The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
$200,000,000
Home Plate Acquisition Corporation
20,000,000 Units
Home Plate Acquisition Corporation is a newly incorporated blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, 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 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 or sector, we intend to focus our efforts on identifying high growth, U.S. and international acquisition targets in the Fintech (as defined in this prospectus) and Embedded Finance (as defined in this prospectus) sectors.
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 warrant. Each whole 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, terms and limitations as described in this prospectus. The underwriter has a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional 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 upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described in this prospectus. If we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 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 in this prospectus.
Our sponsor, Home Plate Sponsor LLC has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 6,600,000 warrants (or 7,050,000 warrants if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full), at a price of $1.00 per whole warrant in a private placement that will close simultaneously with this offering. Additionally, Jefferies LLC has agreed to purchase 1,000,000 warrants (or up to 1,150,000 warrants if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full) from us at a price of $1.00 per whole warrant in a private placement that will close simultaneously with this offering. We collectively refer to the warrants to be purchased by our sponsor and Jefferies LLC throughout this prospectus as the “private placement warrants.” Each whole private placement 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 adjustments as described in this prospectus.
Our initial stockholders currently hold 5,750,000 shares of our Class B common stock (up to 750,000 shares of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised). The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock on the first business day following the completion of our initial business combination as described in this prospectus. Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of shares of our Class B common stock will be entitled to vote on the election of directors.
Certain qualified institutional buyers or institutional accredited investors (including certain funds managed by UBS O’Connor, LLC) which are not affiliated with us, our sponsor, our directors or any member of our management, and which we refer to collectively as the anchor investors throughout this prospectus, have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of approximately 19,980,000 units in this offering (which amount will not change if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised) at the public offering price of $10.00. No anchor investor is expected to purchase more than 9.9% of the units in this offering (without giving effect to the over-allotment option). We have agreed to direct the underwriter to sell to the anchor investors up to such number of units and such allocations will be determined by the underwriter, subject to our satisfying the Nasdaq initial listing requirement that we have a minimum of 300 round lot holders of our units, and such allocations will be determined by the underwriter. 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. Assuming that each anchor investor purchases the number of units for which it has provided an indication of interest, the anchor investors will own, in the aggregate, up to approximately % of the outstanding shares of our common stock (or up to % if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full) upon the completion of this offering. In consideration of these purchases, our sponsor has entered (or hereinafter may enter) into an investment agreement with each of the anchor investors (other than those funds managed by UBS O’Connor) pursuant to which our sponsor has sold (or hereinafter may agree to sell) up to an aggregate of 1,350,000 founder shares, at their original purchase price of approximately $0.004 per share. Since our sponsor has (or may be) transferring founder shares held by it to the anchor investors (other than those funds managed by UBS O’Connor) and we are not issuing any new shares of Class B common stock, there will be no dilutive impact on the other investors in this offering. For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with the anchor investors, see “Summary—The Offering—Expressions of Interest.”
Currently, there is no public market for our units, shares of our Class A common stock or warrants. We intend to apply to have our units listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “HPLTU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on Nasdaq. We expect the shares of our Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on Nasdaq under the symbols “HPLT” and “HPLTW.” 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 Jefferies LLC (the “underwriter”) informs us of its 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.
We are an “emerging growth company” and a “smaller reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 41 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.
Neither the SEC nor any state or non-U.S. 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.
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| | PER UNIT | | | TOTAL | |
Public offering price | | $ | 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 in the aggregate (or $8,050,000 in the aggregate if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full), payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting fees to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described in this prospectus. The deferred fees will be released to the underwriter only upon the completion of an initial business combination. The underwriter will receive compensation in addition to the underwriting fees. See “Underwriting” beginning on page [●] for a description of underwriting compensation payable to the underwriter.
Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $200,000,000 or $230,000,000 if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be deposited into a segregated trust account located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee, and approximately $3,600,000 will be available to pay fees and expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following the closing of this offering. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released until the earliest to occur of: (a) the completion of our initial business combination; (b) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (c) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.
The underwriter is offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. The underwriter expects to deliver the units to the purchasers on or about , 2021.
Jefferies
The date of this prospectus is , 2021