AEON Biopharma, Inc. 10-K

Item 1. Business Introduction We are a blank check company incorporated in November 2020 as a Delaware corporation whose business purpose is to effect 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 Annual Report as our initial business combination. While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any industry or sector, we intend to focus on the medical technology sector. Our management team and board (collectively referred to as the “team”) possess a synergistic combination of executive, strategic, operational, financial and transactional experience in this sector, and have demonstrated a strong track record of identifying and creating significant stockholder value at leading medical technology companies. We believe that the experience and expertise of our team will make us an attractive partner to potential target businesses, enhance our ability to complete a successful business combination and bring value to the business following our initial business combination. Our objective is to generate attractive returns for stockholders and enhance value through both operational improvements and new initiatives to expand the target business organically and/or by strategic acquisitions. Given our team’s extensive work and business relationships within the medical technology sector, we have direct visibility into the growth prospects and developmental promise of differentiated medical technology companies. Our team has decades of experience identifying and understanding the key fundamental theses of our targeted businesses and how management teams can better execute on their stated strategies to deliver value. Our team’s past experiences provide a differentiated set of skills that other companies and SPACs may not possess. We believe that our team’s expertise, experience and network in the medical technology sector provide us with a significant advantage in identifying attractive investments and consummating an initial business combination that will be well-received in the public markets. Company History On December 17, 2020, the sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 5,750,000 founder shares. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of our initial public offering would be a maximum of 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering. On February 8, 2021, as part of an upsizing of the IPO, we effected a stock split in which each issued share of Class B Common Stock that was outstanding was converted into one and two tenths shares of Class B Common Stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 shares of Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding. The founder shares are automatically convertible into Class A Common Stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. On February 11, 2021, we completed our IPO of 27,600,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit (the “units”), generating gross proceeds of  $276,000,000. Each unit consists of one of share of our Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at a price of  $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments. Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,213,333 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $7,820,000 in the aggregate. A total of $276,000,000, including $9,660,000 of the underwriters’ deferred discount, was placed in a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. 1 Table of Contents On February 15, 2021, we issued an unsecured convertible promissory note to our sponsor, pursuant to which we may borrow up to $1,500,000 from our sponsor for ongoing expenses reasonably related to our business and the consummation of our initial business combination. All unpaid principal under the convertible note will be due and payable in full on the earlier of (i) August 11, 2023 and (ii) the effective date of our initial business combination. Our sponsor will have the option, at any time on or prior to such maturity date, to convert any amounts outstanding under the convertible note into warrants to purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at a conversion price of $1.50 per warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder to purchase one share of our Class A Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to the same adjustments applicable to the private placement warrants sold concurrently with our initial public offering (“working capital warrants”). On June 28, 2021, our sponsor elected to convert $100,000 of outstanding principal under this unsecured convertible promissory note into, and we issued, 66,667 working capital warrants. As of December 31, 2021, the company had no borrowings under this unsecured convertible promissory note. On March 25, 2021, we announced that, commencing April 1, 2021, holders of the 27,600,000 units sold in the IPO may elect to separately trade the shares of Class A Common Stock and the warrants included in the units. Those units not separated continued to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “PMGMU” and the shares of Class A Common Stock and warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “PMGM” and “PMGMW,” respectively. Business Combination Initial Business Combination 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 the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case. We anticipate structuring our initial business combination 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. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act 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 business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock 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 the 80% of net assets test described above. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review, which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with members of the target’s management and other employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial, clinical and other information about the target and its industry. We will call upon Mr. Palmisano, Mr. Malik and Mr. Grodnensky’s own experience, as well as their network of relationships with chief executive officers, board members and members of executive management teams to provide specialized insights into their areas of expertise as well as leverage their operational and capital planning experience. 2 Table of Contents Business Combination Agreement – Proposed Business Combination with AEON Biopharma, Inc. On December 12, 2022, we entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) with Priveterra Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”) and AEON Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“AEON”). The Business Combination Agreement provides, among other things, that on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into AEON, with AEON surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company (the “Merger”). Upon the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”), the company will change its name to “AEON Biopharma, Inc.” and its ticker symbol on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) is expected to change to “AEON”. The date on which the Closing occurs is hereinafter referred to as the “Closing Date.” The proposed business combination with AEON was announced in the company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 12, 2022. The Business Combination Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby were approved by the boards of directors of each of the company and AEON. We intend to effectuate our proposed initial business combination with AEON using a combination of cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering (and the concurrent private placement of the private placement warrants), the proceeds of the sale of our shares to private investors in connection with our initial business combination and shares issued to the stockholders of AEON, as described below. In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, AEON and the company entered into interim financing letter agreements for an aggregate amount of $20 million (the “Letter Agreements”) with certain investors (the “Investors”), the terms of which provide for the sale and issuance to the Investors of an issued security that will be exchanged or converted at the Closing into Class A Common Stock of the company at a purchase price of $7.00 per the company share. The Letter Agreements will terminate upon the earliest of (a) such date and time as the Business Combination Agreement is validly terminated, (b) upon mutual written agreement of each of the parties to the Letter Agreements, (c) at any time upon the election of the company and AEON at their sole discretion and (d) nine months from the date of the Letter Agreements if the closing of the Business Combination Agreement has not occurred. Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”), (i) each outstanding share of AEON common stock (on an as converted basis after taking into effect the conversion of the outstanding warrants of AEON exercisable for shares of AEON preferred stock, the conversion of the shares of AEON preferred stock into AEON common stock in accordance with the governing documents of AEON as of the Effective Time, the conversion of the outstanding convertible notes of AEON into AEON common stock in accordance with the terms of such convertible notes and after giving effect to the issuance of AEON common stock, if any, in connection with the subsidiary merger (the time on the Closing Date and immediately prior to the Merger when ABP Sub, Inc. (“ABP Sub”) shall merge with and into AEON being referred to herein as the “Subsidiary Merger”)) will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of New AEON common stock equal to the Merger Consideration; and (ii) each outstanding AEON option (including each Subsidiary Rollover Option) will be converted into an option to purchase a number of shares of New AEON common stock equal to (A) the number of shares of AEON common stock subject to such option immediately prior to the Effective Time, multiplied by (B) the Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share equal to the exercise price per share for such option as of immediately prior to the Closing divided by the Exchange Ratio. 3 Table of Contents In addition, upon the achievement of certain clinical development milestones, certain AEON Stockholders will be entitled to receive up to 16,000,000 additional shares of New AEON common stock (the “Earnout Shares”), which will be issued as follows: (i) 1,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, if, on or before June 30, 2025, AEON has commenced a Phase 3 clinical study for the treatment of chronic or episodic migraine; (ii) 4,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, if, on or before November 30, 2026, AEON has received from the FDA acceptance for review of the Biologics License Application within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the FDA (the “BLA”) submitted by AEON for the treatment of cervical dystonia; (iii) 4,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, if, on or before June 30, 2029, AEON has received from the FDA acceptance for review of the BLA submitted by AEON for the treatment of episodic migraine, provided that this number will increase to 11,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock if this milestone is reached prior to FDA acceptance for review of the BLA submitted by AEON for the treatment of chronic migraine; and (iv) 7,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock if, on or before June 30, 2028, AEON has received from the FDA acceptance for review of the BLA submitted by AEON for the treatment of chronic migraine, provided, however, that if AEON has achieved the episodic migraine milestone pursuant to the proviso to the foregoing clause (iii) entitling AEON Stockholders to 11,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, this contingent consideration will be reduced to 0 shares of New AEON common stock. Additionally, the first payment of any Earnout Shares upon the achievement of the milestones above will include, in addition to such Earnout Shares, a number of the shares of Class B Common Stock initially purchased by the Sponsor and the shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion thereof (the “Founder Shares”) equal to the Sponsor Forfeiture Amount in accordance with the sponsor support agreement the Sponsor entered into with the company and AEON (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”). These 16,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock are referred to as the “Contingent Consideration.” Subject to certain exceptions, if a change of control of New AEON occurs following the Closing, then any Contingent Consideration that remains unissued as of immediately prior to the consummation of such change of control will immediately become payable and certain of the former holders of shares of AEON preferred stock and AEON common stock will be entitled to receive the unissued Contingent Consideration prior to the consummation of such change of control. The parties to the Business Combination Agreement have agreed to customary representations and warranties for transactions of this type. In addition, the parties to the Business Combination Agreement agreed to be bound by certain customary covenants for transactions of this type, including, among others, covenants with respect to the conduct of AEON, the company and their respective subsidiaries during the period between execution of the Business Combination Agreement and Closing. The representations, warranties, agreements and covenants of the parties set forth in the Business Combination Agreement will terminate at Closing, except for those covenants and agreements that, by their terms, contemplate performance after Closing, and certain representations and warranties, as noted in the Business Combination Agreement. Each of the parties to the Business Combination Agreement has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts to take or cause to be taken all actions, and to do or cause to be done all things, reasonably necessary to consummate and expeditiously implement the Merger. Under the Business Combination Agreement, the obligations of the parties to consummate the Merger are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions of the respective parties, including, without limitation: (i) the approval and adoption of the Business Combination Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby by the requisite vote of the company’s stockholders and AEON’s stockholders; (ii) the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended; (iii) the absence of a continuing Company Material Adverse Effect or AEON Material Adverse Effect (each as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) since the date of the Business Combination Agreement; (iv) after giving effect to the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, the company having net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon consummation of the Merger; (v) the company’s initial listing application with Nasdaq in connection with the Merger having been approved and, immediately following the Effective Time, the company having the ability to satisfy the applicable initial and continuing listing requirements of Nasdaq and the shares of the company’s Class A Common Stock have been approved for listing on Nasdaq, subject only to official notice of the issuance thereof; and (vi) the registration statement filed by the company in connection with the transactions contemplated by, and as required by, the Business Combination Agreement, the first draft of which was filed with the SEC on Form S-4 on December 27, 2022 (the “Registration Statement”), has become effective, no stop order has been issued by the SEC and remains in effect with respect to the Registration Statement, and no proceeding seeking such a stop order has been threatened or initiated by the SEC and remains pending. In addition, AEON’s obligation to consummate the Merger is subject to the condition that the Available Closing Cash (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) shall be greater than or equal to $45,000,000. Because the parties’ obligations to consummate the Merger are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of these (and other) conditions, there is no guarantee that the Merger will be consummated. The foregoing description of the Business Combination Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the terms and conditions of the Business Combination Agreement, a copy of which was exhibited as Exhibit 2.1 to the Current 4 Table of Contents Report on Form 8-K filed by the company with the SEC on December 12, 2022, the terms of which are incorporated herein by reference. The Business Combination Agreement also contemplates the execution of various additional agreements and instruments on or before the Closing, including, among others, the sponsor support agreement, the AEON stockholder support agreements, the AEON noteholder support agreements and the interim financing agreements, each of which, or the form of which, is described in and exhibited to (whether directly, or as an annexure or exhibit to another document exhibited to) the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the company with the SEC on December 12, 2022, the terms of each of which are incorporated herein by reference. Corporate Information Our executive offices are located at 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301, and our telephone number is 754-220-9229. 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 (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 our initial public 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. Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals to or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th. 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 calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. The amount in the trust account is $10.00 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our initial stockholders, 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 public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. 5 Table of Contents 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) without a stockholder vote 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. 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. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with Nasdaq’s stockholder approval rules. The requirement that we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above is contained in provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will apply whether or not we maintain our registration under the Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq. Such provisions may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. If we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with a stockholder meeting, 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 any founder shares they hold 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, we would need 10,350,001, or 37.5%, of the 27,600,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted). 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 or whether they were a stockholder on the record date for the stockholder meeting held to approve the proposed transaction. 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: ● 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. 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 not redeem 6 Table of Contents public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. 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. 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. We intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the date on which the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination is to be held. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The 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 indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. 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 or shares delivered by public stockholders who elected to redeem their shares. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. 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 in connection with such initial business combination, and all shares of Class A Common Stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof. We may, however, raise funds through the issuance of 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 consummation of our initial public offering, in order to, among other reasons, satisfy such net tangible assets or minimum cash requirements. Limitation on Redemption Upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Stockholder Approval 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 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 Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares”, without our prior consent. 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 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 our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor 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 our initial public 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 a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. 7 Table of Contents Delivering Stock Certificates in Connection with the Exercise of Redemption Rights As described above, we intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the date on which the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination is to be held. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The 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 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, or from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, as applicable, to submit or tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed. 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 process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC system. The transfer agent will typically charge the broker submitting or tendering shares a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to submit or 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. Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. 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 30 months from the closing of our initial public 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 30 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 24-month period from the closing of our initial public offering or during any Extension 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, 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 24-month time period or during any Extension Period. 8 Table of Contents Our initial stockholders, 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 they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders, sponsor or management team 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 24-month time period. Our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. 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 $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses. If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account and any tax payments or expenses for the dissolution of the trust, 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 $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 (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public 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 consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by 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. The underwriters of our initial public offering and our independent registered public accounting firm will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our 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 other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to 9 Table of Contents 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 public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses. In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per share. We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors. 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 by August 11, 2023 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 by August 11, 2023, 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 by August 11, 2023, 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining 10 Table of Contents 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 24th month and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. 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 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 (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to 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 our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. 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, and 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 (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of our initial business combination. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote. Conflicts of Interest We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm stating that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. 11 Table of Contents Members of our management team and our independent directors will directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following our initial public offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, certain 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 was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides 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 the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Facilities We currently utilize office space at 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 from our sponsor and the members of our management team. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations. Employees We currently have three executive officers: Robert Palmisano, Vikram Malik and Oleg Grodnensky. 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 (including the proposed initial business combination with AEON). The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.