SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED OCTOBER 5, 2021
$200,000,000
Hawks Acquisition Corp
20,000,000 Units
Hawks Acquisition Corp is a newly incorporated blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, consolidation, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us. We may pursue an initial business combination target in any business or industry.
This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of our Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable public warrant. Each whole public warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in this prospectus. We refer to these warrants throughout this prospectus as the public warrants. Only whole public warrants are exercisable. The public warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and 12 months from the closing of this offering (the “warrant exercise date”), and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation (the “warrant expiration date”), as described in this prospectus. Subject to the terms and conditions described in this prospectus, we may redeem the public warrants for cash once the public warrants become exercisable. We have also granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of our Class A common stock in connection with 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 described below calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (net of amounts withdrawn to fund our working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $1,000,000, and/or to pay our taxes (“permitted withdrawals”)), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, the time period to complete an initial business combination can be extended in two ways: (i) our sponsor can extend the time period to complete an initial business combination up to two times, each by an additional 3 months (for a total of up to 24 months to complete an initial business combination from the closing of this offering) by purchasing additional private placement warrants (as defined below) and (ii) our stockholders can also vote at any time to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the amount of time we will have to complete an initial business combination, in each case as further described herein. We refer to the time period we have to complete an initial business combination, as it may be extended as described above, as the “completion window”. This structure is unlike the structure of similar blank check companies, which generally are only permitted to extend the time period to complete an initial business combination in connection with an amendment to their amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination during the completion window, we will redeem 100% of 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 (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and certain conditions as further described herein.
Our sponsor, Hawks Sponsor LLC, has subscribed to purchase an aggregate of 6,500,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant ($6,500,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering (the “Private Placement”). We refer to these warrants throughout this prospectus as the private placement warrants. Our sponsor has an option to purchase additional private placement warrants in order to extend the period of time we will have to complete an initial business combination by up to an additional 6 months. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in this prospectus.
Fourteen qualified institutional buyers or institutional accredited investors (none of which are affiliated with any member of our management team, our sponsor, our board of directors or, to our knowledge, any other anchor investor and will not be so affiliated prior to their receipt of equity interests in our sponsor in connection with their investments in us, if any), which we refer to as the anchor investors, have expressed to us an interest in purchasing an aggregate of over $200 million of units in this offering at the offering price, and we have agreed to direct the underwriters to offer to the anchor investors up to such number of units and no more than 9.9% of the units in this offering per anchor investor. The underwriters may choose to allocate such units with such anchor investors, up to the amount of each anchor’s order, in whole or in part, depending on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the total number of potential purchasers in the offering, the extent to which the underwriters exercise the option to purchase additional units, if at all, and the requirement to meet certain distribution or other listing standards of the NYSE (as discussed below). There can be no assurance that the anchor investors will acquire any units in this offering, or as to the amount of such units the anchor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of our initial business combination. In addition, none of the anchor investors has any obligation to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination. For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with our anchor investors, see “Summary — The Offering — Expression of Interest.”
Our initial stockholders, which includes our sponsor, currently hold 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock (up to 750,000 of which are subject to forfeiture depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised). The total number of shares of Class B common stock outstanding after this offering and the expiration of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units will equal 20% of the total number of shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock outstanding at such time. The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. On any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule or as otherwise described in this prospectus.
Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our units, Class A common stock or public warrants. We intend to apply to list our units on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “HWKZ.U” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. While we expect to meet the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE’s listing standards, including the public distribution requirements, we cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NYSE. The Class A common stock and public warrants will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus, subject to certain conditions. Once the securities constituting the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A common stock and public warrants will be listed on the NYSE under the symbols “HWKZ” and “HWKZ WS,” respectively.
We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves risks. Please see “Risk Factors.” Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.
Neither the SEC nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
| | | Per Unit | | | Total | |
Price to public | | | | $ | 10.00 | | | | | $ | 200,000,000 | | |
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1) | | | | $ | 0.55 | | | | | $ | 11,000,000 | | |
Proceeds, before expenses, to us | | | | $ | 9.45 | | | | | $ | 189,000,000 | | |
(1)
Includes $0.35 per unit, or $7,000,000 (or up to $8,650,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) in the aggregate, payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. The deferred commissions will be released to the underwriters only on completion of an initial business combination. Does not include certain fees and expenses payable to the underwriters in connection with this offering. See also “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.
Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $200.0 million, or $230.0 million if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.
The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. The underwriters expect to deliver the units to the purchasers on or about , 2021.
Joint Bookrunners
| BTIG | | | Mizuho Securities | |
Co-Manager
Imperial Capital