Merlin, Inc. 10-K

Item 1. Business. Overview We are a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company and formed for the purpose of effecting a Business Combination. We have not selected any 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. While we may pursue an initial Business Combination in any sector, we are focusing our efforts on businesses in the technology, media and telecommunications (“TMT”) sector as well as sectors that are being transformed via technology adoption, where we believe our Management Team’s operational and investment expertise will provide us with a competitive advantage. The 2024 SPAC Rules may materially affect our ability to negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination and may increase the costs and time related thereto. Initial Public Offering On November 4, 2024, we consummated our Initial Public Offering of 25,000,000 Units. Each Unit consists of one Public Share and one Public Right, with each whole Public Right entitling the holder thereof to receive one-tenth (1/10) of one Class A Ordinary Share upon the consummation of our Business Combination. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds to our Company of $250,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 425,000 Private Placement Units to our Sponsor in the Private Placement at a purchase price of $10.00 per Private Placement Unit, generating gross proceeds of $4,250,000. A total of $250,000,000 of the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement (which amount includes $9,750,000 of the underwriter’’ deferred discount), was placed in the Trust Account maintained by Continental, acting as trustee. It is the job of our Sponsor and Management to complete our initial Business Combination. Our Management is led by Co-Founders, Michel Combes and Andrew Gundlach, and Robert Folino, our Chief Financial Officer, who have many years of experience in the technology sector. We must complete our initial Business Combination by November 4, 2026, the end of our Combination Period, which is 24 months from the closing of our Initial Public Offering. If our initial Business Combination is not consummated by the end of our Combination Period, then, unless our Board of Directors shall otherwise determine, our existence will terminate, and we will distribute all amounts in the Trust Account. We may seek to extend the Combination Period consistent with applicable laws, regulations and stock exchange rules. Such an extension would require the approval of our Public Shareholders, who will be provided the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares. Such redemptions will likely have a material adverse effect on the amount held in our Trust Account, our capitalization, principal shareholders and other impacts on our Company or Management, such as our ability to maintain our listing on Nasdaq. Management Team We leverage the experience of our Co-Founders, Michel Combes, a member of our Sponsor, and Andrew Gundlach, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Our Co-Founders have both extensive operational and investment experience, serving as Chief Executive Officers and Directors of global public companies and as investors in public and private markets, as well as prior SPAC experience. Furthermore, our Co-Founders have built an extensive network spanning leading private equity and venture capital funds, large corporates and family-owned businesses that we believe will accrue to the benefit of our investors. Our independent directors include: ● Nazim Cetin | Chief Executive Officer and Global Chief Investment Officer of Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz Group 1 ● Joseph Samuels | Investor and Founder of Channel Partners and Islet Capital ● Antoine Theysset | Former SoftBank Investment Advisers Operating Partner ● Pierre Weinstein | Head of Special Situations at Verition Fund Management ● Kathy Savitt | senior operating executive with public and private board experience. Business Strategy We will seek to capitalize on the collective experience and complimentary expertise of our Co-Founders as well as the rest of our Management Team. We believe that they are well-positioned to identify attractive Business Combination opportunities within the technology industry, as well as attractive business opportunities within sectors that are being transformed via technology adoption. Our objectives are to generate attractive returns for shareholders and enhance value through improving operational performance of the acquired company. We favor potential target companies with certain industry and business characteristics that we believe will provide favorable returns for our shareholders, as set forth in “ Investment Criteria ,” below. We believe that we are in the midst of a new wave of transformational change as technology continues to evolve to serve an increasingly digital world. This provides a wide range of potential targets including not only traditional technology companies, but also companies that are in the midst of a technology-driven technological evolution. Below is a sub-set of structural shifts that we believe will create multitudes of potential investment opportunities, including: ● Advanced connectivity driven by digital infrastructure providing global internet access; including remote areas previously unserved by traditional telecommunications networks ● Adoption of AI capabilities such as machine learning and natural-language processing — which is either currently impacting or has the near-term potential to impact effectively all industries ● Continued mobile and digitalization across vast swaths of the economy, and further accelerated via the experience of COVID-19 ● ‘Digital-trust’ technologies facilitating the continued development of online and mobile-first solutions across sensitive sectors (e.g., financial technology, payments, communications, etc.) ● Widespread adoption of cloud computing and other solutions that allow small and medium-sized companies to thrive without incurring substantial fixed costs ● Next-generation software development enabling nontechnical employees and entrepreneurs to create applications and develop solutions that optimize complicated tasks and organizational needs Importantly, we believe that these trends stretch far beyond what is generally considered TMT and provides a much larger landscape of potential investment opportunities. According to the IDC, worldwide spending on Digital Transformation is expected to exceed $4 trillion by 2027, with an estimated annual growth rate of over 16% over the 2022 to 2027 period. This is driven by the continued prioritization of digitization across industries as well as the impact of data intensive tools such as AI. Although we anticipate utilizing a wide lens in anticipating potential opportunities in sectors undergoing technological change, we believe that the following sub-sectors are of particular interest based on our experience, network and focus. ● Artificial intelligence | Companies that benefit from the continued development in artificial intelligence, including workforce augmentation, natural language processing, coding, creative AI and technology underpinning autonomous vehicles ● Business services | Companies that utilize technological solutions to deliver more efficient solutions across a range of activities, including data processing, customer / technical support and others ● Digital infrastructure | Companies that create and manage towers, small cells, fiber optic networks and data centers; which benefit from growing investment in underlying digital advancement ● Edtech | Companies that create technologies to facilitate and enhance the learning experience, including applications, hardware, software and online content delivery 2 ● Financial Services | Companies in the traditional financial services ecosystem that are in the midst of a digital transformation. ● Fintech | Companies that provide more efficient, cheaper and user-friendly financial services to customers or facilitate the infrastructure to provide such services ● Media | Companies that control the distribution (either broadcasting or streaming) and production of media entertainment, including music, cinema, television, sports and video games ● Retail/E-commerce | Companies that enable both individuals and corporates to transact via new channels, including marketplaces, online auctions, travel, payment gateways, aggregators and online ticketing companies ● Software | Companies that aim to develop and provide software on a license or subscription basis across industries and processes While we are focusing on TMT industries, broadly defined, we may ultimately choose to pursue an initial Business Combination in other industries, which we identify as having similarly attractive investment and operating characteristics. To the extent we identify attractive investments outside of the TMT industries, we are applying the same disciplined due diligence, execution and value creation strategies to the investment. With respect to the foregoing experiences of our Management Team (including our Co-Founders), past performance is not a guarantee (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 record of our management team (including our Co-Founders) as indicative of our future performance. For more information on the experience and background of our Management Team, see “ Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance .” of this Report. Competitive Strengths The sourcing, valuation, diligence and execution capabilities of our Co-Founders will provide us with a significant pipeline of opportunities from which to evaluate and select a business that will benefit from our expertise. Our competitive strengths include the following: ● Industry leading executive | We believe the strong track record of Mr. Combes in our target sectors will be viewed favorably by target businesses in need of enhanced management, improved operating processes and controls, better access to industry relationships and strategic planning. ● Public executive experience | We believe that the executive track record of Mr. Combes across a variety of public companies differentiates our vehicle from others and will provide us with unique access to promising opportunities. ● Proprietary sourcing channels | We believe the capabilities and connections associated with our Co-Founders, including those of Bleichroeder, will provide us with a unique pipeline of acquisition opportunities that would be difficult for others to access. This includes decades-long relationships with leading venture capital and private equity firms. ● Investing experience | We believe that our Co-Founders asset management experience at SoftBank and Bleichroeder will help us identify and source transactions that are appropriate for our vehicle and will be well received by the public markets. ● Execution capability | Our Co-Founders believe that our combined industry and investment expertise and reputation will allow our team to source and complete transactions possessing structural attributes that create an attractive investment thesis. These types of transactions are typically complex and require creativity, industry knowledge and expertise, rigorous due diligence, and extensive negotiations and documentation. Our selection process will leverage our management team (including our Co-Founders’) network of industry, private equity, venture capital, and corporate relationships as well as relationships with management teams of public and private companies, investment bankers, restructuring advisers, attorneys and accountants, which we believe should provide us with a number of Business Combination opportunities. We are deploying a proactive, thematic sourcing strategy and are focusing 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. Since the completion of our Initial Public Offering, our Management Team (including our Co-Founders) have been communicating with their network of relationships to articulate our initial Business Combination criteria, including the parameters of our search for a target business, and have begun the disciplined process of pursuing and reviewing promising leads. 3 Investment Criteria We have developed the following high level, non-exclusive investment criteria that we will use to screen for and evaluate target businesses. We are seeking to acquire a business that: ● utilizes our global network of contacts, which provides access to differentiated deal flow and significant deal-sourcing capabilities; ● has a strong, experienced management team, or provides a platform to assemble an effective management team with a track record of driving growth and profitability; ● provides a platform for add-on acquisitions, which we believe will be an opportunity for our Sponsor and its members and management team to deliver incremental shareholder value post-acquisition; ● would benefit from our Co-Founders’ experience, which can be applied to improve the operations and market position of the target; ● has a defensible market position, with demonstrated advantages when compared to its competitors and which create barriers to entry against new competitors; ● has a differentiated or unique product and technology offering with multiple avenues for growth and margin expansion; ● is at an inflection point, such as requiring additional management expertise, is able to innovate through new operational techniques, or where we believe we can drive improved financial performance; ● is a fundamentally sound company that is underperforming its potential; ● generates stable free cash-flow or has the near-term potential to generate sustainable free cash flow; ● exhibits unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy, that we believe has been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review; ● has a diversified customer base better positioned to endure economic downturns, changes in the industry landscape and evolving customer, supplier and competitor preferences; ● will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders, potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure that will be weighed against any identified downside risks; and ● can benefit from being a publicly traded, is prepared to be a publicly traded company, and can utilize access to broader capital markets. 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 on other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial Business Combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial Business Combination, which, as discussed in this Report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC. Acquisition Process In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as applicable, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information about the target and its industry which will be made available to us. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the Business Combination transaction. 4 The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial Business Combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial Business Combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds available for us to use to complete another Business Combination. Because there are numerous 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 (including a negative public perception of mergers involving SPACs), geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close Business Combinations or operate targets post-Business Combination. Thus, our ability to identify and evaluate a target company may be impacted by significant competition among other special purpose acquisition companies in pursuing Business Combination transaction candidates and significant competition may impact the attractiveness of the acquisition terms that we will be able to negotiate. 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). 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 entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it likely that our Board of Directors will 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 the 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 do not complete our initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, while we do not currently intend to seek shareholder approval to amend our Amended and Restated Memorandum to extend the amount of time we will have to consummate an initial Business Combination , we may elect to do so in the future. There is no limit on the number of extensions that we may seek; however, we do not expect to extend the time period to consummate our initial Business Combination beyond 36 months from the closing of our Initial Public Offering. If we determine not to or are unable to extend the time period to consummate our initial Business Combination or fail to obtain shareholder approval to extend the Combination Period, our Sponsor’s investment in our founder shares and our private placement units will be worthless. We anticipate structuring our initial Business Combination so that the post transaction company in which our Public Shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial Business Combination such that the post transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such Business Combination if the post transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the Business Combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the Business Combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial Business Combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our initial Business Combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be 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. 5 We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers, directors, Inflection Point, or any of their respective affiliates or completing the Business Combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our Sponsor, officers, directors, Inflection Point or any of their respective affilaites. In the event we seek to complete our initial Business Combination with a company that is affiliated with 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 entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, stating that the consideration to be paid by us in such an initial Business Combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. Members of our Management Team and our independent directors directly or indirectly own Founder Shares and/or Private Placement Units and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial Business Combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular Business Combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial Business Combination. 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. 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, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our Amended and Restated Memorandum provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer, among other persons, shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which (a) may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other or (b) the presentation of which would breach an existing legal obligation of a director or officer to any other entity. As a result, the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors could materially affect our ability to complete our initial Business Combination. In addition, our Sponsor, Co-Founders 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. As a result, our Sponsor, Co-Founders, officers and directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present Business Combination opportunities to us or to any other special purpose acquisition company with which they may become involved. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial Business Combination target. Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets We believe our Management Team’s significant operating and transaction experience and relationships will provide us with a substantial number of potential initial 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 around the world. This network has grown through the activities of our Management Team sourcing, acquiring and financing businesses, the reputation of our Management Team and advisors for integrity and fair dealing 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. This network has provided our Management Team with a flow of referrals that has resulted in numerous transactions that were proprietary or where a limited group of investors were invited to participate in the sale process. We believe that the network of contacts and relationships of our Management Team will provide us important sources of investment opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target Business Combination candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core assets or divisions. 6 Status as a Public Company We believe our structure makes us an attractive Business Combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other Business Combination with us. In a Business Combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock or shares in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical Business Combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses and market and other uncertainties 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 a 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 underwriter’s 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, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees. While we believe that our structure and our Management Team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed initial Business Combination, negatively. In addition, prior to the consummation of a Business Combination, only holders of our Class B Ordinary Shares will have the right to vote on the appointment or removal of directors. As a result, Nasdaq considers 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 appointment 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 currently do not intend to rely on the “controlled company” exemption, but may do so in the future. Accordingly, if we choose to do so, 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 a Business Combination initially in the amount of approximately $251.76 million, as of December 31, 2024, after payment of $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting fees and net of taxes payable, we offer a target business a variety of options, such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial Business Combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us. Effecting our Initial Business Combination We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time until the consummation of the initial Business Combination. We intend to effectuate our initial Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, the proceeds of the sale of our Ordinary Shares in connection with our initial Business Combination (including pursuant to any forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of the Business Combination or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, other securities issuances, 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. If our initial Business Combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the Trust Account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial Business Combination or used for redemptions of our Class A Ordinary Shares, we may use the balance of the cash released to us from the Trust Account following the closing 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. 7 We have not selected any 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. We may pursue an initial Business Combination in any business or industry but are focusing on TMT industries, broadly defined. Accordingly, there is no current basis for our shareholders to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial Business Combination. Although our Management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely affect a target business. We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial Business Combination 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 are targeting businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, 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 any redemptions by Public Shareholders, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial Business Combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we 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 shareholder approval of such financing. 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 agreements we may enter into following consummation of the Initial Public Offering. At this time, 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. None of our Sponsor, officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial Business Combination. Sources of Target Businesses Target business candidates are brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and private investment funds. Target businesses are brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, also bring to our attention target business candidates of which they become aware through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. 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 track record and business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in Business Combinations on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. Prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial Business Combination, there may be payment by us to our Sponsor, Co-Founders or a member of our management team, or our or their affiliates, of a finder’s fee, advisory fee, consulting fee or success fee for any services they render in order to effectuate the completion of our Business Combination, which, if made prior to the completion of our initial Business Combination, will be paid from working capital. 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 a finder’s fee is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the Trust Account. Lack of Business Diversification For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial Business Combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete Business Combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial Business Combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may: ● subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial Business Combination, and ● cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services. 8 Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team Although we 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’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of 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 a Business Combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management. Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our Amended and Restated Memorandum. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons. Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial Business Combination if, for example: ● we issue Ordinary Shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our Ordinary Shares then outstanding (other than in a public offering); ● any of our directors, officers or substantial shareholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest earned on the Trust Account (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 ordinary shares could result in an increase in outstanding Ordinary Shares or voting power of 5% or more; or ● the issuance or potential issuance of Ordinary Shares will result in our undergoing a change of control. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed Business Combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and legal reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine shareholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek shareholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company; (ii) the expected cost of holding a shareholder vote; (iii) the risk that the shareholders would fail to approve the proposed Business Combination; (iv) other time and budget constraints of the company; and (v) additional legal complexities of a proposed Business Combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to shareholders. Permitted Purchases of Our Securities If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may purchase Public Shares or Public Rights 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 or duty to do so. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgment that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. It is intended that, if Rule 10b-18 would apply to purchases by Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates, then such purchases will comply with Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act, to the extent it applies, which provides a safe harbor for purchases made under certain conditions, including with respect to timing, pricing and volume of purchases. 9 Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial Business Combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire Public Shares, vote their Public Shares in favor of our initial Business Combination or not redeem their Public Shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase Public Shares, or Public Rights in such transactions. The purpose of any such transactions could be to (1) increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the Business Combination, (2) reduce the number of Public Rights outstanding and/or increase the likelihood of approval on any matters submitted to the public Share Right holders for approval in connection with our initial Business Combination or (3) 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. 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 securities may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange. Our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of Class A ordinary shares) following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial Business Combination. To the extent that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates enter into a private transaction, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming shareholders 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 shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial Business Combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the general meeting related to our initial Business Combination. Our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws. Our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of shares 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 purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. Additionally, in the event our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates were to purchase Public Shares or Public Rights from Public Shareholders, such purchases would be structured in compliance with the requirements of Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act including, in pertinent part, through adherence to the following: ● our registration statement/proxy statement filed for our Business Combination transaction would disclose the possibility that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may purchase Public Shares or Public Rights from Public Shareholders outside the redemption process, along with the purpose of such purchases; ● if our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates were to purchase Public Shares or Public Rights from Public Shareholders, they would do so at a price no higher than the price offered through our redemption process; ● our registration statement/proxy statement filed for our Business Combination transaction would include a representation that any of our securities purchased by our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates would not be voted in favor of approving the Business Combination transaction; ● our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates would not possess any redemption rights with respect to our securities or, if they do acquire and possess redemption rights, they would waive such rights; and 10 ● we would disclose in a Form 8-K, before our security holder meeting to approve the Business Combination transaction, the following material items: ● the amount of our securities purchased outside of the redemption offer by our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates, along with the purchase price; ● the purpose of the purchases by our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates; ● the impact, if any, of the purchases by our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates on the likelihood that the Business Combination transaction will be approved; ● the identities of our security holders who sold to our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates (if not purchased on the open market) or the nature of our security holders (e.g., 5% security holders) who sold to our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates; and ● the number of our securities for which we have received redemption requests pursuant to our redemption offer. Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination We will provide our Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares, regardless of whether they abstain, vote for, or vote against, our initial Business Combination, 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 (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 was $10.07 per Public Share as of December 31, 2024. 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 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 their founder shares and any Public Shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial Business Combination. 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 Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed 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 Class A ordinary shares 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 the Initial Public Offering, in order to, among other reasons, satisfy such net tangible assets or minimum cash requirements. Manner of Conducting Redemptions We will provide our Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial Business Combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) without a shareholder vote by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules), as described above under the heading “ Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination .” Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company (other than with a 90% subsidiary of ours) and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares or seek to amend our Amended and Restated Memorandum would require shareholder approval. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with Nasdaq’s shareholder approval rules. 11 The requirement that we provide our Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares by one of the two methods listed above are contained in provisions of our Amended and Restated Memorandum 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 a special resolution, which requires the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the votes cast by such shareholders as, being entitled to do so, vote in person or, where proxies are allowed, by proxy at the applicable general meeting of the company, so long as we offer redemption in connection with such amendment. If we provide our Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in connection with a general meeting, we will, pursuant to our Amended and Restated Memorandum: ● conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and ● file proxy materials with the SEC. In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our Public Shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial Business Combination. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial Business Combination only if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law and our Amended and Restated Memorandum, which requires the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the votes cast by such shareholders as, being entitled to do so, vote in person or, where proxies are allowed, by proxy at the applicable general meeting of the company. A quorum for such meeting will be present if the holders of at least one third of issued and outstanding shares entitled to vote at the meeting are represented in person or by proxy. Our Sponsor, officers and directors 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 privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial Business Combination (except that any Public Shares such parties may purchase in compliance with the requirements of Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act would not be voted in favor of approving the Business Combination transaction). For purposes of seeking approval of an ordinary resolution, 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 Sponsor’s Founder Shares and private placement shares, we would need 8,120,834, or 32.5%, of the 25,000,000 Public Shares sold in the 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. Assuming that only the holders of one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, representing a quorum under our Amended and Restated Memorandum vote their shares at a general meeting of the company, we will not need any Public Shares in addition to our founder shares to be voted in favor of an initial Business Combination in order to approve an initial Business Combination. However, if our initial Business Combination is structured as a statutory merger or consolidation with another company under Cayman Islands law, the approval of our initial Business Combination will require a special resolution, which requires the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the votes cast by such shareholders as, being entitled to do so, vote in person or, where proxies are allowed, by proxy at the applicable general meeting of the company. In addition, prior to the closing of our initial Business Combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares (i) will have the right to vote to appoint and remove directors prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial Business Combination and (ii) will be entitled to vote on continuing our company in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands (including any special resolution required to amend our constitutional documents or to adopt new constitutional documents, in each case, as a result of our approving a transfer by way of continuation in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands). These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreement of our Sponsor, officers and directors, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial Business Combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or vote against the proposed transaction, or whether they do not vote or abstain from voting on the proposed transaction, or whether they were a public shareholder on the record date for the general meeting held to approve the proposed transaction. If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder 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. 12 In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial Business Combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on Public Shareholders not tendering more than the number of Public Shares we are permitted to redeem. If Public Shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial Business Combination. Upon the public announcement of our initial Business Combination, if we elect to conduct redemption pursuant to the tender offer rules, we or our Sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act. We intend to require our Public Shareholders 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 share certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using the DWAC 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 scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial Business Combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its Public Shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled 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 Shareholders 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 Shareholders, 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 Shareholders who elected to redeem their shares. 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 Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed 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 Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof. We may, however, 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 consummation of this 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 Shareholder Approval If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Amended and Restated Memorandum provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to Excess Shares without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed Business Combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our Sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the Public Shares sold in the Initial Public Offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial Business Combination, particularly in connection with a Business Combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial Business Combination. 13 Delivering Share Certificates in Connection with the Exercise of Redemption Rights As described above, we intend to require our Public Shareholders 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 share certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using the DWAC 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 scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial Business Combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its Public Shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled 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 Shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have up to two business days prior to the scheduled 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 shareholder 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 shareholders 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 $100 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 Shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the Trust Account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares. If our initial proposed Business Combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a Business Combination with a different target until the end of the completion window. Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if No Initial Business Combination Our Amended and Restated Memorandum provides that we have only the duration of the completion window to complete our initial Business Combination. 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 (and 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then-outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our Public Rights, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial Business Combination within the completion window. 14 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 and private placement shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial Business Combination within the completion window, although they will entitled to liquidating distributions from assets outside the Trust Account. However, if our Sponsor or management team 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 Combination Period. Our Sponsor, officers and directors have also agreed, pursuant to the letter agreement, that they will not propose any amendment to our Amended and Restated Memorandum (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 the completion window or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity, in each case unless we provide our Public Shareholders 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 (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then-outstanding Public Shares. 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 working capital, 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 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 the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, other than the proceeds deposited in the Trust Account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the Trust Account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.07 as of December 31, 2024 (net of taxes payable). The proceeds deposited in the Trust Account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our Public Shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.07 (based on the Trust Account balance as of December 31, 2024). 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 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 Shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the Trust Account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the Trust Account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account, our management will 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. Withum, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of this 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. 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 (except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), 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 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, net of 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 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 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. 15 In the event that the proceeds in the Trust Account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of 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 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. 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 are seeking 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 have access to 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, shareholders who received funds from our Trust Account could be liable for claims made by creditors. In the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $750,000, the amount of funds available outside the Trust Account would increase by a corresponding amount. If we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the Trust Account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our Public Shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy/insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance, preference or disposition.” As a result, a liquidator or bankruptcy or other court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying Public Shareholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. Our Public Shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the Trust Account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial Business Combination within the completion window, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our Amended and Restated Memorandum (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 the completion window or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ 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, subject to applicable law and any limitations (including but not limited to cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed Business Combination. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the Trust Account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial Business Combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the Business Combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the Trust Account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our Amended and Restated Memorandum, like all provisions of our Amended and Restated Memorandum, may be amended with a shareholder vote. 16 Competition In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial Business Combination, we are encountering competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other SPACs, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting Business Combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess similar or greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our Public Shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial Business Combination and our issued and outstanding Rights, 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. Employees We currently have two officers: Messrs. Gundlach and Robert Folino. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they 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 devote in any time period varies 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. Periodic Reporting and Financial Information We have registered our units, Class A ordinary shares and Public Rights 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, including this Report, contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants. We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents sent to shareholders 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 target businesses we may conduct an initial Business Combination with because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential Business Combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential 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, 2025 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such Business Combination. We have filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial Business Combination. 17 We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Law. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 30 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividends or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us. We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) November 4, 2029, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates 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. 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 Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.