BACKGROUND
We are a blank check company incorporated on October 7, 2020 as a Cayman Islands exempted company and incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses.
On March 8, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 22,000,000 units, with each unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share and one-quarter of one public warrant, which included the partial exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option for 2,300,287 units out of 3,300,000 units available in the over-allotment option. Concurrently with the closing of the initial public offering, we closed two separate private placements with our Sponsor and certain of our executive officers and directors, generating $41,400,000 in additional gross proceeds, including 3,500,000 private units at a price of $10.00 per unit, for gross proceeds of $35,000,000 and 4,266,667 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, for gross proceeds of $6,400,000. The private placement warrants are identical to the public warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering except that, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees: (1) they will not be redeemable by the Company; (2) they (including the shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the Sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) they (including the shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
Following the closing of our initial public offering on March 8, 2021, an amount equal to $255,000,000 ($10.00 per unit) from the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants was placed in the trust account. An additional $23,002,870 from the proceeds of the underwriters’ over-allotment was added to the aggregate amount in the trust account, As of December 31, 2022, there was approximately $282,284,619 in investments held in the Trust Account and approximately $285,307 of cash held outside the Trust Account. Immediately following the Extraordinary General Meeting we will instruct Continental to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in cash (i.e., in one or more bank accounts) until the earlier of the completion of a business combination or our liquidation.
Prior to the consummation of the IPO, on December 9, 2020, the Sponsor paid $25,000 to cover certain offering and formation costs in consideration for 5,750,000 of our Class B ordinary shares. During February 2021, we effectuated a share dividend of 1,006,250 of our Class B ordinary shares (the “founder shares”) and subsequently cancelled 131,250 of our Class B ordinary shares, resulting in an aggregate of 6,625,000 founder shares issued and outstanding. On March 3, 2021, we effectuated a share dividend of 575,000 shares, resulting in 7,200,000 founder shares issued and outstanding. Furthermore, there was a surrender and cancellation of 249,928 of our Class B ordinary shares which occurred when the 45-day over-allotment period expired following our IPO, leaving a total of 6,950,072 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. The number of Class B ordinary shares collectively represents 20% of our issued and outstanding shares upon the completion of the IPO and private placement.
On May 11, 2021, Better and we announced that we have entered into the Merger Agreement, which will transform Better into a publicly-listed company. No later than one business day before the expected closing date (the “Closing”), we will implement a “Domestication” by effecting a deregistration under Article 206 of the Cayman Islands Companies Act (As Revised) and a domestication under Section 388 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, pursuant to which our jurisdiction of incorporation will be changed from the Cayman Islands to the State of Delaware. At the Closing, Better will merge with and into its parent, us, with us surviving and changing our corporate name from Aurora Acquisition Corp. to Better Home & Finance Holding Company (“Better Home & Finance”).
On February 7, 2023, Aurora, Better and Novator entered into a letter agreement through which Better and Aurora agree to use reasonable best efforts (i) to obtain approval for the Extension Proposal, (ii) to cause Aurora to maintain any applicable net tangible asset requirements set forth in its articles of association and continued listing requirements for Nasdaq or a comparable alternative exchange, and (iii) to extend the Agreement End Date (as defined in the Merger Agreement) to September 30, 2023 prior to the approval of the Extension Proposal, and to further extend such date to March 30, 2024 if necessary.