Exhibit 10.3
REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT
THIS REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of November 9, 2021, is made and entered into by and among Ascendant Digital Acquisition Corp. III, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), Ascendant Sponsor LP III, a Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership (the “Sponsor”) and each of the undersigned parties listed on the signature page hereto under “Holders” (each such party, together with the Sponsor and any person or entity who hereafter becomes a party to this Agreement pursuant to Section 5.2 of this Agreement, a “Holder” and collectively the “Holders”).
RECITALS
WHEREAS, the Company has 7,187,500 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Founder Shares”), issued and outstanding, up to 937,500 of which will be surrendered to the Company for no consideration depending on the extent to which the underwriters of the Company’s initial public offering exercise their over-allotment option;
WHEREAS, the Founder Shares are convertible into Class A ordinary shares of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Ordinary Shares”), on the terms and conditions provided in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association;
WHEREAS, on the date hereof, the Company and the Sponsor entered into that certain Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement (the “Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to purchase an aggregate of 10,000,000 private placement warrants (or up to 11,125,000 warrants to the extent that the over-allotment option in connection with the Company’s initial public offering is exercised) (the “Private Placement Warrants”) in a private placement transaction occurring simultaneously with the closing of the Company’s initial public offering;
WHEREAS, on October 17, 2021, the Company and entered into a amended and restated forward purchase agreement (the “Amended and Restated Forward Purchase Agreement”) with NEXON Co. Ltd., a Japanese corporation (“Nexon”), pursuant to which Nexon has subscribed to purchase from the Company up to 9,000,000 forward purchase units (the “Forward Purchase Units”), consisting of one Class A ordinary share, or a forward purchase share, and one-half of one warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share, for $10.00 per unit, for an aggregate amount of up to $90,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of the initial Business Combination.
WHEREAS, in order to finance the Company’s transaction costs in connection with its search for and consummation of an initial Business Combination, the Sponsor, its affiliates or any of the Company’s officers and directors may loan to the Company funds as the Company may require, of which up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private placement-equivalent warrants (“Working Capital Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender; and
WHEREAS, the Company and the Holders desire to enter into this Agreement, pursuant to which the Company shall grant the Holders certain registration rights with respect to certain securities of the Company, as set forth in this Agreement.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the representations, covenants and agreements contained herein, and certain other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto, intending to be legally bound, hereby agree as follows:
ARTICLE I
DEFINITIONS
1.1 Definitions. The terms defined in this Article I shall, for all purposes of this Agreement, have the respective meanings set forth below:
“Adverse Disclosure” shall mean any public disclosure of material non-public information, which disclosure, in the good faith judgment of the Chief Executive Officer or principal financial officer of the Company, after consultation with counsel to the Company, (i) would be required to be made in any Registration Statement or Prospectus in order for the applicable Registration Statement or Prospectus not to contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements contained therein (in the case of any prospectus and any preliminary prospectus, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made) not misleading, (ii) would not be required to be made at such time if the Registration Statement were not being filed, and (iii) the Company has a bona fide business purpose for not making such information public.