GCM Grosvenor Class A common stock and 1,500,000 warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $30,000,000.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also served as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC II, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in August 2020 and consummated its initial business combination in March 2021 with View, a Silicon Valley-based company that is the market leader in next-generation smart windows that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to tint the glass to optimize natural light while controlling heat and glare to enhance mental and physical well-being for occupants, creating smart connected buildings which reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In connection therewith, Cantor SPAC II entered into subscription agreements with certain investors pursuant to which such investors purchased approximately $480,000,000 of shares of Cantor SPAC II Class A common stock in the aggregate (of which approximately $39 million was satisfied through open market purchases), which included the sponsor of Cantor SPAC II purchasing 5,000,000 shares of Cantor SPAC II common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $50,000,000.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC III, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in November 2020. On February 17, 2021, Cantor SPAC III entered into an agreement and plan of among Cantor SPAC III, CF III Merger Sub and AEye, a Silicon Valley-based company and global leader in active, high-performance LiDAR solutions. Pursuant to the CF III Merger Agreement, upon the closing of the CF III Transactions, CF III Merger Sub will merge with and into AEye, with AEye being the surviving corporation and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Cantor SPAC III, and Cantor SPAC III will change its name to “AEye Holdings, Inc.” In connection with the entry into the CF III Merger Agreement, Cantor SPAC III entered into subscription agreements with certain investors, pursuant to which, at closing of the CF III Transactions, such investors will purchase an aggregate of 22,500,000 shares of Cantor SPAC III’s public equity at $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $225,000,000. The CF III Transactions are expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC IV, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in December 2020, Cantor SPAC V, a blank check company that consummated its initial public offering in February 2021, and Cantor SPAC VI, a

 

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blank check company that priced, but has not yet consummated, its initial public offering in February 2021. Each of Cantor SPAC IV, Cantor SPAC V and Cantor SPAC VI is focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus.

With respect to the foregoing descriptions, past performance of Cantor, its affiliates and our management team is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical performance record of Cantor, its affiliates, or our management team as indicative of our future performance. Our officers and directors may have conflicts of interest with other entities to which they owe fiduciary or contractual obligations with respect to initial business combination opportunities, including for our officers with respect to the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) and Cantor SPAC VII. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from multiple affiliations, our officers who are also officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs will be required to present all suitable target businesses to the applicable Prior Cantor SPAC (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) prior to presenting them to us, unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such individual solely in his capacity as an officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent such individual is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. For a list of our officers and directors and entities for which a conflict of interest may or does exist between such officers or directors and the company, as well as the priority and preference that such entity has with respect to performance of obligations and presentation of business opportunities to us, please refer to the table and subsequent explanatory paragraph under “Management — Conflicts of Interest”.

Business Strategy

Our acquisition and value creation strategy is to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, help to build a company in an industry that complements the experience and expertise of our management team. Our acquisition selection process will leverage the network of contacts developed by our management team and those of our sponsor and its affiliates, including relationships in the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries, comprising management teams of public and private companies, investment bankers, private equity sponsors, venture capital investors, advisers, attorneys and accountants that we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. We intend to deploy a proactive sourcing strategy and to focus on companies where we believe the combination of our operating experience, relationships, capital and capital markets expertise can be catalysts to transform a target company and can help accelerate the target’s growth and performance. Upon completion of this offering, our management team will communicate with their network of relationships, including employees of Cantor and its affiliates, to set forth the type of company that we would like to target so that we can begin the process of locating, identifying, pursuing and reviewing potential target companies and promising leads.

Our management team and Cantor and its affiliates have experience in:

 

   

sourcing, structuring, acquiring and selling businesses;

 

   

fostering relationships with sellers, capital providers and target management teams;

 

   

negotiating transactions favorable to investors;

 

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executing transactions in multiple geographies and under varying economic and financial market conditions;

 

   

accessing the capital markets, including financing businesses and helping companies transition to public ownership;

 

   

operating companies, setting and changing strategies, and identifying, monitoring and recruiting world-class talent;

 

   

acquiring and integrating companies; and

 

   

developing and growing companies, both organically and through acquisitions and strategic transactions and expanding the product range and geographic footprint of a number of target businesses.

Investment Criteria

We will seek to acquire one or more businesses with an aggregate enterprise value of approximately $500 million to $1.25 billion or more. We have developed the following high level, non-exclusive investment criteria that we will use to screen for and evaluate target businesses. We will seek to acquire a business that (1) has sustainable competitive advantages, (2) generates, or has the near-term potential to generate, predicable free cash flows, (3) would benefit from the capabilities of our sponsor and management team to improve its operations and market position, (4) has an experienced and capable management team, (5) has the potential to grow both organically and through additional acquisitions and (6) can be acquired at an attractive valuation to maximize potential returns to our stockholders.

While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus on industries that complement our management team’s background, and to capitalize on the ability of our officers and directors to identify and acquire a business or businesses consistent with the experience of our management team and affiliates of our sponsor. We therefore intend to focus on potential target companies in the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries. Within the universe of potential targets set forth above, an important focus for us will be the following:

 

   

Brokerage — We believe that Cantor’s model of compensating brokers partly in equity is conducive to brokerage businesses. Cantor uses a unique compensation structure in compensating its brokers and other revenue-generating employees in its various businesses, which Cantor believes provides it with numerous competitive advantages. Unlike many of its competitors, virtually all of Cantor’s key executives and revenue-generating employees have equity stakes in its businesses. Cantor believes this aligns its employees and management with its equity holders (including the shareholders of its public companies, BGC and Newmark), and encourages a collaborative culture that drives cross-selling and improves revenue growth. Additionally, Cantor’s compensation structure reduces recruitment costs by encouraging retention, as equity stakes are subject to redemption or forfeiture in the event that employees leave the firm to compete with it. We believe that this structure, which we may use if we acquire a brokerage business, promotes an entrepreneurial culture that will enable us to further build such business by attracting key producers in key markets and services.

 

   

Healthcare — Cantor’s industry leading healthcare franchise has over 75 professionals across investment banking, capital markets, research, sales and trading. Cantor’s healthcare team is focused on all subsectors, including biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical technology and healthcare services. Cantor’s team is comprised of professionals with deep industry knowledge, corporate and institutional contacts, equity and debt capital markets expertise and all forms of advisory capabilities. In 2019, Cantor’s healthcare franchise completed approximately 80 transactions across capital markets and M&A, representing over $7 billion in transaction value.

 

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Technology — Our officers have experience operating, developing, growing and acquiring technology businesses. Mr. Lutnick oversaw the launch and growth of eSpeed, a fully electronic treasuries trading platform, which was sold by BGC to Nasdaq, Inc. in June 2013. BGC continues to build proprietary electronic trading platforms across various asset classes and operate and grow market leading electronic trading businesses, including through its fully electronic Fenics business, which had net revenues of $283 million during the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2020, significantly in excess of the annualized revenues of eSpeed from prior to its sale. Our officers have also led Newmark to its position of being in the forefront of technology software for the commercial real estate market, as Newmark continues to build and roll out proprietary technology systems to enhance broker productivity and maximize collaboration and cross-selling efforts. We believe that brokerage businesses are continuing to become more automated and thus profitable. Cantor, through the leadership of Messrs. Lutnick and Jain, is a leader in this trend as it continues to lead various technology initiatives across Cantor’s businesses. We believe that we can leverage the success and history of our officers to successfully acquire and tangibly grow and improve the operations and market position of a technology business.

These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Initial Business Combination

So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.

We may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We do not expect that we would pursue any such opportunity with a Prior Cantor SPAC. Any such parties would co-invest only if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and Cantor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination.

An Affiliated Joint Acquisition may be effected through a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business

 

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combination by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. We refer to this potential future issuance, or a similar issuance to other specified purchasers, as a “specified future issuance” throughout this prospectus. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof. We are not obligated to make any specified future issuance and may determine not to do so. This is not an offer for any specified future issuance. Pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, any such specified future issuance would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio such that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units) plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance, unless the holders of a majority of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock agreed to waive such adjustment with respect to the specified future issuance at the time thereof. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any such specified future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. They may waive such adjustment due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the agreement for our initial business combination; (ii) negotiation with Class A stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; (iii) negotiation with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock; or (iv) as part of the Affiliated Joint Acquisition. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock. The issuance of the forward purchase securities (or other securities issued in connection with a financing provided by an affiliate of ours relating to an Affiliated Joint Acquisition) will not result in such an adjustment to the conversion ratio of our Class B common stock.

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition as described above. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% fair market value test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we would be required to comply with such 80% rule.

We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target

 

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business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. In addition, we intend to target businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units, and, as a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds the amount available from the trust account, net of amounts needed to satisfy redemptions by public stockholders, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We may also obtain financing prior to the closing of our initial business combination to fund our working capital needs and transaction costs in connection with our search for and completion of our initial business combination. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds through the issuance of equity or equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop arrangements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In addition, following our initial business combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.

Our Business Combination Process

In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets to the extent possible, discussion with customers and suppliers, document reviews, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us and which we deem appropriate. We will also utilize our expertise and our sponsor’s expertise in analyzing companies and evaluating operating projections, financial projections and determining the appropriate return expectations.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with Cantor or its affiliates or our sponsor, officers or directors, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with Cantor or its affiliates or our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

Cantor will be the beneficial owner of founder shares and/or private placement units following this offering by virtue of its ownership of our sponsor and members of our management team may indirectly own such securities. Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion. Because of such ownership and interests, Cantor and our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and

 

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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 were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

All of our officers are employed by Cantor or its affiliates. Cantor is continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for an initial business combination. While Cantor will not have any duty to offer acquisition opportunities to us, Cantor may become aware of a potential transaction that is an attractive opportunity for us, which Cantor may decide to share with us. We have not, however, selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target regarding an initial business combination with our company.

Our sponsor, officers, directors, Cantor and their affiliates may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve, or will serve, as executive officers or directors of the Prior Cantor SPACs and Cantor SPAC VII, each of which is, or will be, focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) and Cantor SPAC VII. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

Our Management Team

Members of our management team 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 that any member of our management team will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.

We believe our management team’s operating and transaction experience and relationships with companies will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships in various industries. This network has grown through the activities of our management team

 

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sourcing, acquiring and financing businesses, our management team’s relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and the experience of our management team in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Management” for a more complete description of our management team’s experience.

Status as a Public Company

We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As a public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business would have greater access to capital and additional means of creating management incentives that are better aligned with stockholders’ interests than it would as a private company. A target business can further benefit by augmenting its profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our shares of Class A common stock (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our shares of Class A common stock 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 expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, marketing and road show efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with an initial business combination with us.

Furthermore, once a proposed initial business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.

While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek stockholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the

 

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adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.

In addition, after completion of this offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. As a result, Nasdaq will consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements. We intend to utilize these exemptions. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

Financial Position

With funds available for an initial business combination initially in the amount of $212,300,000, after payment of the Marketing Fee of $7,700,000 (or $243,485,000 after payment of the Marketing Fee of up to $9,515,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) plus the proceeds from the $10,000,000 forward purchase contract to purchase 1,000,000 units by our sponsor, in each case before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination, 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 or leverage 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

We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following this offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering, the private placement of the private placement units, from the $10,000,000 forward purchase contract to purchase 1,000,000 units by our sponsor, the proceeds of the sale of our securities in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to forward purchase contracts or any backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing. 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.

 

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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 common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account, as well as the $10,000,000 private placement described elsewhere in this prospectus, for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

In addition to the $10,000,000 private placement described elsewhere in this prospectus, we may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (which may include a specified future issuance), and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. In addition, we intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement units as well as the $10,000,000 private placement described elsewhere in this prospectus, and may as a result be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our proxy materials or tender offer documents disclosing the initial business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately, including pursuant to any specified future issuance, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, other than the forward purchase contract, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.

Sources of Target Businesses

We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and investment professionals. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us by calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read this prospectus and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as our sponsor and its 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 and our sponsor and its affiliates.

Additionally, we have not contacted any of the prospective target businesses that any of the Prior Cantor SPACs had considered. However, we may contact such targets subsequent to the pricing of this offering if we become aware that such targets are interested in a potential initial business combination with us and such transaction would be attractive to our shareholders. Accordingly, there is no current basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination.

While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee, advisory fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to

 

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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 our sponsor or officers are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation by the company prior to, or in connection with any services rendered for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) other than as described herein. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-transaction 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 an initial business combination candidate.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with Cantor or its affiliates or our sponsor, officers or directors, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that such an initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

As more fully discussed in the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) and Cantor SPAC VII. Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary, contractual or other duties. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. 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. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.

We may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We do not expect that we would pursue any such opportunity with a Prior Cantor SPAC. Any such parties would co-invest only if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and our sponsor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination. An Affiliated Joint Acquisition may be effected through a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business combination by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract.

 

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Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination

So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. The fair market value of our initial business combination will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation, a valuation based on trading multiples of comparable public businesses or a valuation based on the financial metrics of M&A transactions of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.

In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% fair market value test. There is no basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination.

To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.

In evaluating a prospective business target, we expect to 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 well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us.

We may engage CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor in connection with our initial business combination and pay such affiliate a customary financial advisory fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions. Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor, and such target company may pay such affiliate a financial advisory fee in connection with our initial business combination.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

 

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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. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. 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 when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’ management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.

We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

Following an initial 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.

Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination

We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required under Delaware law for each such transaction.

 

Type of Transaction

   Whether Stockholder
Approval is Required

Purchase of assets

   No

Purchase of stock of target not involving a merger with the company

   No

Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company

   No

Merger of the company with a target

   Yes

 

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So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:

 

   

we issue shares of Class A common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our Class A common stock then outstanding (other than in a public offering);

 

   

any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding common shares or voting power of 5% or more; or

 

   

the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control.

Permitted Purchases of our Securities

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any their respective affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions.

In the event our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates determine to make any such purchases at the time of a stockholder vote relating to our initial business combination, such purchases could have the effect of influencing the vote necessary to approve such transaction. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making 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. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination.

The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders 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 shares of Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

 

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Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors and/or any of their respective affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such stockholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination. Such persons would select the stockholders from whom to acquire shares based on the number of shares available, the negotiated price per share and such other factors as any such person may deem relevant at the time of purchase. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will purchase shares only if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws

Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or any of their respective affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors and/or any of their respective affiliates will not make purchases of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchases are subject to such reporting requirements.

Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account 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 taxes, 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. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.

Manner of Conducting Redemptions

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial 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 stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. If we structure an initial business combination with a target company in a manner that requires stockholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a stockholder vote to approve the proposed initial business combination.

 

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We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.

If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

   

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 shares of our Class A common stock 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 stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.

If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

   

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 stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.

If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count toward this quorum and pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares, private placement shares and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and

 

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privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised). We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination if we Seek Stockholder Approval

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder 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 this offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” Such restriction shall also be applicable to our affiliates. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed initial business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.

Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with Redemption Rights

We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the

 

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date set forth in the tender offer materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The proxy materials that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have up to two business days prior to the vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy materials to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders 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 $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. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed initial business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the initial business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the initial business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s stock 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 stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the initial business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the initial business combination is approved.

Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn with our consent at any time up to the date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials. 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 stockholders 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 initial business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete an initial business combination with a different target until 12 months from the closing of this offering.

Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 12 months from the closing of this offering to consummate a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business

 

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combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time.

We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $250,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, together with the $1,750,000 loan committed by our sponsor for working capital, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the trust account to pay any tax obligations we may owe. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes on interest income earned on the trust account balance, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.

If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $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 stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than

 

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$10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. 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 vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. WithumSmith+Brown, PC, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.

In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. 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 registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 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, less taxes payable from interest, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not

 

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likely. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per public 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 vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $250,000 from the proceeds of this offering, plus $1,750,000 in loans committed by our sponsor for working capital, 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, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $750,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $750,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.

Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 12th month and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be

 

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liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.

Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account. As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this 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.

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 stockholders. 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 stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders 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 stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the initial business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights as described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.

 

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Comparison of Redemption or Purchase Prices in Connection with Our Initial Business Combination and if We Fail to Complete Our Initial Business Combination

The following table compares the redemptions and other permitted purchases of public shares that may take place in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering.

 

   

Redemptions in
Connection with our
Initial Business
Combination

 

Other Permitted
Purchases of Public
Shares by us or our
Affiliates

 

Redemptions if we
fail to Complete an
Initial Business
Combination

Calculation of redemption price

  Redemptions at the time of our initial business combination may be made pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a stockholder vote. The redemption price will be the same whether we conduct redemptions pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a stockholder vote. In either case, our public stockholders may redeem their public shares for cash equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination (which is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share), including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitation that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and any limitations (including but not limited to cash requirements) agreed to in connection with the   If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market prior to or following completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit to the prices that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may pay in these transactions.   If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem all public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount, then on deposit in the trust account (which is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares.

 

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Redemptions in
Connection with our
Initial Business
Combination

 

Other Permitted
Purchases of Public
Shares by us or our
Affiliates

 

Redemptions if we
fail to Complete an
Initial Business
Combination

  negotiation of terms of a proposed initial business combination.    

Impact to remaining stockholders

  The redemptions in connection with our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for our remaining stockholders, who will bear the burden of the Marketing Fee, taxes payable.   If the permitted purchases described above are made there would be no impact to our remaining stockholders because the purchase price would not be paid by us.   The redemption of our public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for the shares held by our initial stockholders, who will be our only remaining stockholders after such redemptions.

Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419

The following table compares the terms of this offering to the terms of an offering by a blank check company subject to the provisions of Rule 419. This comparison assumes that the gross proceeds, underwriting commissions and underwriting expenses of our offering would be identical to those of an offering undertaken by a company subject to Rule 419, and that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option. None of the provisions of Rule 419 apply to our offering.

 

   

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Escrow of offering proceeds

  $220,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement units will be deposited into a trust account in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.   Approximately $194,040,000 of the offering proceeds would be deposited into either an escrow account with an insured depositary institution or in a separate bank account established by a broker-dealer in which the broker-dealer acts as trustee for persons having the beneficial interests in the account.

Investment of net proceeds

  $220,000,000 of the net offering proceeds and the sale of the private placement units held in trust will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills 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.   Proceeds could be invested only in specified securities such as a money market fund meeting conditions of the Investment Company Act or in securities that are direct obligations of, or obligations guaranteed as to principal or interest by, the United States.

Receipt of interest on escrowed funds

  Interest on proceeds from the trust account to be paid to stockholders is reduced by (i) any taxes paid or payable and (ii) in the event of our liquidation for failure to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time, up   Interest on funds in escrow account would be held for the sole benefit of investors, unless and only after the funds held in escrow were released to us in connection with our completion of a business combination.

 

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Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

  to $100,000 of net interest that may be released to us should we have no or insufficient working capital to fund the costs and expenses of our dissolution and liquidation.  

Limitation on fair value or net assets of target business

  So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination.   The fair value or net assets of a target business must represent at least 80% of the maximum offering proceeds.

Trading of securities issued

  We expect the units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless CF&Co informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering, which closing is anticipated to take place three business days from the date of this prospectus. If the over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, an additional Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the over-allotment option.   No trading of the units or the underlying Class A common stock and warrants would be permitted until the completion of a business combination. During this period, the securities would be held in the escrow or trust account.

Exercise of the warrants

  The warrants cannot be exercised until the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering.   The warrants could be exercised prior to the completion of a business combination, but securities received and cash paid in connection with the exercise would be deposited in the escrow or trust account.

Election to remain an investor

  We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then   A prospectus containing information pertaining to the business combination required by the SEC would be sent to each investor. Each investor would be

 

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Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

  on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein. We may not be required by law to hold a stockholder vote. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. If we are not required by law and do not otherwise decide to hold a stockholder vote, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC and file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. 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. If, however, we hold a stockholder vote, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules. If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in   given the opportunity to notify the company in writing, within a period of no less than 20 business days and no more than 45 business days from the effective date of a post-effective amendment to the company’s registration statement, to decide if it elects to remain a stockholder of the company or require the return of its investment. If the company has not received the notification by the end of the 45th business day, funds and interest or dividends, if any, held in the trust or escrow account are automatically returned to the stockholder. Unless a sufficient number of investors elect to remain investors, all funds on deposit in the escrow account must be returned to all of the investors and none of the securities are issued.

 

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Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

  person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting.  

Business combination deadline

  If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.   If a business combination has not been completed within 18 months after the effective date of the company’s registration statement, funds held in the trust or escrow account are returned to investors.

Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold a stockholder vote

  If we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder (including our affiliates), together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights   Many blank check companies provide no restrictions on the ability of stockholders to redeem shares based on the number of shares held by such stockholders in connection with an initial business combination.

 

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Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

  with respect to Excess Shares (more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering). Our public stockholders’ inability to redeem Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and they could suffer a material loss on their investment in us if they sell any Excess Shares in open market transactions.  

Tendering stock certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights

  We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights.   In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, holders could vote against a proposed initial business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holders were seeking to exercise their redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholders to arrange for them to deliver their certificate to verify ownership.

Release of funds

  Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations, the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement units held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business   The proceeds held in the escrow account are not released until the earlier of the completion of a business combination or the failure to effect a business combination within the allotted time.

 

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  combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of 100% of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time frame (subject to the requirements of applicable law). On the completion of our initial business combination, all amounts held in the trust account will be released to us, less amounts released to a separate account controlled by the trustee for disbursal to redeeming stockholders. We will use these funds to pay amounts due to any public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination,” to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination, including the Marketing Fee pursuant to the Business Combination Marketing Agreement described under “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest) — Business Combination Marketing Agreement.”  

Competition

In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic business combinations, including affiliates of our sponsor. 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

 

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resources than we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the initial business combination of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders 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.

Facilities

Our executive offices are located at 110 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022, and our telephone number is (212) 938-5000. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We currently have three officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the initial business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

We will register our units, Class A common stock and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.

We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential targets we may conduct an initial business combination with because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial 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 business combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP 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 business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company 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 business combination. We have filed a

 

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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 will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our shares of Class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Legal Proceedings

There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.

 

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MANAGEMENT

Officers and Directors

Our officers, directors and director nominees are as follows:

 

Name

   Age   

Title

Howard W. Lutnick

   59    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Anshu Jain

   58    President and Director

Alice Chan

   40    Chief Financial Officer and Director

Robert J. Hochberg

   58    Director

Charlotte Blechman

   50    Director

Howard W. Lutnick has been our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since July 2020. Mr. Lutnick is also the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor. Mr. Lutnick joined Cantor in 1983 and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor since 1992 and as Chairman since 1996. Mr. Lutnick’s company, CF Group Management, Inc. (“CFGM”), is the managing general partner of Cantor. Mr. Lutnick is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BGC Partners, Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer, positions in which he has served from June 1999 to the present. In addition, Mr. Lutnick has served as Chairman of Newmark Group, Inc. since 2016. Mr. Lutnick also served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor SPAC I, from October 2015 until consummation of its business combination with GCM Grosvenor in November 2020, and Cantor SPAC II, from September 2019 until consummation of its business combination with View in March 2021. Mr. Lutnick also serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor SPAC III since March 2016, Cantor SPAC IV since January 2020, Cantor SPAC V since April 2020, Cantor SPAC VI since April 2020 and Cantor SPAC VII since July 2020. Mr. Lutnick is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at Rockefeller University, the Board of Directors of the Horace Mann School, the Board of Directors of the National September 11th Memorial & Museum, the Board of Directors of the Partnership for New York City, and the Board of Overseers of The Hoover Institution. In addition, Mr. Lutnick has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of each of Cantor Fitzgerald Income Trust, Inc. (formerly known as Rodin Global Property Trust, Inc.) and Rodin Income Trust, Inc. since February 2017 and as President of Rodin Income Trust, Inc. since January 2018. We believe that Mr. Lutnick is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his extensive investment, management and public company experience.

Anshu Jain has been our President since January 2021 and our director since March 2021. Mr. Jain is also the President of Cantor, a position he has held since January 2017. Mr. Jain directs strategy, vision and operational foundation across Cantor’s businesses. Mr. Jain also served as the President of Cantor SPAC I, from January 2018, and a director of Cantor SPAC I from December 2018, until in each case consummation of its business combination with GCM Grosvenor in November 2020, and as the President of Cantor SPAC II, from September 2019, and a director of Cantor SPAC II, from August 2020, until in each case consummation of its business combination with View in March 2021. Mr. Jain also serves as the President of Cantor SPAC III, since March 2020 and a director of Cantor SPAC III since November 2020, as the President of Cantor SPAC IV since September 2020 and a director of Cantor SPAC IV since December 2020, as the President of Cantor SPAC V since September 2020 and a director of Cantor SPAC V since January 2021, as the President of Cantor SPAC VI since October 2020 and a director of Cantor SPAC VI since February 2021, and as the President of Cantor SPAC VII since January 2021. Mr. Jain was Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank from June 2012 to June 2015. Between February 2016 and March 2017, Mr. Jain was an advisor to Social Finance Inc. and consultant to Deutsche Bank from July 2015 to January 2016. He was also a member of Deutsche Bank’s Management Board from 2009 to 2015 and Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee from 2002 to 2015 and previously led Deutsche Bank’s team advising the UK Treasury on financial stability. Mr. Jain joined Deutsche Bank from Merrill Lynch in 1995. Mr. Jain sat on the Board of Directors of the Institute of International Finance from 2012 to 2015 and previously was a member of the Financial Services Forum and served on the International Advisory Panel of the

 

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Monetary Authority of Singapore. Mr. Jain is a trustee of Chance to Shine, a leading UK based sports charity whose mission is to spread the power of cricket throughout schools and communities. Mr. Jain also serves on the MIT Sloan Finance Group Advisory Board. Mr. Jain received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics, with honors, from the University of Delhi and his MBA in Finance, Beta Gamma Sigma, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. We believe that Mr. Jain is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his extensive investment and management experience.

Alice Chan has been our Chief Financial Officer since January 2021 and our director since March 2021. Ms. Chan joined Cantor in March 2015 and has served as the Global Controller and Managing Director since March 2019. In this position, Ms. Chan oversees a range of financial functions for Cantor and its affiliates, most notably financial reporting, consolidations, new accounting standard implementations, corporate accounting, and process enhancements. Ms. Chan served as the Chief Financial Officer and a director of Cantor SPAC II from January 2021 until consummation of its business combination with View in March 2021. Ms. Chan has also served as the Chief Financial Officer and a director of Cantor SPAC III, Cantor SPAC IV and Cantor SPAC V since January 2021, as the Chief Financial Officer of Cantor SPAC VI and Cantor SPAC VII since January 2021 and a director of Cantor SPAC VI since February 2021. In addition, Ms. Chan has been the Chief Financial Officer of Fintan Master Fund Ltd and the Chief Financial Officer of Fintan Investments Ltd since January 2019. Prior to joining Cantor, Ms. Chan worked at Goldman Sachs for approximately 10 years, focusing on broker dealers’ financial and regulatory reporting, and bank financial reporting. Ms. Chan holds Series 27 and 99 licenses. She received a B.S. in Finance from Pace University and a M.S. in Accounting from St. John’s University. We believe that Ms. Chan is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to her extensive accounting and management experience.

Robert J. Hochberg has served as our director since March 2021. Mr. Hochberg is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Numeric Computer Systems, Inc. Mr. Hochberg has served as President since June 1984 and as Chief Executive Officer since November 1994. Numeric Computer Systems is a global software company with offices in New York, San Juan, Auckland, Jakarta and Sydney. Mr. Hochberg also served as a director of Cantor SPAC I from January 2020 until consummation of its business combination with GCM Grosvenor in November 2020 and a director of Cantor SPAC II from August 2020 until consummation of its business combination with View in March 2021. Mr. Hochberg has also served as a director of Cantor SPAC III since November 2020. Mr. Hochberg is a graduate of Vassar College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. We believe that Mr. Hochberg is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to his extensive experience in business management.

Charlotte S. Blechman has served as our director since March 2021. Ms. Blechman has extensive executive and management experience in marketing, public relations, visual merchandising, branding, digital and social marketing, advertising and communications. Ms. Blechman has served as Chief Marketing Officer of Tom Ford Retail LLC since January 2017 where she oversees various departments. She is responsible for all global marketing, communications, advertising, public relations, visual display, customer relationship management, digital marketing, events, and global marketing initiatives. Ms. Blechman also served as a director of Cantor SPAC II from November 2020 until consummation of its business combination with View in March 2021. Ms. Blechman has also served as a director of Cantor SPAC IV since December 2020. From 2011 to 2017, Ms. Blechman served as Executive Vice-President of Marketing and Communication at Barneys New York. Prior to that, Ms. Blechman served as Gucci America’s Vice President of Public Relations and Special Events, also overseeing Worldwide Celebrity Relations. She also served as Vice President of Public Relations for Yves Saint Laurent. We believe that Ms. Blechman is qualified to serve as a member of our board due to her extensive experience in business management.

Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

We have five directors upon completion of this offering. Holders of our founder shares have the right to elect all of our directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination and holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our

 

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amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by at least 90% of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. Approval of our initial business combination will require the affirmative vote of a majority of our board directors, including Mr. Lutnick. Our board of directors is divided into two 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 meeting of stockholders) serving a two-year term. In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mr. Jain and Ms. Chan, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mr. Lutnick, Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Subject to the terms of any preferred stock, any or all of the directors may be removed from office at any time, but only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class; provided, however, that prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, any or all of the directors may be removed from office, for cause or not for cause, only by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding founder shares. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, including holders of preferred stock, whenever any director shall have been elected by the holders of any class of stock voting separately as a class, such director may be removed and the vacancy filled only by the holders of that class of stock voting separately as a class. Vacancies caused by any such removal and not filled by the stockholders at the meeting at which such removal shall have been made, or any vacancy caused by the death or resignation of any director or for any other reason, and any newly created directorship resulting from any increase in the authorized number of directors, may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors then in office, although less than a quorum, and in any case, prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, by a majority of the holders of our founder shares, and any director so elected to fill any such vacancy or newly created directorship shall hold office until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal.

Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Senior Managing Directors, Managing Directors, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretaries and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

Director Independence

So long as we maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, a majority of our board of directors generally must be independent, subject to certain limited exceptions set forth under the rules of Nasdaq. We rely on the “controlled company” exception to such requirement. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman is an “independent director” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. We intend to appoint one additional independent director to our board within one year following this offering. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

Officer and Director Compensation

None of our officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Except as described below, to date, no compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our officers and directors, or, other than as

 

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described herein, to our sponsor or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers, prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion. In addition, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on Nasdaq, we will pay an amount equal to $10,000 per month to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. In addition, our officers and directors will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. We may engage CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor in connection with our initial business combination and pay such affiliate a customary financial advisory fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions. Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor, and such target company may pay such affiliate a financial advisory fee in connection with our initial business combination.

After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed initial business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed initial business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.

We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and certain limited exceptions, Nasdaq rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.

Audit Committee

We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Mr. Hochberg, Ms. Blechman and Ms. Chan serve as members of our audit committee, and Mr. Hochberg chairs the audit committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit

 

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committee, all of whom must be independent, subject to certain phase-in provisions. Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman meet the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b) (1) of the Exchange Act but Ms. Chan does not meet such standards. We intend to appoint one additional independent director to our audit committee to replace Ms. Chan within one year following this offering pursuant to the Nasdaq phase-in provisions for initial public offerings.

Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Hochberg qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.

We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:

 

   

the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;

 

   

pre-approving all audit and permitted non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;

 

   

setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm, including but not limited to, as required by applicable laws and regulations;

 

   

setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

 

   

obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures, (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues and (iii) all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us to assess the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence;

 

   

reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and

 

   

reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.

Compensation Committee

We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman serve as members of our compensation committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we generally would be required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent, subject to certain limited exceptions set forth under the rules of Nasdaq. Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman are independent and Mr. Hochberg chairs the compensation committee.

We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:

 

   

reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, if any is paid by us, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;

 

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reviewing and approving on an annual basis the compensation, if any is paid by us, of all of our other officers;

 

   

reviewing on an annual basis our executive compensation policies and plans;

 

   

implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;

 

   

assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;

 

   

approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees;

 

   

if required, producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and

 

   

reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.

The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.

Director Nominations

We do not have a standing nominating committee though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are initially Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman, and upon selection of an additional independent director following the consummation of this offering will include such additional director. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, each of Mr. Hochberg and Ms. Blechman is independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.

The board of directors also considers director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws. However, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors.

We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of our officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.

 

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Code of Ethics

We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics and our audit and compensation committee charters as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. You are able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”

Conflicts of Interest

All of our officers are employed by Cantor or its affiliates. Cantor is continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for an initial business combination. While Cantor will not have any duty to offer acquisition opportunities to us, Cantor may become aware of a potential transaction that is an attractive opportunity for us, which Cantor may decide to share with us. In addition, our officers and directors may have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to other entities to which they owe duties or clients of affiliates of our sponsor.

As a result, affiliates of our sponsor and their respective clients may compete with us for acquisition opportunities in the same industries and sectors as we may target for our initial business combination. If any of them decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas generated within Cantor, including by any of our officers and other persons who may make decisions for the company, may be suitable both for us and for affiliates of our sponsor or any of their respective clients, and will be directed initially to such persons rather than to us. None of Cantor nor members of our management team who are also employed by Cantor or any of its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware unless it is offered to them solely in their capacity as a director or officer of the Company and after they have satisfied their contractual and fiduciary obligations to other parties.

Our sponsor, officers, directors, Cantor and their affiliates may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve, or will serve, as executive officers or directors of the Prior Cantor SPACs and Cantor SPAC VII, each of which is, or will be, focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) and Cantor SPAC VII. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination

 

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opportunity to such entities first. In particular, subject to a Prior Cantor SPAC’s focus on targets with a specific range of enterprise values, a particular target’s cash and other deal requirements, the ongoing discussions and negotiations with other targets by a Prior Cantor SPAC at such time, a potential business combination opportunity will be offered to the Prior Cantor SPACs and us by order of the closing date of each such SPAC’s initial public offering and investors are advised that based on the foregoing our directors and officers who are also directors and officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs have discretion in determining whether a potential target is directed towards us or any Prior Cantor SPAC, and, as such, potential targets may be directed or introduced to a Prior Cantor SPAC even though such target may be an opportunity for our company. Our officers and directors will only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We do not expect that we would pursue any such opportunity with a Prior Cantor SPAC. This would only occur, though, if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and our sponsor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination. An Affiliated Joint Acquisition could involve a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business combination. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract.

The potential conflicts described above may limit our ability to enter into a business combination or other transactions. These circumstances could give rise to numerous situations where interests may conflict. There can be no assurance that these or other conflicts of interest with the potential for adverse effects on the Company and investors will not arise.

Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:

 

   

None of our officers or directors is required to commit his or her full time to our affairs and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating his or her time among various business activities.

 

   

In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as the other entities with which they are affiliated. Our management may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

 

   

Our initial stockholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, our initial stockholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within 12 months after the closing of this offering. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such applicable time period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement units held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement units will expire worthless. With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares and the additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase contract will not be transferable, assignable by our sponsor until the earlier of: (A) one year after the completion of our

 

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initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement shares, the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock underlying the private placement warrants as well as the shares of Class A common stock and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract and the Class A common stock underlying such warrants will not be transferable, assignable or saleable by our sponsor or its permitted transferees until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Since our sponsor and officers and directors may directly or indirectly own common stock and warrants following this offering, our officers and directors 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.

 

   

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 was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

 

   

Our sponsor, officers or directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a business combination and financing arrangements as we may obtain loans from our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or any of our officers or directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination.

 

   

In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from multiple affiliations, our officers will be required to present all suitable target businesses to the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) prior to presenting them to us, unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such individual solely in his capacity as an officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent such individual is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

 

   

Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion. Such securities will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.

 

   

We may engage CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor in connection with our initial business combination and pay such affiliate a customary financial advisory fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions.

 

   

Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor, and such target company may pay such affiliate a financial advisory fee in connection with our initial business combination.

The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.

In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:

 

   

the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity;

 

   

the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and

 

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it would not be fair to our company and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation.

Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors have similar legal obligations and duties relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Furthermore, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.

Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our officers, directors and director nominees currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may present a conflict of interest:

 

Individual

  

Entity

  

Entity’s Business

  

Affiliation

Howard W. Lutnick    Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.(1)    Financial Holding Company    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

 

   BGC Partners, Inc.(2)    Public company – financial services    Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

 

   Newmark Group, Inc.(3)    Public company – real estate services    Chairman of the Board

 

   Cantor Fitzgerald Income Trust, Inc. (formerly known as Rodin Global Property Trust, Inc.)    Real estate investment trust    Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

 

   Rodin Income Trust, Inc.    Real estate investment trust    Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President

 

   CF Finance Acquisition Corp. III    Blank check company    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

 

   CF Acquisition Corp. IV    Blank check company    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

 

   CF Acquisition Corp. V    Blank check company    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
   CF Acquisition Corp. VI    Blank check company    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
   CF Acquisition Corp. VII    Blank check company    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Anshu Jain    Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.    Financial Holding Company    President

 

   CF Finance Acquisition Corp. III    Blank check company    President and Director

 

   CF Acquisition Corp. IV    Blank check company    President and Director

 

   CF Acquisition Corp. V    Blank check company    President and Director
   CF Acquisition Corp. VI    Blank check company    President and Director
   CF Acquisition Corp. VII    Blank check company    President
Alice Chan    Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.(1)    Financial Holding Company    Global Controller and Managing Director

 

   Fintan Master Fund Ltd    Investment fund    Chief Financial Officer

 

   Fintan Investments Ltd    Investment fund    Chief Financial Officer

 

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Individual

  

Entity

  

Entity’s Business

  

Affiliation

   CF Finance Acquisition Corp. III    Blank check company    Chief Financial Officer and Director
   CF Acquisition Corp. IV    Blank check company    Chief Financial Officer and Director
   CF Acquisition Corp. V    Blank check company    Chief Financial Officer and Director
   CF Acquisition Corp. VI    Blank check company    Chief Financial Officer and Director
   CF Acquisition Corp. VII    Blank check company    Chief Financial Officer
Robert J. Hochberg    Numeric Computer Systems, Inc.    Global software company    President and Chief Executive Officer
   CF Finance Acquisition Corp. III    Blank check company    Director
Charlotte Blechman    Tom Ford Retail LLC    Fashion company    Chief Marketing Officer
   CF Acquisition Corp. IV    Blank check company    Director

 

(1)

Includes direct and indirect subsidiaries of Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. including entities that are not wholly-owned, directly or indirectly, by Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.

(2)

Includes direct and indirect subsidiaries of BGC Partners, Inc. including entities that are not wholly-owned, directly or indirectly, by BGC Partners, Inc.

(3)

Includes direct and indirect subsidiaries of Newmark Group, Inc. including entities that are not wholly-owned, directly or indirectly, by Newmark Group, Inc.

Accordingly, if any of the above officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. 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.

We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties of our officers or directors, or of Cantor, or policies applicable to Cantor, will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with Cantor or its affiliates or our sponsor, officers or directors, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, its affiliates or our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

 

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In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates, or any of their respective clients, may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our sponsor or any of its affiliates elects to make additional investments, such proposed investments could influence our sponsor’s motivation to complete an initial business combination.

In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares and private placement shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our officers and directors will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us or our stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.

We have entered into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our bylaws also will permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification. We will purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.

These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

We believe that these provisions, the directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.

 

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PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the date of this prospectus, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our common stock included in the units offered by this prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in this offering, by:

 

   

each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock;

 

   

each of our officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and

 

   

all our officers and directors as a group.

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

Our initial stockholders have purchased an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares (up to 825,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). In addition, our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units for a purchase price of $10.00 per unit in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. The following table presents the number of shares and percentage of our common stock owned by our initial stockholders before and after this offering. The post-offering numbers and percentages presented assume that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, that our sponsor forfeits 825,000 founder shares on a pro rata basis, and that there are an aggregate of 28,040,000 share of common stock, consisting of (i) 22,540,000 shares of our Class A common stock and (ii) 5,500,000 shares of our Class B common stock, issued and outstanding after this offering.

 

    Before Offering     After Offering  

Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1)

  Number of Shares
Beneficially

Owned(2)
    Approximate
Percentage of
Outstanding
Common Stock
    Number of Shares
Beneficially
Owned(2)
    Approximate
Percentage of
Outstanding
Common Stock
 

CFAC Holdings VIII, LLC(3)

    6,303,000       99.7     6,018,000       21.5

Howard W. Lutnick(3)

    6,303,000       99.7     6,018,000       21.5

Anshu Jain

    —         —         —         —    

Alice Chan

    —         —         —         —    

Robert J. Hochberg

    11,000       *       11,000       *  

Charlotte Blechman

    11,000       *       11,000       *  

All officers and directors as a group (5 individuals)

    6,325,000       100.0     6,040,000       21.5

 

(1)

Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o CF Acquisition Corp. VIII, 110 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022.

(2)

Interests shown consist of founder shares, classified as shares of Class B common stock. Such shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities,” and with respect to the interests held after this offering, 540,000 Class A shares issuable pursuant to a private placement. Excludes shares underlying the forward purchase contract, as such shares may not be voted or disposed of by our sponsor within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

(3)

Our sponsor is the record holder of such shares. Cantor is the sole member of our sponsor. CFGM is the managing general partner of Cantor. Mr. Lutnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is the trustee

 

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  of CFGM’s sole stockholder. As such, each of Cantor, CFGM and Mr. Lutnick may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of the common stock held directly by our sponsor. Each such entity or person disclaims any beneficial ownership of the reported shares other than to the extent of any pecuniary interest they may have therein, directly or indirectly. Excludes shares underlying the forward purchase contract, as such shares may not be voted or disposed of by our sponsor within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

Immediately after this offering, our initial stockholders will beneficially own approximately 21.5% of the then-issued and outstanding shares of our common stock (including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units and assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). Neither our sponsor nor any of our officers or directors have expressed an intention to purchase any units in this offering. Because of this ownership block, our initial stockholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors, amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions, including approval of our initial business combination.

The holders of the founder shares and private placement shares have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed initial business combination and (B) not to redeem any shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

Our sponsor and our officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.

Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units

The founder shares, private placement units, private placement shares, private placement warrants, the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract, the shares of Class A common stock and warrants underlying such forward purchase units and any shares of Class A common stock issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in a letter agreement with us to be entered into by our sponsor, officers and directors. Those lock-up provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (i) in the case of the founder shares and the additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase contract, until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property, and (ii) in the case of the private placement units, private placement shares, private placement warrants, the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract, the shares of Class A common stock and warrants underlying such forward purchase units and any shares of Class A common stock issued upon conversion or exercise thereof, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except in each case (a) to our officers or directors, any current or future affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, any members of our sponsor, or

 

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any current or future affiliates of our sponsor, (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of one of the members of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of one of the individual’s immediate family, an current or future affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with any forward purchase agreement or similar arrangement or in connection with the consummation of an initial business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the shares or units were originally purchased; (f) in the event of our liquidation prior to the completion of our initial business combination; or (g) by virtue of the laws of Delaware or our sponsor’s limited liability company agreement upon dissolution of our sponsor; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (e) or (g) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreements and by the same agreements entered into by our sponsor with respect to such securities (including provisions relating to voting, the trust account and liquidation distributions described elsewhere in this prospectus).

Registration Rights

The holders of the founder shares, private placement units, private placement shares, private placement warrants, securities issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract and shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement warrants and forward purchase warrants will have registration rights to require us to register a sale of any of our securities held by them pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering. These holders will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities for sale under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders will have “piggy-back” registration rights to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. Notwithstanding the foregoing, our sponsor may not exercise its demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years, respectively, after the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and may not exercise its demand rights on more than one occasion.

 

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CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

In July 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2021, our sponsor transferred 10,000 founder shares to each of Mr. Robert Hochberg and Ms. Charlotte Blechman, our independent directors (none of which are subject to forfeiture in the event that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). On March 11, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares outstanding and held by our initial stockholders (up to 825,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). Up to 825,000 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The founder shares (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units for a purchase price of $10.00 per unit in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. As such, our sponsor’s interest in this transaction is valued at $5,400,000.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination. Our sponsor has agreed to waive any claims against the trust account in connection with such agreement.

The private placement units and the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract are identical to the units sold in this offering except that the private placement warrants included therein and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) will be entitled to registration rights and (v) for so long as they are held by our sponsor, will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g). The private placement units (including the private placement shares, the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) and the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract (including the shares of Class A common stock and the warrants underlying such units, and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.

As more fully discussed in the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another

 

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entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, its affiliates, or our officers or directors, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, its affiliates or our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract.

Other than as described below, no compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers, prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.

Prior to the closing of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 or the closing of this offering. The loan will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the estimated $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated to the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions). The value of our sponsor’s interest in this transaction corresponds to the principal amount outstanding under any such loan.

Commencing on the date our securities are first listed on Nasdaq, we will pay an amount equal to $10,000 per month to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of our initial business combination takes the maximum 12 months, our sponsor will be paid a total of $120,000 ($10,000 per month) and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.

We may engage CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor in connection with our initial business combination and pay such affiliate a customary financial advisory fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions. Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged CF&Co, or another affiliate of our sponsor, as a financial advisor, and such target company may pay such affiliate a financial advisory fee in connection with our initial business combination.

 

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In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor has committed $1,750,000 to be provided to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements after this offering and prior to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us additional funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. The terms of such additional loans by our sponsor, its affiliates and our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.

We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the private placement units, the private placement shares, the private placement warrants, the securities issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares, which is described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Registration Rights.”

We will pay the underwriters an aggregate of $4,400,000 (or $0.20 per unit) in underwriting discounts and commissions in connection with this offering. No commissions will be paid on any units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ over-allotment option. We will also pay $100,000 to Odeon for acting as the “qualified independent underwriter” in this offering.

We have engaged CF&Co as an advisor in connection with our business combination, pursuant to the Business Combination Marketing Agreement described under “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest) — Business Combination Marketing Agreement.” We will pay CF&Co a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the base offering and 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the full or partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. As a result, CF&Co will not be entitled to such fee unless we consummate our initial business combination.

Related Party Policy

We have not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.

We have adopted a code of ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our code of ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company. A form of the code of ethics has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

 

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In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to a written charter is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. A form of the audit committee charter has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. We also require each of our directors and officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.

These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. Furthermore, there will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, non-cash payments, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

 

   

Repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor, which our sponsor has committed to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;

 

   

Repayment to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services, in an amount equal to $10,000 per month;

 

   

Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion;

 

   

Reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination;

 

   

Repayment of loans, including the $1,750,000 loan commitment made by our sponsor for working capital, which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto (provided that in no event will any loans provided by our sponsor be convertible into our securities); and

 

   

Payment to CF&Co of its underwriting discount, Marketing Fee, fees for any financial advisory, placement agency or other similar investment banking services CF&Co may provide to our company in the future, including in connection with the closing of our initial business combination, and reimbursement of CF&Co for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by it in connection with the performance of such services.

Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our authorized capital stock consists of 200,000,000 shares of common stock, including 160,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value and 40,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.0001 par value. The following description summarizes the material terms of our capital stock. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.

Units

Public Units

Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in this prospectus. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrantholder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrantholder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase a multiple of four units, the number of warrants issuable to you upon separation of the units will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of warrants.

We expect the Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the closing of this offering unless CF&Co informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants.

In no event will the Class A common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes this audited balance sheet upon the completion of this offering, which closing is anticipated to take place three business days after the date of this prospectus. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

Private Placement Units

The private placement units (including the private placement warrants or private placement shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except, among other limited exceptions as described under “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units” to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor) and will have certain registration rights. Otherwise, the private placement units are identical to the units sold in this offering except that the private placement warrants included therein, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) will be entitled to registration rights and (v) for so long as they are held by our sponsor, will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g), as described below under “— Redeemable Warrants — Private Placement Warrants”.

 

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Forward Purchase Units

The units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract would be identical to the units sold in this offering except that the warrants underlying units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract will be identical to the private placement warrants.

Common Stock

Upon the closing of this offering, 28,040,000 shares of our common stock will be outstanding (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 825,000 founder shares by our sponsor), consisting of:

 

   

22,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock underlying the units being offered in this offering;

 

   

540,000 Class A shares of common stock underlying the private placement units; and

 

   

5,500,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our initial stockholders.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in this offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

Common stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. Holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. On any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by at least 90% of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of our shares of common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders (other than the election of directors). Our board of directors will be divided into two classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of two years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares voted for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. Our stockholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor.

Because our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 160,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, if we were to enter into an initial business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such an initial business combination) be required to increase the number of shares of Class A common stock which we are authorized to issue at the same time as our stockholders vote on the initial business combination to the extent we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.

In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws, unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the

 

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consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.

We will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, 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 $10.00 per public share. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Unlike many blank check companies that hold stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of public shares for cash upon completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by law, if a stockholder vote is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, a stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting.

However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions (as described in this prospectus), if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination.

If we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares of common stock sold in this offering, which we refer to as the Excess Shares. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Our stockholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such stockholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such stockholders will not receive

 

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redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete the initial business combination. And, as a result, such stockholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose such shares would be required to sell their stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

If we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, pursuant to the letter agreement our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares, private placement shares and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised). Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction (subject to the limitation described in the preceding paragraph).

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than ten business days thereafter subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our initial stockholders acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.

In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after an initial business combination, our stockholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of stock, if any, having preference over the common stock. Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock, except that we will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.

Founder Shares

The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, and holders of founder shares have the same stockholder rights as public stockholders, except that (i) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below, (ii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (A) to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares, private placement shares, and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (B) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares, private placement shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (x) to

 

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modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (y) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (C) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such time period, (iii) the founder shares are shares of our Class B common stock that will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described herein, and (iv) are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed pursuant to the letter agreement to vote any founder shares and private placement shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination.

The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis (subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in this prospectus and related to the closing of the initial business combination, including pursuant to a specified future issuance, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance, including a specified future issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon completion of this offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units) plus all shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us and any securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract). We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. They may waive such adjustment due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the agreement for our initial business combination; (ii) negotiation with Class A stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; or (iii) negotiation with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock. The issuance of the forward purchase securities (or other securities issued in connection with a financing provided by an affiliate of ours relating to an Affiliated Joint Acquisition) will not result in such an adjustment to the conversion ratio of our Class B common stock. The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt. Securities could be “deemed issued” for purposes of the conversion rate adjustment if such shares are issuable upon the conversion or exercise of convertible securities, warrants or similar securities.

With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor, each of whom will be subject to the same transfer restrictions) until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our

 

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Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Shares Underlying the Forward Purchase Contract

With certain limited exceptions, the additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase contract are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to permitted transferees described elsewhere in this prospectus, each of whom will be subject to the same transfer restrictions) until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Preferred Stock

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the common stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preferred stock outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No shares of preferred stock are being issued or registered in this offering.

Redeemable Warrants

Public Stockholders’ Warrants

Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing on the later of 12 months from the closing of this offering or 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrantholder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrantholder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase a multiple of four units, the number of warrants issuable to you upon separation of the units will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of warrants. The warrants will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

We will not be obligated to deliver any shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to

 

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registration. No warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless Class A common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the share of Class A common stock underlying such unit.

We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrantholders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants for redemption:

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrantholder; and

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending three trading days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrantholders.

If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering.

We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrantholder will be entitled to exercise its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A common stock may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.

 

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If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of Class A common stock to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. We believe this feature is an attractive option to us if we do not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after our initial business combination. If we call our warrants for redemption and our management does not take advantage of this option, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would still be entitled to exercise their private placement warrants for cash or on a cashless basis using the same formula described above that other warrantholders would have been required to use had all warrantholders been required to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, as described in more detail below.

A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of Class A common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.

If the number of outstanding shares of Class A common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of Class A common stock, or by a split-up of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of Class A common stock. A rights offering to holders of Class A common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of Class A common stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of Class A common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock) and (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per share of Class A common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock, in determining the price payable for Class A common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of Class A common stock as reported during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of Class A common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.

In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of Class A common stock on account of such shares of Class A common stock (or other shares of our capital stock into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (d) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and

 

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restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our Class A common stock if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of Class A common stock in respect of such event.

If the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of Class A common stock.

Whenever the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.

In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our Class A common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. If less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A common stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of Class A common stock in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the Black-Scholes value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant. The purpose of such exercise price reduction is to provide additional value to holders of the warrants when an extraordinary transaction occurs during the exercise period of the warrants pursuant to which the holders of the warrants otherwise do not receive the full potential value of the warrants in order to determine and realize the option value component of the warrant. This formula is to compensate the warrant holder for the loss of the option value portion of the warrant due to the requirement that the warrant holder exercise the warrant within 30 days of the event. The Black-Scholes model is an accepted pricing model for estimating fair market value where no quoted market price for an instrument is available.

The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants. The warrant agreement provides that the terms

 

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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 a majority of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants.

In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination (not including any securities to be issued in connection with the forward purchase agreement to be entered into with our sponsor) at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and the Market Value is below $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), then the exercise price of each warrant will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) such that the effective exercise price per full share will be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described above will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrantholders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A common stock and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of Class A common stock. After the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one (1) vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.

No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued to the warrantholder.

We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York in the Borough of Manhattan or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. See “Risk Factors — Our warrant agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York in the Borough of Manhattan 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.” This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum.

Private Placement Warrants

The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except, among other limited exceptions as described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units” to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor) and they will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. Our

 

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sponsor, or its permitted transferees, has the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis. Except as described below, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering.

If holders of the private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following an initial business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who could sell the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants freely in the open market, the insiders could be significantly restricted from doing so. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor has committed $1,750,000 to be provided to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements after this offering and prior to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us additional funds as may be required.

In addition, holders of our private placement warrants are entitled to certain registration rights and any private placement warrants held by our sponsor will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.

Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the private placement units, private placement shares or private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of any of these warrants) until the date that is 30 days after the date we complete our initial business combination, except that, among other limited exceptions as described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units” made to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor.

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of an initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial conditions subsequent to completion of an initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to an initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

 

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Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent

The transfer agent for our common stock and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions (other than amendments relating to the appointment of directors, which require the approval of at least 90% of our common stock voting in a stockholder meeting) cannot be amended without the approval of the holders of at least 65% of our common stock. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:

 

   

If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law;

 

   

Prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination;

 

   

Although we do not intend to enter into an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or our officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that such an initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view;

 

   

If a stockholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act; whether or not we maintain our registration under the our Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above;

 

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So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination;

 

   

If our stockholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon such approval at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares; and

 

   

We will not effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.

In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions.

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our board of directors will be classified into two classes of directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual meetings. However, prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of the Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time.

We have elected to be exempt from the restrictions imposed under Section 203 of the DGCL. However, our certificate of incorporation will contain similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that such stockholder becomes an interested stockholder unless:

 

   

prior to such time, our board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

   

upon consummation of the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an “interested stockholder,” the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced (excluding certain shares); or

 

   

on or subsequent to such time, the business combination is approved by the Board and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder.

Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale to the interested stockholder. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within the previous three years owned, 15% or more of our voting stock.

 

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Under some circumstances, this provision will make it more difficult for a person who is an interested stockholder to effect various business combinations with us for a three-year period.

Our certificate of incorporation will provide that our sponsor and its various affiliates, successors and transferees will not be deemed to be “interested stockholders” regardless of the percentage of our voting stock owned by them, and accordingly will not be subject to this provision.

Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval (including a specified future issuance) and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Exclusive forum for certain lawsuits

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. 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 thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

Special meeting of stockholders

Our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our Chief Executive Officer or by our Chairman.

 

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Advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations

Our bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholders, or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders, must provide timely notice of their intent in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice will need to be received by the company secretary at our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 90th day nor earlier than the opening of business on the 120th day prior to the anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, proposals seeking inclusion in our annual proxy statement must comply with the notice periods contained therein. Our bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ meeting. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders.

Action by written consent

Subsequent to the consummation of the offering, any action required or permitted to be taken by our common stockholders must be effected by a duly called annual or special meeting of such stockholders and may not be effected by written consent of the stockholders other than with respect to our Class B common stock.

Classified Board of Directors

Our board of directors will initially be divided into two classes, Class I and Class II, with members of each class serving staggered two-year terms. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors. Subject to the terms of any preferred stock, any or all of the directors may be removed from office at any time, but only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class; provided, however, that prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, any or all of the directors may be removed from office, for cause or not for cause, only by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding founder shares. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, including holders of preferred stock, whenever any director shall have been elected by the holders of any class of stock voting separately as a class, such director may be removed and the vacancy filled only by the holders of that class of stock voting separately as a class. Vacancies caused by any such removal and not filled by the stockholders at the meeting at which such removal shall have been made, or any vacancy caused by the death or resignation of any director or for any other reason, and any newly created directorship resulting from any increase in the authorized number of directors, may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors then in office, although less than a quorum, and in any case, prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, by a majority of the holders of our founder shares, and any director so elected to fill any such vacancy or newly created directorship shall hold office until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal.

Class B Common Stock Consent Right

For so long as any shares of Class B common stock remain outstanding, we may not, without the prior vote or written consent of the holders of a majority of the shares of Class B common stock then outstanding, voting separately as a single class, amend, alter or repeal any provision our certificate of incorporation, whether by merger, consolidation or otherwise, if such amendment, alteration or repeal would alter or change the powers, preferences or relative, participating, optional or other or special rights of the Class B common stock. Any action required or permitted to be taken at any meeting of the holders of Class B common stock may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, if a consent or consents in writing, setting forth the action so taken, shall be signed by the holders of the outstanding Class B common stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares of Class B common stock were present and voted.

 

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Securities Eligible for Future Sale

Immediately after the consummation of this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) we will have 28,040,000 (or 32,165,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) shares of common stock outstanding. Of these shares, the 22,000,000 shares (or 25,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the remaining 5,500,000 (or 6,325,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) shares and all 540,000 private placement units are restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering, and the shares of Class B common stock and private placement units, and the securities underlying the foregoing, are subject to transfer restrictions as set forth elsewhere in this prospectus. These restricted securities will be entitled to registration rights as more fully described below under “— Registration Rights.”

Rule 144

Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.

Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:

 

   

1% of the total number of shares of common stock then outstanding, which will equal 280,400 shares immediately after this offering (or 321,650 if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full); or

 

   

the average weekly reported trading volume of the common stock during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale.

Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.

Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies

Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:

 

   

the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company;

 

   

the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;

 

   

the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and materials required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and

 

   

at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company.

 

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As a result, our initial stockholders will be able to sell their founder shares and private placement units, and the securities underlying the foregoing, as applicable, pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.

Registration Rights

The holders of the founder shares, private placement units, private placement shares and private placement warrants (and any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement units) and any securities issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract (including underlying securities) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering, requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to our Class A common stock). The holders of the majority of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements. Notwithstanding the foregoing, our sponsor may not exercise its demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years, respectively, after the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part and may not exercise its demand rights on more than one occasion.

Listing of Securities

Our units, Class A common stock and warrants have been approved to trade on Nasdaq under the symbols “CFFEU,” “CFFE” and “CFFEW,” respectively. Our units have been approved to list on Nasdaq on or promptly after date of this prospectus. Following the date the shares of our Class A common stock and warrants are eligible to trade separately, we anticipate that the shares of our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed separately and as a unit on Nasdaq.

 

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U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following is a discussion of U.S. federal income tax consequences generally applicable to the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our units, shares of Class A common stock and warrants, which we refer to collectively as our securities. Because the components of a unit are separable at the option of the holder, the holder of a unit generally should be treated, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as the owner of the underlying Class A common stock and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant components of the unit, as the case may be. As a result, the discussion below with respect to actual holders of Class A common stock and warrants should also apply to holders of units (as the deemed owners of the underlying Class A common stock and warrants that comprise the units). This discussion applies only to securities that are held as capital assets for U.S. federal income tax purposes and is applicable only to holders who purchased units in this offering.

This discussion is a summary only and does not describe all of the tax consequences that may be relevant to you in light of your particular circumstances, including but not limited to the alternative minimum tax, the Medicare tax on certain investment income and the different consequences that may apply if you are subject to special rules that apply to certain types of investors, including but not limited to:

 

   

financial institutions or financial services entities;

 

   

broker-dealers;

 

   

governments or agencies or instrumentalities thereof;

 

   

regulated investment companies;

 

   

real estate investment trusts;

 

   

expatriates or former long-term residents of the U.S.;

 

   

persons that actually or constructively own five percent or more of our voting shares;

 

   

insurance companies;

 

   

dealers or traders subject to a mark-to-market method of accounting with respect to the securities;

 

   

persons holding the securities as part of a “straddle,” hedge, integrated transaction or similar transaction;

 

   

U.S. holders (as defined below) whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar;

 

   

partnerships or other pass-through entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes and any beneficial owners of such entities; and

 

   

tax-exempt entities.

If you are a partnership (or other entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of your partners will generally depend on the status of the partners and your activities.

This discussion is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and administrative pronouncements, judicial decisions and final, temporary and proposed Treasury regulations as of the date hereof, which are subject to change, possibly on a retroactive basis, and changes to any of which subsequent to the date of this prospectus may affect the tax consequences described herein. This discussion does not address any aspect of state, local or non-U.S. taxation, or any U.S. federal taxes other than income taxes (such as gift and estate taxes).

We have not sought, and will not seek, a ruling from the IRS as to any U.S. federal income tax consequence described herein. The IRS may disagree with the discussion herein, and its determination may be upheld by a

 

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court. Moreover, there can be no assurance that future legislation, regulations, administrative rulings or court decisions will not adversely affect the accuracy of the statements in this discussion. You are urged to consult your tax advisor with respect to the application of U.S. federal tax laws to your particular situation, as well as any tax consequences arising under the laws of any state, local or foreign jurisdiction.

Personal Holding Company Status

We could be subject to a second level of U.S. federal income tax on a portion of our income if we are determined to be a personal holding company, or PHC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A U.S. corporation generally will be classified as a PHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a given taxable year if (i) at any time during the last half of such taxable year, five or fewer individuals (without regard to their citizenship or residency and including as individuals for this purpose certain entities such as certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds and charitable trusts) own or are deemed to own (pursuant to certain constructive ownership rules) more than 50% of the stock of the corporation by value and (ii) at least 60% of the corporation’s adjusted ordinary gross income, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for such taxable year consists of PHC income (which includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain royalties, annuities and, under certain circumstances, rents).

At least 60% of our adjusted ordinary gross income may consist of PHC income, depending on the date and size of our initial business combination. In addition, depending on the concentration of our stock in the hands of individuals, including the members of our sponsor and certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds and charitable trusts, more than 50% of our stock may be owned or deemed owned (pursuant to the constructive ownership rules) by such persons during the last half of a taxable year. Thus, no assurance can be given that we will not be a PHC following this offering or in the future. If we are or were to become a PHC in a given taxable year, we would be subject to an additional PHC tax, currently 20%, on our undistributed PHC income, which generally includes our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments.

Allocation of Purchase Price and Characterization of a Unit

No statutory, administrative or judicial authority directly addresses the treatment of a unit or instruments similar to a unit for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, therefore, that treatment is not entirely clear. The acquisition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as the acquisition of one share of our Class A common stock and one-fourth of one warrant to acquire one share of our Class A common stock. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, each holder of a unit must allocate the purchase price paid by such holder for such unit between the one share of Class A common stock and the one-fourth of one warrant based on the relative fair market value of each at the time of issuance. Under U.S. federal income tax law, each investor must make his or her own determination of such value based on all the relevant facts and circumstances. Therefore, we strongly urge each investor to consult his or her tax adviser regarding the determination of value for these purposes. The price allocated to each share of Class A common stock and the one-fourth of one warrant should be the stockholder’s tax basis in such share or one-fourth of one warrant, as the case may be. Any disposition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a disposition of the share of Class A common stock and one-fourth of one warrant comprising the unit, and the amount realized on the disposition should be allocated between the Class A common stock and the one-fourth of one warrant based on their respective relative fair market values (as determined by each such unit holder on all the relevant facts and circumstances) at the time of disposition. The separation of shares of Class A common stock and warrants comprising units should not be a taxable event for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

The foregoing treatment of the shares of Class A common stock and warrants and a holder’s purchase price allocation are not binding on the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or the courts. Because there are no authorities that directly address instruments that are similar to the units, no assurance can be given that the IRS or the courts will agree with the characterization described above or the discussion below. Accordingly, each prospective investor is urged to consult its own tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of an investment in a unit

 

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(including alternative characterizations of a unit). The balance of this discussion assumes that the characterization of the units described above is respected for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

U.S. Holders

This section applies to you if you are a “U.S. holder.” A U.S. holder is a beneficial owner of our units, shares of Class A common stock or warrants who or that is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

 

   

an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;

 

   

a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation) organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; or

 

   

an estate the income of which is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes regardless of its source; or

 

   

a trust, if (i) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons (as defined in the Code) have authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (ii) it has a valid election in effect under Treasury Regulations to be treated as a U.S. person.

Taxation of Distributions.    If we pay distributions in cash or other property (other than certain distributions of our stock or rights to acquire our stock) to U.S. holders of shares of our Class A common stock, such distributions generally will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. Distributions in excess of current and accumulated earnings and profits will constitute a return of capital that will be applied against and reduce (but not below zero) the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in our Class A common stock. Any remaining excess will be treated as gain realized on the sale or other disposition of the Class A common stock and will be treated as described under “U.S. Holders — Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants” below.

Dividends we pay to a U.S. holder that is a taxable corporation generally will qualify for the dividends received deduction if the requisite holding period is satisfied. With certain exceptions (including, but not limited to, dividends treated as investment income for purposes of investment interest deduction limitations), and provided certain holding period requirements are met, dividends we pay to a non-corporate U.S. holder may constitute “qualified dividends” that will be subject to tax at the maximum tax rate accorded to long-term capital gains. It is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to the Class A common stock described in this prospectus may prevent a U.S. holder from satisfying the applicable holding period requirements with respect to the dividends received deduction or the preferential tax rate on qualified dividend income, as the case may be. If the holding period requirements are not satisfied, then a corporation may not be able to qualify for the dividends received deduction and would have taxable income equal to the entire dividend amount, and non-corporate holders may be subject to tax on such dividend at regular ordinary income tax rates instead of the preferential rate that applies to qualified dividend income.

Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants.    Upon a sale or other taxable disposition of our Class A common stock or warrants which, in general, would include a redemption of Class A common stock or warrants that is treated as a sale of such securities as described below, and including as a result of a dissolution and liquidation in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination within the required time period, a U.S. holder generally will recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the amount realized and the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in the Class A common stock or warrants. Any such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock or warrants so disposed of exceeds one year. It is unclear, however, whether the redemption rights with respect to the Class A common stock described in this prospectus may suspend the running of the applicable holding period for this purpose. If the running of the

 

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holding period for the Class A common stock is suspended, then non-corporate U.S. holders may not be able to satisfy the one-year holding period requirement for long-term capital gain treatment, in which case any gain on a sale or taxable disposition of the shares or warrants would be subject to short-term capital gain treatment and would be taxed at regular ordinary income tax rates. Long-term capital gains recognized by non-corporate U.S. holders will be eligible to be taxed at reduced rates. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations.

Generally, the amount of gain or loss recognized by a U.S. holder is an amount equal to the difference between (i) the sum of the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received in such disposition (or, if the Class A common stock or warrants are held as part of units at the time of the disposition, the portion of the amount realized on such disposition that is allocated to the Class A common stock or the warrants based upon the then fair market values of the Class A common stock and the warrants included in the units) and (ii) the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A common stock or warrants so disposed of. A U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A common stock or warrants generally will equal the U.S. holder’s acquisition cost (that is, as discussed above, the portion of the purchase price of a unit allocated to a share of Class A common stock or one-fourth of one warrant or, as discussed below, the U.S. holder’s initial basis for Class A common stock received upon exercise of warrants) less, in the case of a share of Class A common stock, any prior distributions treated as a return of capital.

Redemption of Class A Common Stock.    In the event that a U.S. holder’s Class A common stock is redeemed pursuant to the redemption provisions described in this prospectus under the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Common Stock” or if we purchase a U.S. holder’s Class A common stock in an open market transaction, the treatment of the transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes will depend on whether the redemption qualifies as a sale of the Class A common stock under Section 302 of the Code. If the redemption qualifies as a sale of common stock, the U.S. holder will be treated as described under “U.S. Holders — Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants” above. If the redemption does not qualify as a sale of common stock, the U.S. holder will be treated as receiving a corporate distribution with the tax consequences described above under “U.S. Holders — Taxation of Distributions”. Whether a redemption qualifies for sale treatment will depend largely on the total number of shares of our stock treated as held by the U.S. holder (including any stock constructively owned by the U.S. holder as a result of owning warrants) relative to all of our shares outstanding both before and after the redemption. The redemption of Class A common stock generally will be treated as a sale of the Class A common stock (rather than as a corporate distribution) if the redemption (i) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the U.S. holder, (ii) results in a “complete termination” of the U.S. holder’s interest in us or (iii) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the U.S. holder. These tests are explained more fully below.

In determining whether any of the foregoing tests are satisfied, a U.S. holder takes into account not only stock actually owned by the U.S. holder, but also shares of our stock that are constructively owned by it. A U.S. holder may constructively own, in addition to stock owned directly, stock owned by certain related individuals and entities in which the U.S. holder has an interest or that have an interest in such U.S. holder, as well as any stock the U.S. holder has a right to acquire by exercise of an option, which would generally include Class A common stock which could be acquired pursuant to the exercise of the warrants. In order to meet the substantially disproportionate test, the percentage of our outstanding voting stock actually and constructively owned by the U.S. holder immediately following the redemption of Class A common stock must, among other requirements, be less than 80% of the percentage of our outstanding voting stock actually and constructively owned by the U.S. holder immediately before the redemption. There will be a complete termination of a U.S. holder’s interest if either (i) all of the shares of our stock actually and constructively owned by the U.S. holder are redeemed or (ii) all of the shares of our stock actually owned by the U.S. holder are redeemed and the U.S. holder is eligible to waive, and effectively waives in accordance with specific rules, the attribution of stock owned by certain family members and the U.S. holder does not constructively own any other shares of our stock. The redemption of the Class A common stock will not be essentially equivalent to a dividend if a U.S. holder’s conversion results in a “meaningful reduction” of the U.S. holder’s proportionate interest in us. Whether the redemption will result in a meaningful reduction in a U.S. holder’s proportionate interest in us will depend on the

 

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particular facts and circumstances. However, the IRS has indicated in a published ruling that even a small reduction in the proportionate interest of a small minority stockholder in a publicly held corporation who exercises no control over corporate affairs may constitute such a “meaningful reduction.” A U.S. holder should consult with its own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of a redemption.

If none of the foregoing tests is satisfied, then the redemption will be treated as a corporate distribution and the tax effects will be as described under “U.S. Holders — Taxation of Distributions,” above. After the application of those rules, any remaining tax basis of the U.S. holder in the redeemed Class A common stock will be added to the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its remaining stock, or, if it has none, to the U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrants or possibly in other stock constructively owned by it.

Exercise or Lapse of a Warrant.    Except as discussed below with respect to the cashless exercise of a warrant, a U.S. holder generally will not recognize taxable gain or loss on the acquisition of common stock upon exercise of a warrant for cash. The U.S. holder’s tax basis in the share of our Class A common stock received upon exercise of the warrant generally will be an amount equal to the sum of the U.S. holder’s initial investment in the warrant (i.e., the portion of the U.S. holder’s purchase price for units that is allocated to the warrant, as described above under “— General Treatment of Units”) and the exercise price. It is unclear whether the U.S. holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock received upon exercise of the warrants will begin on the date following the date of exercise or on the date of exercise of the warrants; in either case, the holding period will not include the period during which the U.S. holder held the warrants. If a warrant is allowed to lapse unexercised, a U.S. holder generally will recognize a capital loss equal to such holder’s tax basis in the warrant.

The tax consequences of a cashless exercise of a warrant are not clear under current tax law. A cashless exercise may be tax-free, either because the exercise is not a gain realization event or because the exercise is treated as a recapitalization for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In either tax-free situation, a U.S. holder’s basis in the Class A common stock received would equal the holder’s basis in the warrants exercised therefor. If the cashless exercise were treated as not being a gain realization event, it is unclear whether a U.S. holder’s holding period in the Class A common stock would be treated as commencing on the date following the date of exercise or on the date of exercise of the warrant; in either case, the holding period would not include the period during which the U.S. holder held the warrants. If the cashless exercise were treated as a recapitalization, the holding period of the Class A common stock would include the holding period of the warrants exercised therefor.

It is also possible that a cashless exercise could be treated in part as a taxable exchange in which gain or loss would be recognized. In such event, a U.S. holder could be deemed to have surrendered warrants equal to the number of shares of Class A common stock having a value equal to the exercise price for the total number of warrants to be exercised. The U.S. holder would recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the fair market value of the Class A common stock received in respect of the warrants deemed surrendered and the U.S. holder’s tax basis in the warrants deemed surrendered. In this case, a U.S. holder’s tax basis in the Class A common stock received would equal the sum of the fair market value of the Class A common stock received in respect of the warrants deemed surrendered and the U.S. holder’s tax basis in the warrants exercised. It is unclear whether a U.S. holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock would commence on the date following the date of exercise or on the date of exercise of the warrant; in either case, the holding period would not include the period during which the U.S. holder held the warrant.

Due to the absence of authority on the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a cashless exercise, including when a U.S. holder’s holding period would commence with respect to the Class A common stock received, there can be no assurance which, if any, of the alternative tax consequences and holding periods described above would be adopted by the IRS or a court of law. Accordingly, U.S. holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of a cashless exercise.

Possible Constructive Distributions.    The terms of each warrant provide for an adjustment to the number of shares of common stock for which the warrant may be exercised or to the exercise price of the warrant in certain

 

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events, as discussed in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants.” An adjustment which has the effect of preventing dilution generally is not taxable. The U.S. holders of the warrants would, however, be treated as receiving a constructive distribution from us if, for example, the adjustment to the number of such shares or to such exercise price increases the warrantholders’ proportionate interest in our assets or earnings and profits (e.g., through an increase in the number of shares of common stock that would be obtained upon exercise or through a decrease in the exercise price of the warrant) as a result of a distribution of cash or other property, such as other securities, to the holders of shares of our common stock, or as a result of the issuance of a stock dividend to holders of shares of our common stock, in each case which is taxable to the U.S. holders of such shares as described under “U.S. Holders — Taxation of Distributions” above. Such constructive distribution would be subject to tax as described under that section in the same manner as if the U.S. holders of the warrants received a cash distribution from us equal to the fair market value of such increased interest.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding.    In general, information reporting requirements may apply to dividends paid to a U.S. holder and to the proceeds of the sale or other disposition of our units, shares of Class A common stock and warrants, unless the U.S. holder is an exempt recipient. Backup withholding may apply to such payments if the U.S. holder fails to provide a taxpayer identification number, a certification of exempt status or has been notified by the IRS that it is subject to backup withholding (and such notification has not been withdrawn).

Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules will be allowed as a refund or a credit against a U.S. holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability provided the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.

Non-U.S. Holders

This section applies to you if you are a “Non-U.S. holder.” As used herein, the term “Non-U.S. holder” means a beneficial owner of our units, Class A common stock or warrants who or that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

 

   

a non-resident alien individual (other than certain former citizens and residents of the U.S. subject to U.S. tax as expatriates);

 

   

a foreign corporation or

 

   

an estate or trust that is not a U.S. holder;

but generally does not include an individual who is present in the U.S. for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition. If you are such an individual, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership or sale or other disposition of our securities.

Taxation of Distributions.    In general, any distributions we make to a Non-U.S. holder of shares of our Class A common stock, to the extent paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles), will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, provided such dividends are not effectively connected with the Non-U.S. holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States, we will be required to withhold tax from the gross amount of the dividend at a rate of 30%, unless such Non-U.S. holder is eligible for a reduced rate of withholding tax under an applicable income tax treaty and provides proper certification of its eligibility for such reduced rate (usually on an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E). Any distribution not constituting a dividend will be treated first as reducing (but not below zero) the Non-U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis in its shares of our Class A common stock and, to the extent such distribution exceeds the Non-U.S. holder’s adjusted tax basis, as gain realized from the sale or other disposition of the Class A common stock, which will be treated as described under “Non-U.S. Holders — Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants” below. In addition, if we determine that we are likely to be classified as a “U.S. real property holding corporation” (see

 

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“Non-U.S. Holders — Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants” below), we will withhold 15% of any distribution that exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits.

The withholding tax does not apply to dividends paid to a Non-U.S. holder who provides a Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the Non-U.S. holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the Non-U.S. holder were a U.S. resident, subject to an applicable income tax treaty providing otherwise. A Non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” imposed at a rate of 30% (or a lower treaty rate).

Exercise of a Warrant.    The U.S. federal income tax treatment of a Non-U.S. holder’s exercise of a warrant, or the lapse of a warrant held by a Non-U.S. holder, generally will correspond to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the exercise or lapse of a warrant by a U.S. holder, as described under “U.S. holders — Exercise or Lapse of a Warrant” above, although to the extent a cashless exercise results in a taxable exchange, the consequences would be similar to those described below in “Non-U.S. Holders — Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants.”

Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants.    A Non-U.S. holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income or withholding tax in respect of gain recognized on a sale, taxable exchange or other taxable disposition of our Class A common stock, which would include a dissolution and liquidation in the event we do not complete an initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of this offering, or warrants (including an expiration or redemption of our warrants), in each case without regard to whether those securities were held as part of a unit, unless:

 

   

the gain is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business by the Non-U.S. holder within the United States (and, under certain income tax treaties, is attributable to a United States permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by the Non-U.S. holder); or

 

   

we are or have been a “U.S. real property holding corporation” for U.S. federal income tax purposes at any time during the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of disposition or the period that the Non-U.S. holder held our Class A common stock, and, in the case where shares of our Class A common stock are regularly traded on an established securities market, the Non-U.S. holder has owned, directly or constructively, more than 5% of our Class A common stock at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding the disposition or such Non-U.S. holder’s holding period for the shares of our Class A common stock. There can be no assurance that our Class A common stock will be treated as regularly traded on an established securities market for this purpose.

Unless an applicable treaty provides otherwise, gain described in the first bullet point above will be subject to tax at generally applicable U.S. federal income tax rates as if the Non-U.S. holder were a U.S. resident. Any gains described in the first bullet point above of a Non-U.S. holder that is a foreign corporation may also be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at a 30% rate (or lower treaty rate).

If the second bullet point above applies to a Non-U.S. holder, gain recognized by such holder on the sale, exchange or other disposition of our Class A common stock or warrants will be subject to tax at generally applicable U.S. federal income tax rates. In addition, a buyer of our Class A common stock or warrants from such holder may be required to withhold U.S. federal income tax at a rate of 15% of the amount realized upon such disposition. We cannot determine whether we will be a U.S. real property holding corporation in the future until we complete an initial business combination. We will be classified as a U.S. real property holding corporation if the fair market value of our “U.S. real property interests” equals or exceeds 50 percent of the sum of the fair market value of our worldwide real property interests plus our other assets used or held for use in a trade or business, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

 

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Redemption of Class A Common Stock.    The characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of the redemption of a Non-U.S. holder’s Class A common stock pursuant to the redemption provisions described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Common Stock” generally will correspond to the U.S. federal income tax characterization of such a redemption of a U.S. holder’s Class A common stock, as described under “U.S. Holders — Redemption of Class A Common Stock” above, and the consequences of the redemption to the Non-U.S. holder will be as described above under “Non-U.S. holders — Taxation of Distributions” and “Non-U.S. Holders — Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants,” as applicable.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding.    Information returns will be filed with the IRS in connection with payments of dividends and the proceeds from a sale or other disposition of our units, shares of Class A common stock and warrants. A Non-U.S. holder may have to comply with certification procedures to establish that it is not a United States person in order to avoid information reporting and backup withholding requirements. The certification procedures required to claim a reduced rate of withholding under a treaty will satisfy the certification requirements necessary to avoid the backup withholding as well. The amount of any backup withholding from a payment to a Non-U.S. holder will be allowed as a credit against such holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability and may entitle such holder to a refund, provided that the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.

FATCA Withholding Taxes.    Provisions commonly referred to as “FATCA” impose withholding of 30% on payments of dividends (including constructive dividends) on our Class A common stock or warrants to “foreign financial institutions” (which is broadly defined for this purpose and in general includes investment vehicles) and certain other Non-U.S. entities unless various U.S. information reporting and due diligence requirements (generally relating to ownership by U.S. persons of interests in or accounts with those entities) have been satisfied by, or an exemption applies to, the payee (typically certified as to by the delivery of a properly completed IRS Form W-8BEN-E). Foreign financial institutions located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States governing FATCA may be subject to different rules. Under certain circumstances, a Non-U.S. holder might be eligible for refunds or credits of such withholding taxes, and a Non-U.S. holder might be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return to claim such refunds or credits. Prospective investors should consult their tax advisers regarding the effects of FATCA on their investment in our securities.

 

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UNDERWRITING (CONFLICTS OF INTEREST)

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is acting as sole book-running manager of the offering and as representative of the underwriters named below. Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement dated the date of this prospectus, the underwriters named below have agreed to purchase, and we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, the following respective number of units set forth opposite the underwriter’s name.

 

Underwriters

   Number of
Units
 

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.

     22,000,000  
  

 

 

 

Total

     22,000,000  
  

 

 

 

The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the units included in this offering are subject to approval of legal matters by counsel and to other conditions. The underwriters are obligated to purchase all of the units (other than those covered by the over-allotment option described below) if they purchase any of the units.

Units sold by the underwriters to the public will initially be offered at the initial public offering price set forth on the cover of this prospectus. Any units sold by the underwriters to securities dealers may be sold at a discount from the initial public offering price not to exceed $0.12 per unit. After the initial public offering, the underwriters may change the offering price and the other selling terms. The underwriters have advised us that they do not intend to make sales to discretionary accounts.

If the underwriters sell more units than the total number set forth in the table above, we have granted to the underwriters an option, exercisable for 45 days from the date of this prospectus, to purchase up to 3,300,000 additional units at the public offering price. The underwriters may exercise this option solely for the purpose of covering over-allotments, if any, in connection with this offering. Any units issued or sold under the option will be issued and sold on the same terms and conditions as the other units that are the subject of this offering.

We, our sponsor and our officers and directors have agreed that, for a period of 180 days from the date of this prospectus, we and they will not, without the prior written consent of the underwriters, offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, any units, warrants, shares of common stock or any other securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, shares of common stock, subject to certain exceptions. The underwriters in their sole discretion may release any of the securities subject to these lock-up agreements at any time without notice, other than in the case of the officers and directors, which shall be with notice. Our sponsor, officers and directors are also subject to separate transfer restrictions on their founder shares and private placement units, and the securities underlying the foregoing, pursuant to the letter agreement as described herein.

Our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares or any of the additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase contract, until the earlier to occur of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property (except with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units”). The private placement units, the private placement shares and the private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement

 

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warrants) as well as the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract, the shares underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract and the warrants underlying the units issuable pursuant to the forward purchase contract (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units”).

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our securities. Consequently, the initial public offering price for the units was determined by negotiations between us and the underwriters. Among the factors considered in determining the initial public offering price were the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies, prior offerings of those companies, our management, our capital structure, and currently prevailing general conditions in the equity securities markets, including current market valuations of publicly traded companies considered comparable to our company. We cannot assure you, however, that the price at which the units, Class A common stock or warrants will sell in the public market after this offering will not be lower than the initial public offering price or that an active trading market in our units, Class A common stock or warrants will develop and continue after this offering.

Our units have been approved to list on Nasdaq under the symbol “CFFEU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We expect that our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed under the symbols “CFFE” and “CFFEW,” respectively, once the Class A common stock and warrants begin separate trading.

We will pay the underwriters an aggregate of $4,400,000 (or $0.20 per unit) in underwriting discounts and commissions in connection with this offering. No commissions will be paid on any units sold pursuant to the underwriters’ over-allotment option. We will also pay $100,000 to Odeon for acting as the “qualified independent underwriter” in this offering.

In connection with the offering, the underwriters may purchase and sell units in the open market. Purchases and sales in the open market may include short sales, purchases to cover short positions, which may include purchases pursuant to the over-allotment option and stabilizing purchases, in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act.

 

   

Short sales involve secondary market sales by the underwriters of a greater number of units than it is required to purchase in the offering.

 

   

“Covered” short sales are sales of units in an amount up to the number of units represented by the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

 

   

“Naked” short sales are sales of units in an amount in excess of the number of units represented by the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

 

   

Covering transactions involve purchases of units either pursuant to the over-allotment option or in the open market after the distribution has been completed in order to cover short positions.

 

   

To close a naked short position, the underwriters must purchase units in the open market after the distribution has been completed. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the units in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchase in the offering.

 

   

To close a covered short position, the underwriters must purchase units in the open market after the distribution has been completed or must exercise the over-allotment option. In determining the source of units to close the covered short position, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of units available for purchase in the open market as compared to the price at which they may purchase units through the over-allotment option.

 

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Stabilizing transactions involve bids to purchase units so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum.

Purchases to cover short positions and stabilizing purchases, as well as other purchases by the underwriters for their own account, may have the effect of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the units. They may also cause the price of the units to be higher than the price that would otherwise exist in the open market in the absence of these transactions. The underwriters may conduct these transactions in the over-the-counter market or otherwise. If the underwriters commence any of these transactions, it may discontinue them at any time.

Our sponsor, an affiliate of CF&Co, has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units, at a price of $10.00 per unit ($5,400,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. The private placement units have terms and provisions that are identical to the units sold in this offering except as described under “Description of Securities — Private Placement Warrants.” The private placement units will be considered underwriting compensation in connection with this offering. Such private placement units will be subject to lock-up restrictions, as required by FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1) and may not be sold during the offering, or sold, transferred, assigned, pledged, or hypothecated, or be the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put, or call transaction that would result in the effective economic disposition of such securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the date of effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part or commencement of sales of the offering, except as provided in FINRA Rule 5110(e)(2). We have granted our sponsor the registration rights as described under the section “Description of our Securities — Registration Rights.” The demand and piggyback registration rights being granted to our sponsor are subject to FINRA Rule 5110(g) and will be in compliance with FINRA Rule 5110.05.

We estimate that our portion of the total expenses of this offering payable by us will be $750,000, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions. We have agreed to reimburse the underwriters for all expenses and fees (including counsel fees) related to the review by FINRA, which will not exceed $15,000, and the expenses of investigations and background checks of our principals not to exceed the lesser of $2,000 per principal and $20,000 in the aggregate for investigations and background checks.

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute to payments the underwriters may be required to make because of any of those liabilities.

Except as described under “— Business Combination Marketing Agreement,” we are not under any contractual obligation to engage the underwriters to provide any services for us after this offering, and have no present intention to do so. However, the underwriters may introduce us to potential target businesses or assist us in raising additional capital in the future. If the underwriters provide services to us after this offering, we may pay the underwriters fair and reasonable fees that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with the underwriters and no fees for such services will be paid to the underwriters prior to the date that is 90 days from the date of this prospectus, unless FINRA determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this offering and we may pay the underwriters of this offering or any entity with which it is affiliated a finder’s fee or other compensation for services rendered to us in connection with the completion of an initial business combination.

The underwriters and their affiliates may in the future engage in, investment banking and other commercial dealings in the ordinary course of business with us or our affiliates, for which it may in the future receive, customary fees and commissions for any such transactions.

In addition, in the ordinary course of their business activities, the underwriters and their affiliates may make or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities)

 

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and financial instruments (including bank loans) for their own account and for the accounts of their customers. Such investments and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments of ours or our affiliates. The underwriters and their affiliates may also make investment recommendations and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such securities or financial instruments and may hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in such securities and instruments.

Business Combination Marketing Agreement

We have engaged CF&Co as an advisor in connection with our business combination to assist us in holding meetings with our stockholders to discuss the potential business combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce us to potential investors that are interested in purchasing our securities, assist us in obtaining stockholder approval for the business combination and assist us with our press releases and public filings in connection with the business combination. We will pay CF&Co a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the base offering and 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the full or partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. As a result, CF&Co will not be entitled to such fee unless we consummate our initial business combination.

Conflicts of Interest

We, our sponsor and CF&Co are controlled by Cantor. CFGM is the managing general partner of Cantor and Howard W. Lutnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is the trustee of CFGM’s sole stockholder. Therefore, we are deemed to be an affiliate of CF&Co, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or FINRA. As a result, CF&Co is deemed to have a “conflict of interest” under Rule 5121(f)(5) of the Conduct Rules of FINRA. Accordingly, this offering will be made in compliance with Rule 5121 of FINRA’s Conduct Rules, which prohibits CF&Co from making sales to discretionary accounts without the prior written approval of the account holder and requires that a “qualified independent underwriter,” as defined by FINRA participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standard of due diligence with respect to such document. We have engaged Odeon to be the qualified independent underwriter and participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standards of “due diligence” in respect thereto. We agreed to pay Odeon a fee of $100,000 upon the completion of this offering in consideration for its services and expenses as the qualified independent underwriter. Odeon will receive no other compensation.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the European Economic Area

This document is not a prospectus for the purpose of the Prospectus Regulation. In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area (each, a “relevant member state”), an offer of units described in this prospectus may not be made to the public in that relevant member state prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the units that has been approved by the competent authority in that relevant member state or, where appropriate, approved in another relevant member state and notified to the competent authority in that relevant member state, all in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation, except that an offer of our units may be made to the public in that relevant member state at any time:

 

   

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Regulation;

 

   

to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Regulation), as permitted under the Prospectus Regulation, subject to obtaining the prior consent of the relevant underwriter; or

 

   

in any other circumstances that do not require the publication by us of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation.

Each purchaser of units described in this prospectus located within a relevant member state will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that it is a “qualified investor” within the meaning of Article

 

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2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Regulation. In the case of any units being offered to a financial intermediary as that term is used in the Prospectus Regulation, each such financial intermediary will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that the units acquired by it in the offering have not been acquired on a non-discretionary basis on behalf of, nor have they been acquired with a view to their offer or resale to, persons in circumstances that may give rise to an offer of any units to the public other than their offer or resale in a relevant state to qualified investors as so defined or in circumstances in which the prior consent of the underwriters have been obtained to each such proposed offer or resale.

For the purpose of this provision, the expression an “offer of units to the public” in any relevant member state means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the units to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for the units, and the expression “Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.

We have not authorized and do not authorize the making of any offer of units through any financial intermediary on their behalf, other than offers made by the underwriters with a view to the final placement of the units as contemplated in this prospectus. Accordingly, no purchaser of the units, other than the underwriters, is authorized to make any further offer of the units on behalf of us or the underwriters.

MiFID II Product Governance

Any person offering, selling or recommending the units (a “distributor”) should take into consideration the manufacturers’ target market assessment; however, a distributor subject to MiFID II is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the units (by either adopting or refining the manufacturers’ target market assessment) and determining appropriate distribution channels.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Kingdom

This prospectus is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive that are also (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (each such person being referred to as a “relevant person”). The units are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to purchase or otherwise acquire such units will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. This prospectus and its contents are confidential and should not be distributed, published or reproduced (in whole or in part) or disclosed by recipients to any other persons in the United Kingdom. Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents or use it as a basis for taking any action.

Notice to Prospective Investors in France

Neither this prospectus nor any other offering material relating to the units described in this prospectus has been submitted to the clearance procedures of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers or of the competent authority of another member state of the European Economic Area and notified to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The units have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, to the public in France. Neither this prospectus nor any other offering material relating to the units has been or will be:

 

   

released, issued, distributed or caused to be released, issued or distributed to the public in France; or

 

   

used in connection with any offer for subscription or sale of the units to the public in France.

Such offers, sales and distributions will be made in France only:

 

   

To qualified investors (investisseurs qualifiés) and/or to a restricted circle of investors (cercle restreint d’investisseurs), in each case investing for their own account, all as defined in, and in accordance with, articles L.411-2, D.411-1, D.411-2, D.734-1, D.744-1, D.754-1 and D.764-1 of the French Code monétaire et financier;

 

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to investment services providers authorized to engage in portfolio management on behalf of third parties; or

 

   

in a transaction that, in accordance with article L.411-2-II-1° -or-2° -or 3° of the French Code monétaire et financier and article 211-2 of the General Regulations (Règlement Général) of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, does not constitute a public offer (appel public à l’épargne).

The units may be resold directly or indirectly, only in compliance with articles L.411-1, L.411-2, L.412-1 and L.621-8 through L.621-8-3 of the French Code monétaire et financier.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Hong Kong

The units may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong) and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the units may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to units which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Japan

The units offered in this prospectus have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan. The units have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to or for the account of any resident of Japan (including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan), except (i) pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and (ii) in compliance with any other applicable requirements of Japanese law.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Singapore

This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the units may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the units be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person pursuant to Section 275(1), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA, in each case subject to compliance with conditions set forth in the SFA.

Where the units are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is

 

   

a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or

 

   

a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary is an accredited investor, shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that

 

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corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the shares pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:

 

   

to an institutional investor (for corporations, under Section 274 of the SFA) or to a relevant person defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA, or to any person pursuant to an offer that is made on terms that such shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that corporation or such rights and interest in that trust are acquired at a consideration of not less than $200,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) for each transaction, whether such amount is to be paid for in cash or by exchange of securities or other assets, and further for corporations, in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA;

 

   

where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer; or

 

   

where the transfer is by operation of law.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Canada

The units may be sold in Canada only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the units must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the Dubai International Financial Centre

This prospectus relates to an Exempt Offer in accordance with the Offered Securities Rules of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”). This prospectus is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in the Offered Securities Rules of the DFSA. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with Exempt Offers. The DFSA has not approved this prospectus nor taken steps to verify the information set forth herein and has no responsibility for the prospectus. The securities to which this prospectus relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the securities offered should conduct their own due diligence on the securities. If you do not understand the contents of this prospectus you should consult an authorized financial advisor.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Australia

No placement document, prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document has been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), in relation to the offering. This prospectus does not constitute a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the

 

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Corporations Act 2001 (the “Corporations Act”), and does not purport to include the information required for a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act. Any offer in Australia of the securities may only be made to persons (the “Exempt Investors”) who are “sophisticated investors” (within the meaning of section 708(8) of the Corporations Act), “professional investors” (within the meaning of section 708(11) of the Corporations Act) or otherwise pursuant to one or more exemptions contained in section 708 of the Corporations Act so that it is lawful to offer the securities without disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act.

The securities applied for by Exempt Investors in Australia must not be offered for sale in Australia in the period of 12 months after the date of allotment under the offering, except in circumstances where disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act would not be required pursuant to an exemption under section 708 of the Corporations Act or otherwise or where the offer is pursuant to a disclosure document which complies with Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act. Any person acquiring securities must observe such Australian on-sale restrictions. This prospectus contains general information only and does not take account of the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. It does not contain any securities recommendations or financial product advice. Before making an investment decision, investors need to consider whether the information in this prospectus is appropriate to their needs, objectives and circumstances, and, if necessary, seek expert advice on those matters.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Switzerland

The securities may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (“SIX”) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the securities or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.

Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the company, the shares have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of securities will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of securities has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (“CISA”). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of units.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, New York, New York, is acting as counsel in connection with the registration of our securities under the Securities Act, and as such, will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this prospectus. Graubard Miller is advising the underwriters in connection with the offering of the securities.

EXPERTS

The financial statements of CF Acquisition Corp. VIII as of December 31, 2020, and for the period from July 8, 2020 (date of inception) to December 31, 2020, appearing in this prospectus have been audited by WithumSmith+Brown, PC, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their report thereon, appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, and are included in reliance upon such report given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act with respect to the securities we are offering by this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information included in the registration statement. For further information about us and our securities, you should refer to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed with the registration statement. Whenever we make reference in this prospectus to any of our contracts, agreements or other documents, the references are materially complete but may not include a description of all aspects of such contracts, agreements or other documents, and you should refer to the exhibits attached to the registration statement for copies of the actual contract, agreement or other document.

Upon completion of this offering, we will be subject to the information requirements of the Exchange Act and will file annual, quarterly and current event reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You can read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the Internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

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INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

     Page  

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

     F-2  

Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2020

     F-3  

Statement of Operations for the Period from July  8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

     F-4  

Statement of Changes in Stockholder’s Equity for the Period from July 8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

     F-5  

Statement of Cash Flows for the Period from July  8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

     F-6  

Notes to Financial Statements for the Period from July  8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

     F-7  

 

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholder and Board of Directors of

CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of CF Acquisition Corp. VIII (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholder’s equity and cash flows for the period from July 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from July 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.

New York, New York

March 15, 2021

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Balance Sheet

December 31, 2020

 

Assets:

  

Cash

   $ 25,000  
  

 

 

 

Total Assets

   $ 25,000  
  

 

 

 

Liabilities and Stockholder’s Equity:

  

Current liabilities:

  

Accounts payable

   $ 1,421  
  

 

 

 

Total Current Liabilities

     1,421  
  

 

 

 

Commitments and Contingencies

  

Stockholder’s Equity:

  

Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding

     —    

Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 160,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding

     —    

Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 40,000,000 shares authorized; 6,325,000 shares issued and outstanding(1)

     633  

Additional paid-in capital

     24,367  

Accumulated deficit

     (1,421
  

 

 

 

Total Stockholder’s Equity

     23,579  
  

 

 

 

Total Liabilities and Stockholder’s Equity

   $ 25,000  
  

 

 

 

 

(1)

This number includes up to 825,000 shares of Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. This number has been adjusted to reflect the recapitalization of the Company in the form of a 1.1-for-1 stock split (see Note 6).

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Statement of Operations

For the period from July 8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

 

General and administrative expenses

   $ 1,421  
  

 

 

 

Net loss

   $ (1,421
  

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted(1)

     5,500,000  
  

 

 

 

Basic and diluted net loss per share

   $ (0.00
  

 

 

 

 

(1)

Excludes an aggregate of up to 825,000 shares of Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriter. This number has been adjusted to reflect the recapitalization of the Company in the form of a 1.1-for-1 stock split (see Note 6).

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Statement of Changes in Stockholder’s Equity

For the period from July 8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

 

    Common Stock     Additional
Paid-In
Capital
    Accumulated
Deficit
    Total
Stockholder’s
Equity
 
    Class A     Class B  
    Shares     Amount     Shares     Amount  

Balance — July 8, 2020 (inception)

    —       $ —         —       $ —       $ —       $ —       $ —    

Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor(1)

    —         —         6,325,000       633       24,367         25,000  

Net loss

    —         —         —         —         —         (1,421     (1,421
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Balance — December 31, 2020

    —       $ —         6,325,000     $ 633     $ 24,367     $ (1,421   $ 23,579  
 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

This number includes up to 825,000 shares of Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. This number has been adjusted to reflect the recapitalization of the Company in the form of a 1.1-for-1 stock split (see Note 6).

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Statement of Cash Flows

For the period from July 8, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020

 

Cash Flows from Operating Activities:

  

Net loss

   $ (1,421

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

  

Accounts payable

     1,421  
  

 

 

 

Net cash used in operating activities

     —    
  

 

 

 

Cash Flows from Financing Activities:

  

Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor

     25,000  
  

 

 

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

     25,000  
  

 

 

 

Net increase in cash

     25,000  

Cash — beginning of the period

     —    
  

 

 

 

Cash — end of the period

   $ 25,000  
  

 

 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

1. Description of Business and Operations

Description of Business — CF Acquisition Corp. VIII (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on July 8, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”).

Although the Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purpose of consummating a Business Combination, the Company intends to focus its search on companies operating in the financial services, healthcare, real estate services, technology and software industries. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not yet commenced operations. All activity through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and the proposed initial public offering (“Proposed Public Offering”) described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash from the proceeds derived from the Proposed Public Offering. The Company has selected December 31st as its fiscal year end.

The Company’s sponsor is CFAC Holdings VIII, LLC (the “Sponsor”). The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources through the Proposed Public Offering of 22,000,000 units (each, a “Unit” and collectively, the “Units”) at a purchase price of $10.00 per unit (or 25,300,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), which is discussed in Note 3. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50. Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of the Business Combination or 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering and will expire 5 years after the completion of the Business Combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. The Company has granted the underwriter a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,300,000 Units to cover over-allotments, if any. The Sponsor has committed to purchase 540,000 units (each, a “Private Placement Unit” and collectively, the “Private Placement Units”) at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement Unit (for a total purchase price of $5,400,000) in a private placement to the Sponsor that will close simultaneously with the Proposed Public Offering.

Initial Business Combination — The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering and the sale of Private Placement Units, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete one or more initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (as defined below) (excluding taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. However, the Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, management has agreed that an amount equal to at least $10.00 per Unit sold in the Proposed Public Offering, including the proceeds of the Private Placement Units, will be held in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), located in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

1. Description of Business and Operations  (cont.)

 

Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of paragraphs (d)(2), (d)(3) and (d)(4) of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.

The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding shares of its Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class A common stock”) sold in the Proposed Public Offering (the “Public Stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares (as defined below in Note 3) for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $10.00 per Public Share).These Public Shares will be recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity”. In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon such consummation of a Business Combination and a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. If a stockholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transactions is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or legal reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. Additionally, each Public Stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed Business Combination. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the initial stockholders (as defined below) have agreed to vote their Founder Shares (as defined below in Note 4), their shares underlying the Private Placement Units and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Proposed Public Offering in favor of a Business Combination. In addition, the initial stockholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and any Public Shares held by the initial stockholders in connection with the completion of a Business Combination.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that a Public Stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Class A common stock sold in the Proposed Public Offering, without the prior consent of the Company.

The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors (the “initial stockholders”) have agreed not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (i) that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with its initial Business

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

1. Description of Business and Operations  (cont.)

 

Combination or to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, unless the Company provides the Public Stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock in conjunction with any such amendment.

Failure to Consummate a Business Combination — If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering (the “Combination Period”), the Company 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 to pay taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

The initial stockholders have agreed to waive their liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares and the Private Placement Shares (as defined in Note 4) if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the initial stockholders acquire Public Shares in or after the Proposed Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the residual assets remaining available for distribution (including Trust Account assets) will be less than $10.00 per share initially held in the Trust Account. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account or to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Proposed Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation — The financial statements are presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies  (cont.)

 

In connection with the Company’s going concern considerations as of December 31, 2020, in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements — Going Concern, the Company does not have sufficient liquidity to meet its current obligations. However, management has determined that the Company has access to funds from the Sponsor, and the Sponsor agrees to make those funds available and has financial wherewithal, along with an affiliate of the Sponsor, to provide such funds, that are sufficient to fund the working capital needs until the earlier of the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering or a minimum of one year from the date of issuance of these financial statements.

Emerging Growth Company — The Company is an “emerging growth company”, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company, which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company, which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Use of Estimates — The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.

Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.

Deferred Offering Costs — The Company will incur deferred offering costs in connection with the Proposed Public Offering. Deferred offering costs will consist of fees incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Proposed Public Offering and that will be charged to stockholder’s equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering. Should the Proposed Public Offering prove to be unsuccessful, these

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies  (cont.)

 

deferred costs, as well as additional expenses to be incurred, will be charged to operations. The Company did not have any deferred offering costs as of December 31, 2020.

Income Taxes — Income taxes are accounted for under ASC Topic 740, Income Taxes, using the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. To the extent that it is more likely than not that deferred tax assets will not be recognized, a valuation allowance would be established to offset their benefit.

ASC Topic 740 prescribes a recognition threshold that a tax position is required to meet before being recognized in the financial statements. The Company provides for uncertain tax positions, based upon management’s assessment of whether a tax benefit is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by tax authorities. The Company recognizes interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as provision for income taxes on the statement of operations.

No amounts were accrued for the payment of interest and penalties for the period from July 8, 2020 through December 31, 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position.

The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception. The provision for income taxes was deemed to be de minimis for the period from July 8, 2020 through December 31, 2020. The Company’s deferred tax assets were deemed to be de minimis as of December 31, 2020.

Net Loss per Common Share — The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share”. Net loss per common share is computed by dividing net loss applicable to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period, excluding shares of common stock subject to forfeiture by the initial stockholders. Weighted average common shares were reduced for the effect of an aggregate of 825,000 shares of common stock that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriter (see Note 6). As of December 31, 2020, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into shares of common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted loss per common share is the same as basic loss per common share for the period presented.

Concentration of Credit Risk — Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times may exceed the Federal depository insurance coverage of $250,000. As of December 31, 2020, the Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.

Financial Instruments — The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement”, approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements — The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.

3. Proposed Public Offering

Pursuant to the Proposed Public Offering, the Company intends to offer for sale 22,000,000 Units (plus up to an additional 3,300,000 Units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) at a price of $10.00 per

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

3. Proposed Public Offering  (cont.)

 

Unit. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock (such shares of Class A common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant (each, a “Public Warrant”). Each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 6). No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole warrants will trade.

4. Related Party Transactions

Founder Shares

On July 8, 2020, the Sponsor purchased 5,750,000 shares (the “Founder Shares”) of the Company’s Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 (“Class B common stock”) for an aggregate price of $25,000. On March 8, 2021, the Sponsor transferred an aggregate of 20,000 Founder Shares to independent directors of the Company. On March 11, 2021, the Company effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 Founder Shares outstanding and held by the Sponsor and independent directors of the Company. Up to 825,000 Founder Shares are subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full. The Founder Shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of the Company’s initial Business Combination and are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in Note 6. Information contained in the financial statements has been retroactively adjusted for this split.

The initial stockholders have agreed to forfeit up to 825,000 Founder Shares to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriter. The forfeiture will be adjusted to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriter so that the Founder Shares will represent 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Proposed Public Offering (not including the Private Placement Shares, as defined below).

The initial stockholders will agree, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of its Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination or (B) subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20-trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Private Placement Units

The Sponsor has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 Private Placement Units at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement Unit ($5,400,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock (the “Private Placement Shares”) and one-fourth of one warrant (the “Private Placement Warrant”). Each whole warrant sold as part of each Private Placement Unit is exercisable for one whole share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share.

The proceeds from the Private Placement Units will be added to the proceeds from the Proposed Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the warrants included in the Private Placement Units will expire worthless. The warrants

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

4. Related Party Transactions  (cont.)

 

included in the Private Placement Units will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees. The warrants will expire five years after the completion of the Company’s Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

The Sponsor has entered into a letter agreement with the Company pursuant to which it has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to the shares underlying the Private Placement Units in connection with the completion of the Business Combination or otherwise.

The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors have agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Private Placement Units until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.

Underwriter

The lead underwriter is an affiliate of the Sponsor (see Note 5).

Related Party Loans

On December 7, 2020, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of the Proposed Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). The Note is non-interest bearing and will be repaid upon the earlier of December 31, 2021, or the completion of the Proposed Public Offering. To date, the Company had no amounts outstanding under the Note.

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination after the Proposed Public Offering and prior to the Company’s initial Business Combination, the Sponsor has committed up to $1,750,000 to be provided to the Company to fund the Company’s expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements, including $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services that will be paid to the Sponsor (the “Sponsor Loan”).

If the $1,750,000 loan agreed to be funded by the Sponsor is insufficient to cover the working capital requirements of the Company, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest. As of December 31, 2020, no amount of the Sponsor Loan and Working Capital Loans were outstanding.

Forward Purchase Contract

The Company’s Sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of an initial Business Combination, 1,000,000 Units on substantially the same terms as the sale of Units in the Proposed Public Offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration).

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

4. Related Party Transactions  (cont.)

 

Administrative Support Agreement

The Company has agreed to pay $10,000 a month to the Sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. Services will commence on the date the securities are first listed on the Nasdaq and will terminate upon the earlier of the consummation by the Company of a Business Combination or the liquidation of the Company.

5. Commitments and Contingencies

Registration Rights

The holders of Founder Shares and Private Placement Units (and component securities) will be entitled to registration rights (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion of such shares to shares of Class A common stock) pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed on or before the date of the prospectus for the Proposed Public Offering. These holders will be entitled to certain demand and “piggyback” registration rights. However, the registration rights agreement provides that the Company will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until the termination of the applicable lock-up period for the securities to be registered. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Underwriting Agreement

The Company will grant Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the underwriter and an affiliate of the Sponsor, a 45-day option to purchase up to 3,300,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Proposed Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

The underwriter will be entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per Unit, or $4,400,000 in the aggregate, even if the underwriters’ over-allotment is exercised in full, payable upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. The Company also engaged a qualified independent underwriter to participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standards of “due diligence” in respect thereto. The Company agreed to pay the independent underwriter a fee of $100,000 upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering in consideration for its services and expenses as the qualified independent underwriter. The independent underwriter will receive no other compensation.

Business Combination Marketing Agreement

The Company has engaged Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. as an advisor in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination to assist the Company in holding meetings with its stockholders to discuss the potential Business Combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce the Company to potential investors that are interested in purchasing the Company’s securities, assist the Company in obtaining stockholder approval for the Business Combination and assist the Company with its press releases and public filings in connection with the Business Combination. The Company will pay Cantor Fitzgerald &Co. a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of the Business Combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5% of the base offering and 5.5% of the gross proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering, including any proceeds from the full or partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

Risks and Uncertainties

Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have an effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations, the close of the Proposed Public Offering and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

 

6. Stockholder’s Equity

Class A Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 160,000,000 shares of Class A common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2020, there were no shares of Class A common stock issued or outstanding.

Class B Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 40,000,000 shares of Class B common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of Class B common stock are entitled to one vote for each share. On July 8, 2020, the Sponsor purchases 5,750,000 Founder Shares of the Company’s Class B common stock for an aggregate price of $25,000. In March 8, 2021, the Sponsor transferred an aggregate of 20,000 Founder Shares to independent directors of the Company. On March 11, 2021, the Company effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 Founder Shares outstanding and held by the Sponsor and independent directors of the Company. Up to 825,000 Founder Shares are subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full, so that the initial stockholders will collectively own 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock after the Proposed Public Offering (not including Private Placement Shares). Information contained in the financial statements has been retroactively adjusted for this split.

Only holders of Class B common stock will vote on the election of directors until completion of the Business Combination. Other than as described above, Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all other matters submitted to a vote of stockholders except as required by law.

The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of the initial Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts offered in the Proposed Public Offering and related to the closing of the initial Business Combination, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering plus all shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the initial Business Combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial Business Combination and any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to the Sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to the Company).

Preferred Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of December 31, 2020, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.

Warrants — As of December 31, 2020, there were no warrants outstanding. Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

6. Stockholder’s Equity  (cont.)

 

Combination or (b) 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering; provided in each case that the Company has an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available. The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of a Business Combination, the Company will use its commercially reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Company will use its commercially reasonable best efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the Public Warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

The warrants included in the Private Placement Units will be identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units being sold in the Proposed Public Offering, except that the warrants included in the Private Placement Units and the Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the warrants included in the Private Placement Units will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the warrants included in the Private Placement Units will be exercisable on a cashless basis and be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the warrants included in the Private Placement Units are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the warrants included in the Private Placement Units will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.

The Company may redeem the Public Warrants (except with respect to the warrants included in the Private Placement Units):

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

at any time during the exercise period;

 

   

upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption;

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Company’s common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share for any 20-trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third business day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and

 

   

if, and only if, there is a current registration statement in effect with respect to the shares of common stock underlying such warrants.

If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis”, as described in the warrant agreement.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

Notes to Financial Statements

6. Stockholder’s Equity  (cont.)

 

The exercise price and number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuance of Class A common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.

7. Subsequent Events

On March 11, 2021, the Company effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 Founder Shares outstanding and held by the Sponsor and independent directors of the Company. Up to 825,000 Founder Shares are subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full. Information contained in the financial statements has been retroactively adjusted for this split.

On March 8,2021, the Sponsor transferred an aggregate of 20,000 Founder Shares to independent directors of the Company.

The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occur after the balance sheet date through March 15 2021, the date that the financial statements were available to be issued. Other than as described above, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.

 

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22,000,000 Units

CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

 

 

PROSPECTUS

 

 

Sole Book-Running Manager

Cantor

Until April 5, 2021 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade our Class A common stock, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to its unsold allotments or subscriptions.

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to provide you with different information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

No dealer, salesperson or any other person is authorized to give any information or make any representations in connection with this offering other than those contained in this prospectus and, if given or made, the information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized by us. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security other than the securities offered by this prospectus, or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities by anyone in any jurisdiction in which the offer or solicitation is not authorized or is unlawful.

 

 

 


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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

22,000,000 Units

 

 

This prospectus has been prepared for and will be used by Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., or CF&Co, in connection with offers and sales of our units in certain market making transactions effected from time to time for 30 days following the date of this prospectus. These transactions may occur in the open market or may be privately negotiated at prevailing market prices at the time of sales, at prices related thereto or at negotiated prices. We will not receive any proceeds of such transactions. CF&Co has no obligation to make a market in our units, and may discontinue such activities at any time without notice, at its sole discretion. All such transactions with respect to our securities that are made pursuant to a prospectus after the date of this prospectus are being made solely pursuant to this prospectus, as it may be supplemented from time to time.

Our units have been approved to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “CFFEU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We expect the Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless CF&Co informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our satisfaction of certain conditions. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “CFFE” and “CFFEW,” respectively.

 

 

We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 40 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

Cantor

March 11, 2021


Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

     Page No.  

Summary

     1  

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

     38  

Risk Factors

     40  

Use of Proceeds

     83  

Dividend Policy

     88  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     92  

Proposed Business

     99  

Management

     135  

Principal Stockholders

     147  

Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions

     150  

Description of Securities

     154  

United States Federal Income Tax Considerations

     171  

Plan of Distribution

     Alt-24  

Legal Matters

     187  

Experts

     187  

Where You Can Find Additional Information

     187  

Index to Financial Statements

     F-1  

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information, and we take no responsibility for any other information others may give to you. We are not, and CF&Co is not, making an offer to sell securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

Trademarks

This prospectus contains references to trademarks and service marks belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that the applicable licensor will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

 

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The Offering

In deciding whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the backgrounds of the members of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company and the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors.” Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus, or the context otherwise requires, references to “this offering” refer to our initial public offering.

 

Nasdaq symbols

Units: “CFFEU”

 

  Class A Common Stock: “CFFE”

 

  Warrants: “CFFEW”

 

Trading commencement and separation of Class A common stock and warrants

The units will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We expect the Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless CF&Co informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase a multiple of four units, the number of warrants issuable to you upon separation of the units will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of warrants.

 

Separate trading of the Class A common stock and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K

In no event will the Class A common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the SEC containing an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of our initial public offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of our initial public offering, which closing is anticipated to take place three business days from the date of this prospectus. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

 

Exercisability

Each whole warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of our Class A common stock and only whole warrants are exercisable.

 

 

We structured each unit to contain one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock, as compared to units issued by some other similar

 

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blank check companies which contain whole warrants exercisable for one whole share, in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of an initial business combination as compared to units that each contain a warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive initial business combination partner for target businesses.

 

Exercise price

$11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination (not including any securities to be issued in connection with the forward purchase agreement to be entered into with our sponsor) at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors, and in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor, initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by them prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of each warrant will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) such that the effective exercise price per full share will be equal to 115% of the higher of (i) the Market Value and (ii) the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of warrants for cash” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of (i) the Market Value and (ii) the Newly Issued Price.

 

Exercise period

The warrants will become exercisable on the later of:

 

   

30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, or

 

   

12 months from the closing of our initial public offering;

 

  provided in each case that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement).

 

 

We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days

 

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after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrantholders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

 

  The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation; provided, however, that the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g). On the exercise of any warrant, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.

 

Redemption of warrants

Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the date

 

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on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrantholders.

 

  We will not redeem the warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our commercially reasonable best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in our initial public offering.

 

  If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. Please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants” for additional information.

 

  None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

 

Election of directors; voting rights

Prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of the Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by at least 90% of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including any vote in

 

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connection with our initial business combination, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, holders of our Class A common stock and holders of our Class B common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.

 

Private placement at initial business combination

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a forward purchase contract with us, to purchase, in a private placement for gross proceeds of $10,000,000 to occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination, 1,000,000 of our units on substantially the same terms as the sale of units in our initial public offering at $10.00 per unit, and 250,000 shares of Class A common stock (for no additional consideration). The funds from the sale of units will be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination; any excess funds from this private placement will be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. This commitment is independent of the percentage of stockholders electing to redeem their public shares and provides us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination.

 

Founder shares

In July 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In addition, in March 2021, our sponsor transferred 10,000 founder shares to each of Mr. Robert Hochberg and Ms. Charlotte Blechman, our independent directors (none of which are subject to forfeiture in the event that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). On March 11, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 6,325,000 founder shares outstanding and held by our initial stockholders (up to 825,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full). Prior to the initial investment in the company by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the aggregate number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). As such, our initial stockholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in our initial public offering and not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units). Neither our sponsor nor any of our officers or directors have expressed an intention to purchase any units in our initial public offering. Up to 825,000 founder shares will be subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised so that our initial stockholders will maintain ownership of 20% of our common stock after our initial public offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units).

 

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  The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in our initial public offering, except that:

 

   

only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination;

 

   

the founder shares are shares of Class B common stock that automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein;

 

   

the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below;

 

   

our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

 

   

pursuant to a letter agreement with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares and private placement shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all

 

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outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised); and

 

   

the founder shares are entitled to registration rights.

 

Transfer restrictions on founder shares

Our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares or any of the additional 250,000 shares of Class A common stock issuable to our sponsor at the time of the initial business combination pursuant to the forward purchase contract, until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property (except as described herein under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units”). Any permitted transferees will be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders with respect to any founder shares. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up.

 

Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights

The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in this prospectus and related to the closing of the initial business combination, including pursuant to a specified future issuance, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance, including a specified future issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon the completion of our initial public offering (not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units) plus all shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any

 

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seller in the initial business combination and any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us and any securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract).

 

  The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt. Securities could be “deemed issued” for purposes of the conversion rate adjustment if such shares are issuable upon the conversion or exercise of convertible securities, warrants or similar securities.

 

Voting Rights

Holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, with each share of common stock entitling the holder to one vote per share, except with respect to the voting for directors prior to our initial business combination as set forth above.

 

Private placement units and underlying securities

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units, at a price of $10.00 per unit ($5,400,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. The private placement units are identical to the units sold in our initial public offering except that the private placement warrants included therein, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) will be entitled to registration rights and (v) for so long as they are held by our sponsor, will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(g). A portion of the purchase price of the private placement units will be added to the proceeds from our initial public offering to be held in the trust account such that at the time of closing $220.0 million (or $253.0 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full) will be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the proceeds from the sale of the private placement units held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the private placement units will expire worthless.

 

 

The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held

 

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by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in our initial public offering.

 

Transfer restrictions on private placement units and underlying securities

The private placement units (including the underlying private placement warrants, the private placement shares and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except as described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders — Restrictions on Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Units and Forward Purchase Units”).

 

Cashless exercise of private placement warrants

If holders of private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average volume weighted average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following an initial business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who could sell the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants freely in the open market, the insiders could be significantly restricted from doing so. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

 

Proceeds to be held in trust account

Nasdaq rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement units must be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement units, $220,000,000, or $10.00 per unit ($253,000,000, or $10.00 per unit, if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be placed into a trust account in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.

 

 

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proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement units will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (a) the completion of our initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, and (c) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.

 

Anticipated expenses and funding sources

Except as described above with respect to the payment of taxes from interest, unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government securities 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. We will disclose in each quarterly and annual report filed with the SEC prior to our initial business combination whether the proceeds deposited in the trust account are invested in U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds or a combination thereof. Based upon current interest rates, we expect the trust account to generate approximately $220,000 of interest annually assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from:

 

   

the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement units not held in the trust account, which will be approximately $250,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $750,000 in expenses relating to our initial public offering; and

 

   

any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or their affiliates or other third parties, including the $1,750,000 loan commitment made by our sponsor for working capital, although they are under no obligation to advance additional funds or invest in us, and provided that any such loans (i) will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the trust account unless such proceeds are released to us upon completion of an initial business combination and (ii) will not be convertible into our securities and the holders will not have any recourse against us to issue securities in conversion thereof.

 

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Conditions to completing our initial
business combination

So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately, including pursuant to any specified future issuance, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination.

 

 

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition as described above. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% fair market value test. If the initial

 

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business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.

 

Permitted purchases of public shares and public warrants by our affiliates

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination. See “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities” for a description of how our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

 

 

The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders 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

 

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possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our shares of Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

 

Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, 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 $10.00 per public share. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them and any public shares they may acquire during or after our initial public offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or otherwise.

 

  We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements.

 

Manner of conducting redemptions

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial 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 stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically

 

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require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.

 

  If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

   

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.

 

  Such provisions may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon.

 

  Whether or not we maintain our registration under the Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above. Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market, in order 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 stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may

 

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be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.

 

  If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will:

 

   

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.

 

  If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares, private placement shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and private placement shares, we would need only 7,980,001, or 36.3%, of the 22,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised). We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.

 

 

We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on

 

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the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. We believe that this will allow our transfer agent to efficiently process any redemptions without the need for further communication or action from the redeeming public stockholders, which could delay redemptions and result in additional administrative cost. If the proposed initial business combination is not approved and we continue to search for a target company, we will promptly return any certificates delivered, or shares tendered electronically, by public stockholders who elected to redeem their shares.

 

  Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may only redeem our public shares so long as our net tangible assets are at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

 

Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering if we hold a stockholder vote

Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against an initial business combination if such

 

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holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem to no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those stockholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering) for or against our initial business combination.

 

Redemption rights in connection with proposed amendments to our certificate of incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, other than with respect the right of only our holders of shares of Class B common stock to vote for directors prior to our initial business combination, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, or applicable stock exchange rules. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we may not issue additional securities that can vote with common stockholders on matters related to our pre-initial business combination activity, on any amendment to certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or on our initial business combination, or that would entitle holders thereof to receive funds from the trust account. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of our initial public offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in our initial public offering and not including the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement units), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Our sponsor, officers, and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial

 

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public offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.

 

Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination

On the completion of our initial business combination, the funds held in the trust account will be used to pay amounts due to any public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination.” We will use the remaining funds to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination, including the fee payable to CF&Co pursuant to the Business Combination Marketing Agreement described under “Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest) — Business Combination Marketing Agreement,” which fee we refer to throughout this prospectus as the Marketing Fee. 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 common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account, as well as the $10,000,000 private placement described elsewhere in this prospectus, for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

 

Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any),

 

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subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) above to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.

 

  Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares or private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of our initial public offering. However, if our initial stockholders acquire public shares in or after our 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 our initial business combination within the allotted time period.

 

Limited payments to insiders

There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, non-cash payments, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of our initial public offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

 

   

Repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor, which our sponsor has committed to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;

 

   

Repayment to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services, in an amount equal to $10,000 per month;

 

   

Either our sponsor will transfer up to 10,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors or we will pay cash fees to such directors, at our discretion.

 

   

Reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination;

 

   

Repayment of loans, including the $1,750,000 loan commitment made by our sponsor for working capital, which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto (provided that in no event will such loans be convertible into our securities); and

 

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Payment to CF&Co of its underwriting discount, Marketing Fee, fees for any financial advisory, placement agency or other similar investment banking services CF&Co may provide to our company in the future, including in connection with the closing of our initial business combination, and reimbursement of CF&Co for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by it in connection with the performance of such services.

 

  Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.

 

Audit Committee

We have established and maintain an audit committee, which is composed of three directors, including two independent directors, to, among other things, monitor compliance with the terms described above and the other terms relating to our initial public offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to immediately take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of our initial public offering. We intend to appoint one additional independent director to our audit committee to replace our non-independent member within one year following this offering pursuant to the Nasdaq phase-in provisions for initial public offerings. For more information, see the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Committees of the Board of Directors — Audit Committee.”

 

Conflicts of Interest

We, our sponsor and CF&Co are controlled by Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., or Cantor. CF Group Management, Inc. (“CFGM”) is the managing general partner of Cantor and Howard W. Lutnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is the trustee of CFGM’s sole stockholder. Therefore, we are deemed to be an affiliate of CF&Co, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or FINRA. As a result, CF&Co is deemed to have a “conflict of interest” under Rule 5121(f)(5) of the Conduct Rules of FINRA. Accordingly, our initial public offering will be made in compliance with Rule 5121 of FINRA’s Conduct Rules, which prohibits CF&Co from making sales to discretionary accounts without the prior written approval of the account holder and requires that a “qualified independent underwriter,” as defined by FINRA participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standard of due diligence with respect to such document. We have engaged Odeon Capital Group LLC, or Odeon, to be the qualified independent underwriter and participate in the preparation of the registration statement and exercise the usual standards of “due diligence” in respect thereto. We agreed to pay Odeon a fee of $100,000 upon the completion of our initial public offering in consideration for its services and expenses as the qualified independent underwriter. Odeon will receive no other compensation.

 

 

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more of which we may desire to pursue for an initial business combination. While Cantor will not have any duty to offer acquisition opportunities to us, Cantor may become aware of a potential transaction that is an attractive opportunity for us, which Cantor may decide to share with us. In addition, our officers and directors may have a duty to offer acquisition opportunities to other entities to which they owe duties or clients of affiliates of our sponsor.

 

  As a result, affiliates of our sponsor and their respective clients may compete with us for acquisition opportunities in the same industries and sectors as we may target for our initial business combination. If any of them decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas generated within Cantor, including by any of our officers and other persons who may make decisions for the company, may be suitable both for us and for affiliates of our sponsor or any of their respective clients, and will be directed initially to such persons rather than to us. None of Cantor nor members of our management team who are also employed by Cantor or any of its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware unless it is offered to them solely in their capacity as a director or officer of the Company and after they have satisfied their contractual and fiduciary obligations to other parties.

 

  Our sponsor, officers, directors, Cantor and their affiliates may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve, or will serve, as executive officers or directors of the Prior Cantor SPACs and Cantor SPAC VII, each of which is, or will be, focused on searching for businesses that may provide significant opportunities for attractive investor returns in industries similar to the industries in which our search is focused. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved.

 

 

As described herein, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated) and Cantor SPAC VII. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, including the Prior Cantor SPACs (including

 

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Cantor SPAC III only in the event that the transaction with AEye is not consummated), he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first. In particular, subject to a Prior Cantor SPAC’s focus on targets with a specific range of enterprise values, a particular target’s cash and other deal requirements, the ongoing discussions and negotiations with other targets by a Prior Cantor SPAC at such time, a potential business combination opportunity will be offered to the Prior Cantor SPACs and us by order of the closing date of each such SPAC’s initial public offering and investors are advised that based on the foregoing our directors and officers who are also directors and officers of any of the Prior Cantor SPACs have discretion in determining whether a potential target is directed towards us or any Prior Cantor SPAC, and, as such, potential targets may be directed or introduced to a Prior Cantor SPAC even though such target may be an opportunity for our company. Our officers and directors will only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us (including as described above). 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. In addition, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of Cantor SPAC VII, a blank check company that is in the process of completing its initial public offering as of the date of this prospectus and may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target.

 

  The potential conflicts described above may limit our ability to enter into a business combination or other transactions. These circumstances could give rise to numerous situations where interests may conflict. There can be no assurance that these or other conflicts of interest with the potential for adverse effects on the Company and investors will not arise.

 

  Notwithstanding the foregoing, we may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We do not expect that we would pursue any such opportunity with a Prior Cantor SPAC. This would only occur, though, if (i) permitted by applicable regulatory and other legal limitations; (ii) we and Cantor considered a transaction to be mutually beneficial to us as well as the affiliated entity; and (iii) other business reasons exist to do so, such as the strategic merits of including such co-investors, the need for additional capital beyond the amount held in our trust account to fund the initial business combination and/or the desire to obtain committed capital for closing the initial business combination. An Affiliated Joint Acquisition could involve a co-investment with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the initial business combination.

 

Indemnity

Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or

 

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business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds 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, less interest released to pay taxes, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

This prospectus is delivered in connection with the offer and sale of our units by CF&Co in certain market making transactions. We will not receive any of the proceeds from these transactions.

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

This prospectus has been prepared for use by CF&Co in connection with offers and sales of our units in certain market making transactions effected from time to time for 30 days following the date of this prospectus. CF&Co may act as a principal in these transactions. These sales will be made at prevailing market prices at the time of sale, at prices related thereto or at negotiated prices. We will not receive any of the proceeds of these transactions.

Our sponsor, an affiliate of CF&Co, owns 6,325,000 shares of our Class B common stock and has also committed to purchase an aggregate of 540,000 private placement units for an aggregate purchase price of $5,400,000 (or $10.00 per unit), representing approximately 21.5% of our outstanding shares of common stock in the aggregate. Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering. In addition, our sponsor has made a $1,750,000 loan commitment to us to fund our expenses relating to investigating and selecting a target business and other working capital requirements.

We agreed to file a “market making” prospectus in order to allow CF&Co to engage in market making activities for our units for 30 days following the date of this prospectus. CF&Co acted as a lead underwriter in our recently completed initial public offering of securities. Purchases and sales in the open market by CF&Co may include short sales, purchases to cover short positions, which may include purchases pursuant to the over-allotment option and stabilizing purchases, in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Purchases to cover short positions and stabilizing purchases, as well as other purchases by the underwriters for their own account, may have the effect of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the units. They may also cause the price of the units to be higher than the price that would otherwise exist in the open market in the absence of these transactions. The underwriters may conduct these transactions in the over-the-counter market or otherwise. If the underwriters commence any of these transactions, it may discontinue them at any time.

We have been advised by CF&Co that, following the pricing of our initial public offering, it currently intends to engage in market making transactions for our units as permitted by applicable laws and regulations. However, CF&Co is not obligated to do so and CF&Co may discontinue its market making activities at any time without notice. In addition, such market making activity will be subject to the limits imposed by the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. Accordingly, no assurance can be given as to the liquidity of the trading market for our units, that you will be able to sell any of our units held by you at a particular time or that the prices that you receive when you sell will be favorable. See “Risk Factors — There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.”

We have agreed to indemnify CF&Co and other underwriters in our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute to payments CF&Co may be required to make because of any of those liabilities.

Except as described under the section titled “Business Combination Marketing Agreement” below, we are not under any contractual obligation to engage CF&Co to provide any services for us after our initial public offering, and have no present intention to do so. However, CF&Co may introduce us to potential target businesses or assist us in raising additional capital in the future. If CF&Co provides services to us in the future, we may pay CF&Co fair and reasonable fees that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with CF&Co and no fees for such services will be

 

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paid to CF&Co prior to the date that is 90 days from the date of this prospectus, unless FINRA determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with our initial public offering and we may pay the underwriters of our initial public offering or any entity with which it is affiliated a finder’s fee or other compensation for services rendered to us in connection with the completion of an initial business combination.

CF&Co and its affiliates may in the future engage in, investment banking and other commercial dealings in the ordinary course of business with us or our affiliates, for which it may in the future receive, customary fees and commissions for any such transactions.

In addition, in the ordinary course of their business activities, CF&Co and its affiliates may make or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities) and financial instruments (including bank loans) for their own account and for the accounts of their customers. Such investments and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments of ours or our affiliates. CF&Co and its affiliates may also make investment recommendations and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such securities or financial instruments and may hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in such securities and instruments.

Business Combination Marketing Agreement

We have engaged CF&Co as an advisor in connection with our business combination to assist us in holding meetings with our stockholders to discuss the potential business combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce us to potential investors that are interested in purchasing our securities, assist us in obtaining stockholder approval for the business combination and assist us with our press releases and public filings in connection with the business combination. We will pay CF&Co a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the base offering and 5.5% of the gross proceeds from the full or partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. As a result, CF&Co will not be entitled to such fee unless we consummate our initial business combination.

 

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CF Acquisition Corp. VIII

22,000,000 Units

March 11, 2021

Cantor

Until April 5, 2021 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade our Class A common stock, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to its unsold allotments or subscriptions.