NOTE 1. | ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS |
Organization and General
Twin Ridge Capital Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) was incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on January 7, 2021. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (an “Initial Business Combination”). The Company will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region in its identification and acquisition of a target company. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
As of September 30, 2023, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from January 7, 2021 (inception) through September 30, 2023 relates to the Company’s formation and our initial public offering (“IPO”) described below, and, since the closing of the IPO on March 8, 2021, the search for a prospective Initial Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its Initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the IPO and will recognize changes in the fair value of warrant liabilities and other financial instruments as other income (expense).
The Company’s sponsor is Twin Ridge Capital Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”).
Business Combination
On November 3, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), the Company, Carbon Revolution Public Limited Company (formerly known as Poppetell Limited), a public limited company incorporated in Ireland with registered number 607450 (“MergeCo”), Carbon Revolution Limited, an Australian public company with Australian Company Number (ACN) 128 274 653 listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (“Carbon Revolution”) and Poppettell Merger Sub, a Cayman Islands exempted company and wholly-owned subsidiary of MergerCo (“MergerSub” and, together with the Company, MergeCo and Carbon Revolution, the “Parties”), consummated the business combination pursuant to the terms of a Business Combination Agreement (defined below), dated November 29, 2022, as amended or supplemented from time to time, pursuant to which, among other things, the Company merged with and into MergerSub, with MergerSub surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of MergeCo, with shareholders of the Company receiving Carbon Revolution Ordinary Shares (defined below), in exchange for their existing ordinary shares of the Company and existing warrant holders of the Company having their warrants automatically exchanged by assumption by MergeCo of the obligations under such warrants, including to become exercisable for one-tenth of a Carbon Revolution Ordinary Share instead of ordinary share of the Company, in proportion to the exchange ratio of one Carbon Revolution Ordinary Share for every ten ordinary shares of the Company (the “Business Combination”). In addition, the Company, Carbon Revolution and MergeCo implemented a scheme of arrangement under Part 5.1 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and a capital reduction under Part 2J.1 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) in accordance with the Scheme Implementation Deed, dated as of November 30, 2022 as amended or supplemented from time to time (the “Scheme Implementation Deed”), which resulted in all shares of Carbon Revolution being cancelled in return for consideration, with Carbon Revolution issuing one share to the MergeCo (resulting in Carbon Revolution becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of MergeCo) and MergeCo issuing Carbon Revolution Ordinary Shares to the shareholders of Carbon Revolution. The MergeCo had no operations prior to entering into the Scheme Implementation Deed and Business Combination Agreement. The MergeCo’s sole purpose was to become a holding company following the Business Combination. Upon the closing of the Business Combination, MergeCo became the direct parent of Carbon Revolution. MergeCo’s ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 (“Carbon Revolution Ordinary Shares”) and the warrants to acquire one-tenth of a Carbon Revolution Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $11.50 per one-tenth of a Carbon Revolution Ordinary Share ($115.00 per whole Carbon Revolution Ordinary Share) (“Carbon Revolution Public Warrants”) are trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) under the symbols “CREV” and“CREVW”, respectively. The Carbon Revolution Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of ordinary shares.
Business prior to the Business Combination
Except as the context otherwise requires, the following description relates to periods prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, which occurred on November 3, subsequent to the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Financing
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on March 3, 2021. On March 8, 2021, the Company consummated the IPO of 20,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the ordinary shares included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $200,000,000, which is discussed in Note 3.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the sale of 4,933,333 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $7,400,000, which is discussed in Note 4.
Transaction costs amounted to $11,551,318 consisting of $4,000,000 of underwriting discount, $7,000,000 of deferred underwriting discount, and $551,318 of other offering costs.
The Company granted the underwriters in the IPO a 45-day option to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any. On March 10, 2021, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option to purchase 1,308,813 Units, generating an aggregate of gross proceeds of $13,088,130, and incurred $261,764 in cash underwriting fees and $458,085 in deferred underwriting fees.
Trust Account
Following the closing of the IPO on March 8, 2021 and the underwriters’ partial exercise of over-allotment option on March 10, 2021, $213,088,130 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and over-allotment and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), which can be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”) which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account that may be released to the Company to pay its taxes, if any, the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as discussed below and subject to the requirements of law and regulation, provide that the proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants held in the Trust Account will not be released from the Trust Account (1) to the Company, until the completion of the initial Business Combination, or (2) to the Company’s public shareholders, until the earliest of (a) the completion of the initial Business Combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholders properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide holders of the Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with the initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Company’s public shares if the Company does not complete its Initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO ( the “Combination Period” ) or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of the Class A ordinary shares, and (c) the redemption of the Company’s public shares if the Company has not consummated its Business Combination within the Combination Period, subject to applicable law. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (b) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the Trust Account upon the subsequent completion of an Initial Business Combination or liquidation if the Company has not consummated an initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. Following the Extension Meeting (as defined below), the Company liquidated the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the Trust Account. The funds in the Trust Account will be maintained in cash in an interest-bearing deposit account until the earlier of the Company’s Initial Business Combination or its liquidation. The proceeds deposited in the Trust Account could become subject to the claims of the Company’s creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of the public shareholders.
Initial Business Combination
The Company must complete one or more Initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the Trust Account) at the time of signing a definitive agreement in connection with the Initial Business Combination. However, the Company will complete the Initial Business Combination only if the post-Business Combination company in which its public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 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. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully.
The ordinary shares subject to redemption are recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the IPO, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC 480”).
If the Company has not consummated an Initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its taxes, if any (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 liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining shareholders and the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”), liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
The Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares (as defined below and described in Note 5), (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and public shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect any Founder Shares they hold if the Company fails to consummate an Initial Business Combination within the Combination Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any public shares they hold if the Company fails to complete its Initial Business Combination within the Combination Period), and (iv) vote their Founder Shares and public shares in favor of the Initial Business Combination.
The Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company (other than the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts 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, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay the Company’s tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account nor will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”). However, the Company has not asked the Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor has the Company independently verified whether the Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and the Company believes that the Sponsor’s only assets are securities of the Company. Therefore, the Company cannot assure that the Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of the Company’s officers or directors will indemnify the Company for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
The Company consummated its initial Business Combination on November 3, 2023.
Business Combination Agreement and Scheme Implementation Deed
On November 29, 2022, the Parties entered into a Business Combination Agreement, and on November 30, 2022, Carbon Revolution, the Company and MergeCo entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed.
Under the Scheme Implementation Deed, Carbon Revolution proposed a scheme of arrangement under Part 5.1 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the “Corporations Act”) subject to any alterations or conditions made or required by the Federal Court of Australia or such other court of competent jurisdiction under the Corporations Act agreed to in writing by the Company and Carbon Revolution under subsection 411(6) of the Corporations Act and agreed to in writing by Carbon Revolution, the Company and MergeCo (the “Scheme”) and a capital reduction under Part 2J.1 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) which, if implemented, will result in all shares of Carbon Revolution being cancelled in return for consideration, with Carbon Revolution issuing a share to MergeCo (resulting in Carbon Revolution becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of MergeCo) and MergeCo issuing shares to the shareholders of Carbon Revolution, subject to approval from Carbon Revolution’s shareholders, approval of the Federal Court of Australia and the satisfaction of various other conditions (a full list of the conditions is set out in the Scheme Implementation Deed).
The Business Combination Agreement provides for the Business Combination, pursuant to which, among other things, the Company shall be merged with and into MergerSub, with Merger Sub surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of MergeCo (the “Merger”), subject to, among other things, the approval of the Company’s shareholders.
The transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement and the Scheme Implementation Deed (the “Transactions”) were consummated subject to the deliverables and provisions as further described in the Business Combination Agreement.
Upon implementation of the Scheme, the Carbon Revolution non-executive directors were appointed to MergeCo’s board of directors (Jake Dingle is already on MergeCo’s board of directors), as were four additional independent non-executive directors identified by Carbon Revolution’s board of directors and the Company who will bring significant additional expertise to MergeCo’s board of directors. The Company agreed not to exercise its right to appoint two additional directors under the Scheme Implementation Deed on the basis that offers were made to each of these additional independent non-executive directors and any two of these four additional independent non-executive directors agreed to join MergeCo’s board of directors. Ronan Donohoe and Rolando Ebuna resigned upon implementation of the Scheme.
Amendment to Scheme and Amendment to Business Combination Agreement
On September 21, 2023, the parties agreed to amend the Scheme attached to the Scheme Implementation Deed and on October 4, 2023, the parties agreed to further revise the Scheme attached to the Scheme Implementation Deed and the Business Combination Agreement (the “Amendments”). Under the terms of the Amendments taken together, the parties agreed to revise the merger ratios from 0.00877 ordinary shares of MergeCo, par value $0.0001 (“MergeCo Ordinary Shares”), per Carbon Revolution ordinary share to between 0.00640 and 0.00643 MergeCo Ordinary Shares per fully paid ordinary share in the capital of Carbon Revolution (“Carbon Revolution Share”) (depending on the redemption rate of Twin Ridge Class A ordinary shares, and 0.10 MergeCo Ordinary Shares per Twin Ridge Class A Ordinary Share and Class B ordinary shares of the Company, par value $0.0001, subject to obtaining a necessary order of the Federal Court of Australia and any alterations or conditions made or required by the court. Any fractional shares resulting from the conversion will be rounded down to the nearest whole number. In addition, the End Date (as defined in the Scheme Implementation Deed) in the Scheme Implementation Deed was amended to be November 30, 2023 and the parties consented to the OIC financing described in the additional definitive proxy materials of MergeCo filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on September 25, 2023 and the entry into fee deferral arrangements with various advisors and other vendors to Carbon Revolution, MergeCo and the Company with respect to certain transaction expenses.
The merger ratios were agreed to be amended on October 5, 2023 subject to the order of the Federal Court of Australia to reduce the total number of MergeCo Ordinary Shares to be issued in the Business Combination (as defined below) on a one share per ten share basis, affecting all recipients of MergeCo Ordinary Shares equally. Accordingly, the relative share ownership of holders of Twin Ridge Class A Ordinary Shares who do not redeem, holders of Carbon Revolution ordinary shares, holders of Carbon Revolution performance rights and Yorkville Advisors Global, LP, as well as the percentage of shares issuable pursuant to the FY2023 Incentive Equity Plan or upon exercise of any warrants, shall be unaffected by the adjustment of the merger ratios, except for minor adjustments due to the treatment of fractional shares. Such adjustment is intended to result in a higher trading price for MergeCo Ordinary Shares without altering any of the economic terms of the Business Combination.
Related Agreements
Letter Agreement
On June 12, 2023, the Company, Carbon Revolution, MergeCo and Merger Sub entered into a letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”), pursuant to which Carbon Revolution agreed to be responsible for reasonable costs, fees, disbursements and other expenses incurred by or on behalf of the Company in the ordinary course of business, including costs, fees, disbursements and expenses relating to performing under, complying with and consummating the Transactions (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) from the time the Company no longer has sufficient funds to satisfy such expenses until the closing of the Business Combination with Carbon Revolution. Additionally, the Letter Agreement extended the End Date (as defined in the Scheme Implementation Deed) to October 31, 2023.
Sponsor Side Letter
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement and the Scheme Implementation Deed, the Sponsor, Twin Ridge Capital Sponsor Subsidiary Holdings LLC (“TRCA Subsidiary”), Alison Burns (“Burns”), Paul Henrys (“Henrys”) and Gary Pilnick (“Pilnick” together with Burns and Henrys, the “Independent Directors”) and Dale Morrison (“Morrison”), Sanjay K. Morey (“Morey”) and William P. Russell, Jr. (“Russell”, and together with Morrison and Morey, the “Other Insiders”, and together with Sponsor, TRCA Subsidiary and the Independent Directors, the “Sponsor Parties”), the Company, Carbon Revolution and MergeCo entered into a Sponsor Side Letter (the “Sponsor Side Letter”), pursuant to which the Sponsor Parties have agreed to take, or not take, certain actions during the period between the execution of the Sponsor Side Letter and the consummation of the Merger, including, (i) to vote any ordinary shares of the Company owned by such Sponsor Party (all such shares, the “Covered Shares”) in favor of the Merger and the Scheme and other related proposals at the shareholders’ meeting of the Company, and any other special meeting of the Company’s shareholders called for the purpose of soliciting stockholder approval in connection with the consummation of the Merger and the Scheme, (ii) to waive the anti-dilution rights or similar protections with respect to the Class B ordinary shares owned by such party as set forth in the governing documents of the Company, or otherwise, and (iii) not to redeem any Covered Shares (as defined in the Sponsor Side Letter) owned by such Sponsor Party.
Pursuant to the Sponsor Side Letter, Sponsor has also agreed that, immediately prior to the consummation of the Merger, and conditioned upon the consummation of the Merger, 327,203 of the 5,267,203 Class B ordinary shares beneficially owned by Sponsor shall be automatically forfeited and surrendered to the Company for no additional consideration.
Standby Equity Purchase Agreement
Concurrently with the parties entering into the Business Combination Agreement and Scheme Implementation Deed, the Company entered into a Standby Equity Purchase Agreement (the “CEF”) with YA II PN, Ltd. (“Yorkville”) pursuant to which, subject to the consummation of the Transactions, MergeCo has the option, but not the obligation, to issue, and Yorkville shall subscribe for, an aggregate amount of up to $60 million of ordinary shares of MergeCo (“MergeCo Ordinary Shares”) at the time of MergeCo’s choosing during the term of the agreement, subject to certain limitations, including caps on exchanges, issuances and subscriptions based on trading volumes. Each advance under the CEF (an “Advance”) may be in an amount of MergeCo Ordinary Shares up to the greater of $10 million or the aggregate daily trading volume of MergeCo Ordinary Shares in the five trading days prior to MergeCo requesting an Advance. The purchase price for an Advance is determined at the option of MergeCo and is either (a) 95% of the average daily VWAP (as defined below) during the applicable one-day pricing period or (b) 97% of the lowest daily VWAP during the applicable three consecutive trading day pricing period. “VWAP” means, for any trading day, the daily volume weighted average price of MergeCo Ordinary Shares for such date on the securities listing exchange that the MergeCo Ordinary Shares are trading as of such date during regular trading hours as reported by Bloomberg L.P. The CEF will continue for a term of three years commencing from the sixth trading day following the closing of the Business Combination, unless prior terminated pursuant to its terms.
Extension Meeting
On March 6, 2023, the Company held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (the “Extension Meeting”) to amend its amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to extend the date by which it has to consummate an initial Business Combination to March 8, 2024, as applicable under the Amended and Restated Articles of Association. Carbon Revolution or the Sponsor (or one or more of their affiliates, members or third-party designees) will deposit $160,000 into the Trust Account for each such monthly extension, for an aggregate deposit of up to $1,440,000 (if all nine additional monthly extensions are exercised), in exchange for a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note issued by the Company to Carbon Revolution. As of September 30, 2023, $1,120,000 has been deposited into the Trust Account. As of the issuance date of these financial statements, an aggregate amount of $1,280,000 has been deposited into the Trust Account.
On March 10, 2023, the Company issued an unsecured promissory note in the total principal amount of up to $1,500,000 (the “Promissory Note”) to Carbon Revolution. The Promissory Note does not bear interest and matures upon closing of the Company’s initial Business Combination. In the event that the Company does not consummate a Business Combination, the Promissory Note will be repaid only from amounts remaining outside of the Trust Account, if any. The proceeds of the Promissory Note will be deposited in the Trust Account. As of September 30, 2023, there was $1,120,000 outstanding under the Promissory Note. Subsequent to the nine-month period ended September 30, 2023 and as of the issuance date of these financial statements, the Company has drawn an additional $160,000 under the Promissory Note for a monthly extension through November 8, 2023.
In connection with that vote, the holders of 15,042,168 Class A ordinary shares of the Company properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $153,567,547 or approximately $10.21 per share. After the satisfaction of such redemptions and receipt of the initial deposit of $480,000 to the Trust Account, the balance in the Trust Account was approximately $64,457,034.
Certain purported shareholders of the Company sent demand letters (the “Demands”) alleging deficiencies and/or omissions in the Registration Statement on Form F-4, filed by Carbon Revolution with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) initially on February 27, 2023 (as may be further amended). The Demands seek additional disclosures to remedy these purported deficiencies. The Company believes that the allegations in the Demands are meritless.
General Meeting
On October 12, 2023, the Company held an extraordinary general meeting of its shareholders (the “General Meeting”), at which holders of 10,445,986 ordinary shares held of record as of August 25, 2023, the record date for the General Meeting (the “Record Date”), were present in person or by proxy, representing approximately 90.09% of the voting power of Twin Ridge’s ordinary shares as of the Record Date, and constituting a quorum for the transaction of business. The proposals listed below are defined and described in greater detail in Twin Ridge’s definitive proxy statement, which was filed with the SEC on September 11, 2023, as supplemented by the additional definitive proxy materials filed on September 25, 2023 and October 5, 2023. The shareholders approved the Business Combination Proposal, the Merger Proposal, and the Equity Incentive Proposal.
In connection with the General Meeting and the Business Combination, the holders of 6,201,815 of Twin Ridge’s outstanding Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.77 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $66,773,355.
Going Concern and Liquidity
As of September 30, 2023, the Company had approximately $51,000 in its operating bank account and working capital deficit of approximately $10.0 million.
Until the consummation of an Initial Business Combination, the Company will be using the funds not held in the Trust Account for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to acquire, and structuring, negotiating, and consummating the Initial Business Combination.
The Company may need to raise further additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company’s officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s working capital needs. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all.
The Company had until March 8, 2024, as applicable under the Amended and Restated Articles of Association to consummate an Initial Business Combination. The Company’s management has determined that the liquidity condition raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the Company’s carrying amounts of assets or liabilities. As noted above, the Company’s Initial Business Combination was consummated on November 3, 2023.
Risks and Uncertainties
The Company’s results of operations and our ability to complete a Business Combination may be adversely affected by various factors that could cause economic uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets, many of which are beyond our control. Our business could be impacted by, among other things, downturns in the financial markets or in economic conditions, increases in oil prices, inflation, increases in interest rates, supply chain disruptions, declines in consumer confidence and spending, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including resurgences and the emergence of new variants, and geopolitical instability, such as the current conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. The Company cannot at this time fully predict the likelihood of one or more of the above events, their duration or magnitude or the extent to which they may negatively impact our business and our ability to complete a Business Combination.
The Company is exposed to volatility in the banking market. At various times, we could have deposits with certain U.S. banks in excess of the maximum amounts insured by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”). On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank became insolvent. State regulators closed the bank and the FDIC was appointed as its receiver. The Company did not hold any deposits with Silicon Valley Bank as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022. On May 1, 2023, First Republic Bank was forced to close and JPMorgan Chase Bank assumed all of the deposits and assets of First Republic Bank. The Company held assets in First Republic Bank, however due to FDIC limits had little exposure to losses at September 30, 2023. The Company has not experienced any losses due to these bank failures.