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| August 22, 2022 | ||
| VIA EDGAR | ||
| United States Securities and Exchange Commission | ||
| Division of Corporation Finance | ||
| Office of Real Estate & Construction | ||
| 100 F Street, NE | ||
| Washington, D.C. 20549 | ||
| Attn: Frank Knapp and Wilson Lee | ||
| Re: | ScION Tech Growth I |
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021
Filed April 15, 2022
File No. 001-39808
Dear Mr. Knapp and Mr. Lee:
On behalf of our client, ScION Tech Growth I (the “Company”), we are writing to submit the Company’s responses to the comments of the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Staff”) contained in the Staff’s letter dated August 12, 2022 (the “Comment Letter”), with respect to the above-referenced Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 filed on April 15, 2022 (the “Original 10-K”).
The Company has filed via EDGAR Amendment No. 1 to the Original 10-K (the “Amendment”), which reflects the Company’s responses to the comments received by the Staff. For ease of reference, each comment contained in the Comment Letter is printed below in bold and is followed by the Company’s response.
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021
Exhibits 31.1 through 32.2
| 1. | We note that your certifications do not include paragraph 4(b) and the introductory language in paragraph 4 referring to internal control over financial reporting. Please file an amendment to your annual report that includes certifications that conform exactly to the language set forth within the Exchange Act Rule 13a-14(a). Please note that you may file an abbreviated amendment that consists of a cover page, explanatory note, signature page, and paragraphs 1, 2, 4, and 5 of the certification. |
Response: The Company respectfully acknowledges the Staff’s comment and has filed the Amendment to include in the certifications provided in Exhibits 31.1 and 31.2 paragraph 4(b) and the introductory language in paragraph 4 referring to internal control over financial reporting.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
August 22, 2022
General
| 2. | With a view toward disclosure, please tell us whether your sponsor is, is controlled by, or has substantial ties with a non-U.S. person. If so, please revise your disclosure in future filings to include disclosure that addresses how this fact could impact your ability to complete your initial business combination. For instance, discuss the risk to investors that you may not be able to complete an initial business combination with a U.S. target company should the transaction be subject to review by a U.S. government entity, such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), or ultimately prohibited. Disclose that as a result, the pool of potential targets with which you could complete an initial business combination may be limited. Further, disclose that the time necessary for government review of the transaction or a decision to prohibit the transaction could prevent you from completing an initial business combination and require you to liquidate. Disclose the consequences of liquidation to investors, such as the losses of the investment opportunity in a target company, any price appreciation in the combined company, and the warrants, which would expire worthless. Please include an example of your intended disclosure in your response. |
Response: The Company respectfully acknowledges the Staff’s comment and confirms that the Company’s sponsor, ScION 1 Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”), is controlled by non-U.S. persons. Included below is a risk factor that the Company intends to disclose in its next Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to address the revisions to the Company’s disclosure in response to the Staff’s comment:
“We may not be able to complete an initial business combination since such initial business combination may be subject to regulatory review and approval requirements, including pursuant to foreign investment regulations and review by governmental entities such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), or may be ultimately prohibited.
Our initial business combination may be subject to regulatory review and approval requirements by governmental entities, or ultimately prohibited. For example, CFIUS has authority to review certain direct or indirect foreign investments in U.S. companies. Among other things, CFIUS is empowered to require certain foreign investors to make mandatory filings, to charge filing fees related to such filings, and to self-initiate national security reviews of foreign direct and indirect investments in U.S. companies if the parties to that investment choose not to file voluntarily. If CFIUS determines that an investment threatens national security, CFIUS has the power to impose restrictions on the investment or recommend that the President prohibit it or order divestment. Whether CFIUS has jurisdiction to review an acquisition or investment transaction depends on, among other factors, the nature and structure of the transaction, the nationality of the parties, the level of beneficial ownership interest and the nature of any information or governance rights involved.
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United States Securities and Exchange Commission
August 22, 2022
For so long as ScION 1 Sponsor LLC, our sponsor, retains a material ownership interest in us, we may be deemed a “foreign person” under the regulations relating to CFIUS. As such, an initial business combination with a U.S. business or foreign business with U.S. operations that we may wish to pursue may be subject to CFIUS review. If a particular proposed initial business combination with a U.S. business falls within CFIUS’s jurisdiction, we may determine that we are required to make a mandatory filing or that we will submit to CFIUS review on a voluntary basis, or to proceed with the transaction without submitting to CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the transaction. CFIUS may decide to delay or recommend that the President of the United States block our proposed initial business combination, require conditions with respect to such initial business combination or recommend that the President of the United States order us to divest all or a portion of the U.S. target business of our initial business combination that we acquired without first obtaining CFIUS approval, which may limit the attractiveness of, or delay or prevent us from pursuing, certain target companies that we believe would otherwise be beneficial to us and our shareholders. In addition, certain types of U.S. businesses may be subject to rules or regulations that limit or impose requirements with respect to foreign ownership.
If CFIUS determines it has jurisdiction, CFIUS may decide to recommend a block or delay our initial business combination, or require conditions with respect to it, which may delay or prevent us from consummating a potential transaction.
The process of government review, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy. Because we have only a limited time to complete our initial business combination, our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period may require us to liquidate. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within the applicable time period required, including as a result of extended regulatory review, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than five business days thereafter, redeem the public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account and 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. In such event, our shareholders will miss the opportunity to benefit from an investment in a target company and the potential appreciation in value of such investment. Additionally, our warrants will become worthless.”
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United States Securities and Exchange Commission
August 22, 2022
Please do not hesitate to contact Daniel Nussen at (213) 620-7796 of White & Case LLP with any questions or comments regarding this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/ White & Case LLP
White & Case LLP
| cc: | Mathew J. Cestar, Chief Executive Officer, ScION Tech Growth I |
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