The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED FEBRUARY 10, 2021
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
Austerlitz Acquisition Corporation II
$1,000,000,000
100,000,000 Units
Austerlitz Acquisition Corporation II is a newly incorporated blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to as our initial 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. Although we may pursue targets in any industry, we intend to initially focus our search on identifying a prospective target business in financial technology or information and business services, which acts as an essential utility to industries that are core to the economy. We also intend to focus on prospective target businesses that have unseen potential for revenue growth and/or operating margin expansion with high recurring revenue and cash flow, defensible intellectual property and strong market positions within their industries, such as The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (“Dun & Bradstreet”), Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (“FNF”), Black Knight, Inc. (“Black Knight”) and Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. (“Ceridian”). We believe that a prospective target business will have the potential to benefit from a recovering economy, presenting an opportunity to invest.
This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, terms and limitations as described herein. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to 15,000,000 additional units to cover over-allotments, if any.
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, subject to the limitations described herein. If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem 100% of the public shares for cash, subject to applicable law and certain conditions as described herein.
Our sponsor, Austerlitz Acquisition Sponsor, LP II, an affiliate of Trasimene Capital Management, LLC, has agreed to purchase 14,666,667 warrants (or 16,666,667 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of this offering. We refer to these warrants throughout this prospectus as the private placement warrants.
Our initial shareholders own 24,642,857 Class B ordinary shares (which we refer to as “founder shares” as further described herein), up to 3,214,286 shares of which are subject to forfeiture depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised and excluding any adjustment to the outstanding Class B ordinary shares related to the forward purchase agreement described below, and 24,642,857 of our Class C ordinary shares (which we refer to as the “alignment shares” as further described herein), up to 3,214,286 shares of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised and excluding any adjustment to the outstanding Class B ordinary shares related to the forward purchase agreement described below. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day following the completion of our initial business combination as described herein. The Class C ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the earlier of (i) our meeting certain share price performance thresholds following the completion of our initial business combination, and (ii) subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination, the date on which we complete a merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in both a change of control and all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property, in each case, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, except if such is the result of the conversion of our Class B ordinary shares or Class C ordinary shares, the ratio at which the Class B ordinary shares and Class C ordinary shares will convert into Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares and Class C ordinary shares, as applicable in each case, agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Class B ordinary shares and Class C ordinary shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 15% and 15%, respectively, of the sum of (i) the total number of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon completion of this offering, plus (ii) (a) the total number of ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities (as defined herein) or deemed issued by the Company in connection with or in relation to the completion of the initial business combination (including the forward purchase shares, but not the forward purchase warrants), excluding (1) any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination, and (2) any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor or any of its affiliates upon conversion of working capital loans, minus (b) the number of public shares redeemed by public shareholders in connection with our initial business combination. Any conversion of Class B ordinary shares or Class C ordinary shares described herein will take effect as a compulsory redemption of Class B ordinary shares or Class C ordinary shares and an issuance of Class A ordinary shares as a matter of Cayman Islands law. In no event will Class B ordinary shares or Class C ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one to one. Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares and holders of our Class C ordinary shares, voting together as a single class, will be entitled to vote on the appointment and removal of directors, and continuing the company in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands. On any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, holders of our Class B ordinary shares, holders of our Class C ordinary shares and holders of our Class A ordinary shares will vote together as a single class, except as required by law.
Cannae Holdings, Inc. (“Cannae Holdings”), is a diversified holding company which is externally managed by Trasimene Capital Management, LLC but is not an affiliate of us or our sponsor. Cannae Holdings is expected to enter into a forward purchase agreement with us which will provide for the purchase by Cannae Holdings respectively of Class A ordinary shares in an aggregate share amount equal to 12,500,000 Class A ordinary shares, plus an aggregate of 3,125,000 redeemable warrants to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $125,000,000, or $10.00 for one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one warrant, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The terms and provisions of the warrants to be issued as part of the forward purchase agreement will be identical to those of the private placement warrants. The obligations under the forward purchase agreement will not depend on whether any Class A ordinary shares are redeemed by our public shareholders. See “Description of Securities—Forward Purchase Agreement.” An affiliate of Cannae Holdings will have a limited partnership interest in Austerlitz Acquisition Sponsor, LP II and, as a result, each has an indirect economic interest in a portion of the founder shares and private placement warrants owned by our sponsor after this offering.
Currently, there is no public market for our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants. We intend to apply to have our units listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), under the symbol “ASZ.U” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NYSE. We expect the Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the NYSE under the symbols “ASZ” and “ASZ WS” respectively, on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (“Credit Suisse”), J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (“J.P. Morgan”) and BofA Securities, Inc. (“BofA Securities”) inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), containing an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering and issuing a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin.