As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 3, 2021

Registration No. 333-254080

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

________________________________

Amendment No. 3 to
FORM S
-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

________________________________

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

________________________________

Cayman Islands

 

6770

 

98-1580612

(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)

 

(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)

102 East Main Street, Second Story
Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106
(713) 446
-6259
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

________________________________

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
Chief Executive Officer

102 East Main Street, Second Story
Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106
(713) 446
-6259
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

________________________________

Copies of all communications, including communications sent to agent for service, should be sent to:

Matthew Pacey, P.C.
Lanchi Huynh
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
609 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77002
(713) 836
-3600

 

David P. Oelman
E. Ramey Layne
Sarah K. Morgan
Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.
1001 Fannin Street, Suite 2500
Houston, Texas 77002
(713) 758
-2222

________________________________

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:

As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement

________________________________

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box: £

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. £

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. £

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. £

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer

 

£

 

Accelerated filer

 

£

Non-accelerated filer

 

S

 

Smaller reporting company

 

S

       

Emerging growth company

 

S

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. £

 

Table of Contents

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

Title of Each Class of Securities to be Registered

 

Amount to be
Registered

 

Proposed
Maximum
Offering 
Price
Per Unit
(1)

 

Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering Price
(1)

 

Amount of
Registration
Fee

Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value, and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant(2)

 

28,750,000 units

 

$

10.00

 

$

287,500,000.00

 

$

31,366.25

 

Class A ordinary shares included as part of the units(3)

 

28,750,000 shares

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4)

Redeemable warrants included as part of the units(3)

 

7,187,500 warrants

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4)

Class A ordinary shares underlying redeemable warrants(3)

 

7,187,500 shares

 

$

11.50

 

$

82,656,250.00

 

$

9,017.80

 

Total

     

 

   

$

370,156,250.00

 

$

40,384.05

(5)

____________

(1)      Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee.

(2)      Includes 3,750,000 units, consisting of 3,750,000 Class A ordinary shares and 937,500 redeemable warrants, which may be issued upon exercise of a 45-day option granted to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.

(3)      Pursuant to Rule 416(a), there are also being registered an indeterminable number of additional securities as may be offered or issued to prevent dilution resulting from share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations or similar transactions.

(4)      No fee pursuant to Rule 457(g).

(5)      Previously paid.

________________________________

The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until this registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

Table of Contents

The information in this preliminary 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 preliminary 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 JUNE 3, 2021

P R E L I M I N A R Y  P R O S P E C T U S

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

$250,000,000
25,000,000 Units

________________________________

Rice Acquisition Corp. II is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company 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, 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. While we will not be limited to a particular industry or sector in our identification and acquisition of a target company, we intend to focus our search for a target business in the broadly defined energy transition or sustainability arena.

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 warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption of our liquidation, as described in this prospectus. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to 3,750,000 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 as described herein. If we have not consummated 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 has agreed to purchase 9,000,000 warrants (or 9,750,000 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase for $11.50 one Class A ordinary share or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of our operating subsidiary, Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”), together with a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares.

Our initial shareholders, which include our sponsor, currently own 7,187,600 Class B ordinary shares, 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised), 100 Class A Units of Opco and 2,500 Class A ordinary shares. The Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco in connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. We refer to the Class B Units of Opco (or the Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are expected to convert), together with a corresponding number of shares of our non-economic Class B ordinary shares, collectively as the founder units. The founder units will be exchangeable for our Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In June 2021, our sponsor forfeited 90,000 Class B Units of Opco, and 30,000 Class B Units of Opco were issued to each of our independent director nominees. Our sponsor transferred a corresponding number of shares of our Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees.

Affiliates of Rice Investment Group, including members of our management and owners of our sponsor, have indicated interest in purchasing up to 7.5% of the units in this offering, although we cannot guarantee that such persons will ultimately acquire any units in this offering.

Currently, there is no public market for our securities. We intend to apply to have our units listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “RONI U.” We expect that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the NYSE under the symbols “RONI” and “RONI WS,” respectively, on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless the representatives of the underwriters permits earlier separate trading and we have satisfied certain conditions.

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 38 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 Securities and Exchange Commission (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

Public offering price

 

$

10.00

 

$

250,000,000

Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)(2)

 

$

0.55

 

$

13,750,000

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

 

$

9.45

 

$

236,250,000

____________

(1)         Includes $0.35 per unit, or $8,750,000 in the aggregate (or $10,062,500 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein and released to the underwriters only upon the consummation of an initial business combination. See also “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

(2)         The underwriters will not receive any underwriting discounts or commissions on any units sold in this offering to purchasers introduced to the underwriters by affiliates of Rice Investment Group. This prospectus assumes no such purchasers have purchased units in this offering.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $250,000,000, or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be deposited into a U.S. based trust account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. Except with respect to interest or other income earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our or Opco’s franchise and income taxes, if any, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as discussed herein and subject to the requirements of law and regulation, will provide that the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account (i) to us, until the completion of our initial business combination, or (ii) to our public shareholders, until the earliest of (a) the completion of our 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 (other than sponsor units) properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, and (c) the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 24 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 shareholders.

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.

________________________________

Book-Running Managers

Citigroup

 

Barclays

Co-Managers

AmeriVet Securities

 

Academy Securities

________________________________

The date of this prospectus is               , 2021.

 

Table of Contents

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information, and neither we nor the underwriters take any responsibility for any other information others may give to you. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Page

SUMMARY

 

1

SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

 

37

RISK FACTORS

 

38

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

75

USE OF PROCEEDS

 

76

DIVIDEND POLICY

 

80

DILUTION

 

81

CAPITALIZATION

 

83

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

84

PROPOSED BUSINESS

 

90

MANAGEMENT

 

120

PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS

 

129

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

 

131

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

 

135

TAXATION

 

157

UNDERWRITING

 

169

LEGAL MATTERS

 

175

EXPERTS

 

175

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

175

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

F-1

i

Table of Contents

SUMMARY

This summary only highlights the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. As this is a summary, it does not contain all of the information that you should consider in making an investment decision. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the information under “Risk Factors” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before investing.

Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus or the context otherwise requires, references to:

•        “amended and restated memorandum and article of association” are to the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that the company will adopt prior to the consummation of this offering;

•        “Companies Act” are to the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time;

•        “equity-linked securities” are to any securities of our company or any of our subsidiaries that are convertible into, or exchangeable or exercisable for, equity securities of our company or such subsidiary, including any securities issued by our company or any of our subsidiaries that are pledged to secure any obligation of any holder to purchase equity securities of our company or any of our subsidiaries, and including Opco Units;

•        “founder units” are to the Class B Units of Opco initially issued in a private placement to our sponsor prior to this offering (or the Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are expected to convert) and a corresponding number of our non-economic Class B ordinary shares;

•        “initial shareholders” are to the holders of our founder units and sponsor units prior to this offering, including our officers and directors to the extent they hold such shares;

•        “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors (including our director nominees that will become directors in connection with the consummation of this offering);

•        “Opco” are to Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company;

•        “Opco Units” are to the Class A Units and Class B Units of Opco;

•        “ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares;

•        “private placement warrants” are to the warrants to be issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering and upon conversion of working capital loans, if any;

•        “public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market) and, unless otherwise stated herein, the 2,500 Class A ordinary shares forming part of the sponsor units, which collectively represent 100% of the economic interests in Rice Acquisition Corp. II;

•        “public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our initial shareholders and management team to the extent our initial shareholders and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that each initial shareholder’s and each member of our management team’s status as a “public shareholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares;

•        “public warrants” are to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market);

•        “Rice Investment Group” are to a multi-strategy fund controlled by the Rice family and other members of our management focused on a diverse array of energy related investments, including energy transition investments;

•        “sponsor” are to Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. Our sponsor is controlled by its managing members, Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and J. Kyle Derham, and owned by members of our management and other individuals, and is an affiliate of Rice Investment Group;

1

Table of Contents

•        “sponsor units” are to the 100 Class A Units of Opco and corresponding number of our non-economic Class B ordinary shares (which together will be exchangeable into Class A ordinary shares after our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis) and the 2,500 Class A ordinary shares purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering;

•        “warrants” are to our redeemable warrants, which includes the public warrants as well as the private placement warrants to the extent that they are no longer held by the initial purchasers of the private placement warrants or their permitted transferees; and

•        “we,” “us,” “our,” the “company” or “our company” are to Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company, and Opco.

Any forfeiture of shares described in this prospectus will take effect as a surrender of shares for no consideration of such shares as a matter of Cayman Islands law. Any share dividends described in this prospectus will take effect as share capitalizations as a matter of Cayman Islands law.

Unless we tell you otherwise, the information in this prospectus assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option.

General

We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on February 2, 2021. We were formed 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, 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 potential business combination target regarding entering into a business combination with us.

We intend to focus our search for a target business in the broadly defined energy transition or sustainability arena. Specifically, although we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business industry or sector, we plan to concentrate our search on supply-side solutions and innovations that enable the economy to decarbonize in sectors that include renewable fuels, sustainable chemical production and feedstocks, carbon capture, utilization and storage technology and equipment, applications, infrastructure and technology focused on reducing the carbon intensity of fuels, energy production methods, and industrial processes.

We intend to identify and acquire a business that could benefit from a hands-on owner with extensive operational experience and the public company expertise our management team possesses, and/or that relies on the target’s executive and operational expertise but presents potential for an attractive risk-adjusted return profile under our stewardship. Members of our management team previously served as executive officers of Rice Energy Inc. (“Rice Energy”), an Appalachian Basin focused natural gas operator, and Rice Midstream Partners LP (“Rice Midstream”), an operator of large-scale natural gas and water infrastructure. Rice Energy was formed in 2007 by the Rice family and quickly grew to become one of the largest producers of natural gas in the United States. Nine months after Rice Energy’s $1 billion initial public offering in January 2014, its midstream assets were spun off into Rice Midstream, a tax efficient master limited partnership, and taken public via initial public offering in December 2014. Rice Energy’s and Rice Midstream’s growth was fueled both organically and by large-scale acquisitions of strategic targets. Rice Energy was acquired by EQT Corporation (“EQT”) in 2017 for $8.2 billion, forming the largest natural gas operator in the United States, and Rice Midstream was acquired by EQT Midstream Partners, LP (“EQM”) for $2.4 billion in 2018. We believe these businesses played a critical role in lowering carbon emissions by displacing coal with a growing supply of low-cost, cleaner burning U.S. natural gas. We believe our management team’s track record of building Rice Energy and Rice Midstream demonstrate our ability to successfully establish, build and grow large scale businesses in growing industries while generating peer leading returns for shareholders and contributing to lower U.S. emissions.

Subsequent to the sales of Rice Energy and Rice Midstream, members of our management team formed Rice Investment Group, a multi-strategy fund controlled by the Rice family and other members of our management focused on a diverse array of energy-related investments, including energy transition investments. Rice Investment Group maintains a 20-year investment horizon and has relied upon the experience, breadth of knowledge and vision of its management team to find, create and invest in compelling long-term energy opportunities. Certain of those

2

Table of Contents

opportunities include successful early stage investments in companies tasked with solving today’s most pressing climate-related challenges, including, but not limited to, development of AI-enhanced carbon monitoring and measurement tools, developing low cost renewable gas capture and development projects, and building AI-enhanced flow control solutions to minimize carbon emissions. We intend to leverage our management’s experience and track record of finding, evaluating, investing and guiding these forward-thinking businesses.

Our management team also has experience transforming underperforming businesses. Following a year of disappointing operational results and poor shareholder returns at EQT, in response to inquiries from other EQT shareholders, certain members of the Rice Investment Group, including members of our management team (the “Rice Team”), conducted a shareholder campaign to revamp the strategic direction of EQT and elect a new majority slate of directors to EQT’s board of directors. In July 2019, over 80% of EQT’s shareholders voted to install the Rice Team’s director nominees. The Rice Team, working in conjunction with the EQT board of directors and management, executed on a 100-day plan to transform EQT into a peer leader in capital efficiency. EQT has reported that it decreased per unit capital costs, renegotiated key service arrangements to reduce per unit operating expenses, streamlined the organizational structure to reduce general and administrative expenses, and installed numerous enterprise applications as part of a digital transformation to support further evolution of EQT’s business processes. Our management team’s experience at EQT demonstrates our ability to rapidly transform a business plagued by poor operational performance into a peer leader.

We believe that our management team is well-positioned to identify attractive risk-adjusted returns in the marketplace and that its contacts and transaction sources, ranging from industry executives, private owners, private equity funds and investment bankers, in addition to the industry reach of Rice Investment Group, will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities.

An affiliate of Rice Investment Group also formed and sponsored Rice Acquisition Corp. (“Rice I”), a blank check company like our company that was formed to consummate an initial business combination. Rice I completed its initial public offering in October 2020, in which it sold 23,725,000 units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock of Rice I and one-half of one redeemable warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock of Rice I, for an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating aggregate proceeds of $237,250,000. On April 7, 2021, Rice I announced that it plans to consummate a business combination transaction with Aria Energy LLC and Archaea Energy LLC, which will create an industry-leading renewable natural gas platform. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to certain closing conditions. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders” for more information.

Management, Board of Directors and Our Sponsor

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV, our Chief Executive Officer, has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Rice is also the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Rice I. Mr. Rice is a Partner of Rice Investment Group and served as Chief Executive Officer of Rice Energy from October 2013 through the completion of its acquisition by EQT in November 2017. Prior to his role as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rice served as Chief Operating Officer of Rice Energy from October 2012 through September 2013 and as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Rice Energy from October 2008 through September 2012. Mr. Rice oversaw Rice Energy’s growth from start-up through its $1 billion initial public offering in 2014 and eventual $8.2 billion sale to EQT in 2017. Mr. Rice also oversaw the creation and growth of Rice Midstream, which was acquired by EQM for $2.4 billion in 2018. Mr. Rice established Rice Energy’s strategic framework for value creation, which yielded success for its shareholders and employees. He has utilized his operating and growth strategy formulation experience as the founder of Rice Energy to help portfolio companies of Rice Investment Group to refine and optimize their business strategies in order to profitably grow. Mr. Rice currently serves on the board of directors of EQT and the board of Whiting Petroleum Corporation. Prior to joining Rice Energy, he was an investment banker for Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in Houston and held finance and strategic roles with Transocean Ltd. and Tyco International plc.

J. Kyle Derham, our President and Chief Financial Officer, is a Partner of Rice Investment Group. Mr. Derham is also the President, Chief Financial Officer and a director of Rice I. Mr. Derham, as part of the Rice Team, led the shareholder campaign in 2019 to revamp the strategic direction of EQT and successfully elect a majority slate of director candidates to the board of EQT, the largest operator of natural gas production in the United States.

3

Table of Contents

Following the campaign, Mr. Derham served as interim Chief Financial Officer of EQT and currently serves as a strategic advisor to the company. Mr. Derham previously served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Finance of Rice Energy and Rice Midstream from January 2014 through November 2017. Through his various roles working alongside the Rice family, Mr. Derham has focused on evaluating, structuring and negotiating key acquisitions and execution of critical strategic initiatives to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for investors. Mr. Derham also has experience as a private equity investor, working as an associate at First Reserve and as an investment banker at Barclays Investment Bank.

James Wilmot Rogers, our Chief Accounting Officer, served as Senior Vice Present and Chief Accounting Officer & Administrative Officer, Treasurer of Rice Energy from April 2011 through November 2017. Mr. Rogers is also the Chief Accounting Officer of Rice I. Mr. Rogers led accounting, tax and human resources functions for Rice Energy, Rice Midstream and its numerous joint ventures and joint venture companies. Mr. Rogers oversaw such functions through two initial public offerings in a single calendar year (Rice Energy in January 2014 and Rice Midstream in December 2014) and through numerous asset and corporate level acquisitions totaling more than $10 billion in asset value. He also has numerous years in public accounting experience, having worked at both Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

We will also draw on the experience of our other board members:

Jide Famuagun, one of our independent director nominees is the Founder & CEO of Alpha Capital Partners, a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm. The firm is an investor, developer, operator, and fund manager of thriving Multifamily and Student Housing investments across the Midwest, South, and Southeast markets. Prior to founding Alpha, Mr. Famuagun served as Vice President of Production at Rice Energy from June 2012 through November 2017 and was responsible for production engineering, operations, flowback and well workovers, facilities engineering and construction, automation and SCADA, produced water recycling, and gas control and measurement groups. At Rice Energy, Mr. Famuagun was an early adopter of automation and machine learning within the energy industry automating onsite operations across Rice Energy’s operating footprint to drive performance and operating cost efficiency. Prior to Rice Energy, Mr. Famuagun held engineering and executive roles across energy, recycling, and international trade, conducting business in over 30 countries. Mr. Famuagun holds three patents focused on sustainable technology within the energy industry. Mr. Famuagun earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA with a concentration in Engineering and Technology Management from Oklahoma Christian University.

Carrie M. Fox, one of our independent director nominees, has served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer for Cygnet Resources, a real property investment company, since September 2020, Chief Financial Officer for Driltek, Inc., a global onshore and offshore upstream operations and decommissioning company, since September 2020, and Director for Extraction Oil and Gas (NASDAQ: XOG), an independent oil and gas company, since January 2021. Ms. Fox previously served as a Vice President of Business Development for California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) from 2014 to August 2020, where her accomplishments included originating and closing multiple midstream/development joint ventures and asset acquisitions/divestitures. Prior to joining business development at CRC, Ms. Fox held numerous leadership positions within the asset development and exploitation organizations for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) from 2006 to 2014. There, Ms. Fox also served as California Government Affairs Manager where she analyzed and developed legislative and regulatory strategies. Ms. Fox was selected for Hart Energy’s “40 under 40” in 2020. Ms. Fox began her career as a reservoir and operations engineer responsible for assets under primary, secondary, and tertiary recovery mechanisms in the San Joaquin and Los Angeles Basins. Ms. Fox holds a B.Sc. in engineering from California Polytechnical State University, San Luis Obispo.

James Lytal, one of our independent director nominees, has served as a Senior Advisor for Global Infrastructure Partners (a leading global, independent infrastructure investor) since April 2009. From 1994 to 2004, he served as President of Leviathan Gas Pipeline Partners, which later became El Paso Energy Partners, and then Gulfterra Energy Partners. In 2004, Gulfterra merged with Enterprise Products Partners (a North American midstream energy services provider), where he served as Executive Vice President until 2009. From 1980 to 1994, Mr. Lytal held a series of commercial, engineering and business development positions with various companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and production and gas pipeline services. Mr. Lytal currently serves on the board of directors for Archrock, Inc, a publicly listed natural gas compression services company. Previously, Mr. Lytal served as a director and member of the audit committee and chairman of the conflicts committee of Rice

4

Table of Contents

Midstream Management LLC, the managing general partner of Rice Midstream Partners, L.P. from 2015 until it was acquired in July 2018; director of Gulfterra Energy Partners from 1994 to 2004; director of Azure Midstream Partners GP, LLC, the general partner of Azure Midstream Partners, LP from 2013 to 2017, including service as member of the audit committee and chairman of the conflicts committee; and director and chairman of the compensation committee and member of the audit committee of SemGroup Corporation from 2011 until it was acquired in December of 2019. Mr. Lytal holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Our sponsor, Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, is an entity controlled by its managing members, Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and J. Kyle Derham, and owned by members of our management and other individuals. For approximately 15 years, the Rice family has built a successful track record through a disciplined investment framework with expertise that spans across the energy industry, including through Rice Investment Group. Rice Investment Group is a $200 million multi-strategy fund controlled by the Rice family and other members of our management focused on a diverse array of energy related investments, including energy transition investments. As a result of their investment activities, our management team and Rice Investment Group have developed deep industry relationships across the entire energy value chain, including the upstream and midstream sectors as well as the alternative energy and renewables sectors and companies providing services or components to these sectors. We believe the reputation and expertise of Rice Investment Group and our management team in the energy industry will make us a preferred partner for potential business combination targets. Toby Z. Rice, the brother of Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and the President and Chief Executive Officer of EQT, will not participate in the management of us or our sponsor.

Past performance of the Rice family, Rice Investment Group, Rice I or our management team is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of the Rice family, Rice Investment Group, Rice I or our management’s performance as indicative of our future performance.

Market Opportunity

We intend to focus our search for a target business in the broadly defined energy transition or sustainability arena. Specifically, we plan to concentrate our search on supply-side solutions and innovations that enable the economy to decarbonize in sectors that include renewable fuels, sustainable chemical production and feedstocks, carbon capture, utilization and storage technology and equipment, applications, infrastructure and technology focused on reducing the carbon intensity of fuels, energy production methods, and industrial processes. We believe the recent capital market and investment activity directed at energy transition has focused on end-market applications such as vehicle electrification, energy efficiency for consumers and sustainable and eco-conscious products. These trends are important to the overall success of the energy transition; however, their adoption and commercial development require more focus on the production and supply of clean fuels, sustainable energy and industrial applications and infrastructure. We believe traditional renewable electricity generation from wind and solar will continue growing market share. These sources are ultimately limited by geography and intermittency, and will not solve the renewable energy needs of several sub-sectors of the economy less likely to electrify. Our focus on renewable fuels and sustainable chemical production will serve to bolster and complement the rapid development of wind and solar. Our management’s history and track record of owning and building successful energy production companies provides us with unique and differentiated insights into how the traditional fossil fuel-based energy value chain is changing to accommodate for a lower carbon footprint and a more sustainable future.

The potential growth in the production and consumption of sustainable fuels, including renewable natural gas (“RNG”), blue and green hydrogen, renewable diesel, renewable jet fuel, low or zero-carbon synthetic fuels and fuels that incorporate carbon capture, utilization and storage represents a significant market opportunity. We believe the widespread adoption of renewable fuels by major sectors of the economy such as freight, air and marine transportation, residential and industrial heating and power generation and energy storage will create a profound disruption resulting in a very large addressable market. The carbon intensity of energy and industrial production methods is one of the main drivers for the adoption of renewable and low-carbon fuels. For example, traditional cement and steel production is very energy intensive and polluting and can be decarbonized using clean fuels in heat generation and carbon capture, utilization and storage to reduce process-related emissions.

5

Table of Contents

In addition, the infrastructure, industrial and technological requirements to increase the market penetration of sustainable fuels also present tremendous opportunity. Equipment, applications and installations such as anaerobic digesters that produce RNG, biodiesel plants that manufacture renewable diesel and electrolyzers that generate clean hydrogen need to be scaled up to handle increased demand and compete in markets including and beyond the transportation sector.

Large publicly traded companies in the energy, utility and waste management sectors have made significant investments in renewable energy production and infrastructure projects to meet their own emission reduction targets and adapt to changing regulatory frameworks and customer preferences. The advent of RNG, renewable diesel and blue and green hydrogen and technologies on carbon capture, utilization and storage will further increase the range of applications and use cases for renewable and zero-emission fuels over the longer term.

Furthermore, sustainable chemicals and materials also represent large addressable markets that displace carbon intensive fossil fuel-based products with lower emission sustainable alternatives. Petrochemicals can be replaced using biomass and recycled waste products as feedstock. The production of building materials can be decarbonized using recycling technologies and novel circular production methods that convert traditional waste products into valuable energy and/or feedstock sources.

Business Strategy

Our acquisition and value creation strategy will be to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, build a company whose principal effort is developing and advancing the objectives of global decarbonization while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. Our acquisition strategy will leverage our management team’s and Rice Investment Group’s network of potential proprietary and public transaction sources where we believe a combination of our relationships, knowledge and experience in the renewable and energy industries could effect a positive transformation or augmentation of existing businesses or properties. Our goal is to build a focused business with multiple competitive advantages that have the potential to improve the target business’s overall value proposition. We plan to utilize the network and industry experience of our management team and Rice Investment Group in seeking an initial business combination and employing our acquisition strategy. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team and their affiliates, including Rice Investment Group, have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships that we believe will serve as a useful source of acquisition opportunities. In addition to industry and lending community relationships, we plan to leverage relationships with management teams of public and private companies, investment bankers, restructuring advisers, attorneys and accountants, which we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. Upon completion of this offering, members of our management team will communicate with their networks of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a target business and a potential business combination and begin the process of pursuing and reviewing potentially interesting leads.

Acquisition Criteria

Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective targets for our initial business combination. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to acquire target businesses that we believe:

•        operate in high growth, large addressable markets with favorable long-term market dynamics;

•        display differentiated business attributes and/or product offerings that provide us confidence on the long-term prospects and profitability of the company;

•        are fundamentally sound and can benefit from a partnership with us by leveraging the operational, transactional, financial, managerial and investment experience of our management team and Rice Investment Group;

•        can utilize the extensive networks and insights that our management team and Rice Investment Group have built in the renewable and energy industry;

6

Table of Contents

•        are at an inflection point, such as requiring additional management expertise, are able to innovate through new operational techniques, or where we believe we can drive improved financial performance;

•        exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy, which we believe have been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review; and

•        will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders.

Potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure will be weighed against any identified downside risks. In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and key employees, document reviews and inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information that will be made available to us. We will also utilize our management team’s transactional, financial, managerial and investment experience.

These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy solicitation or tender offer materials that we would file with the SEC.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with or from a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, including a portfolio company of Rice Investment Group, or from entering into an agreement with our sponsor, officers or directors or their affiliates with respect to the operation of any business we acquire in connection with the initial business combination. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (“FINRA”) or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Members of our management team or board of directors may directly or indirectly own founder units, sponsor units, ordinary shares and/or private placement warrants following this offering, and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Our sponsor and members of our board of directors acquired the founder units and sponsor units for approximately $0.0036 per unit and we are offering units at a price of $10.00 per unit in this offering; as a result, our sponsor and members of our board of directors could make a substantial profit after the initial business combination even if public investors experience substantial losses and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. (See “Risk Factors — Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to sponsor units and public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.”) Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity, including Rice I, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations

7

Table of Contents

to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Also, certain members of our management team and board of directors cannot provide services for, or directly or indirectly own an interest in, any business that does or seeks to do business with or is in competition with EQT, without the prior written approval of EQT. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such entity a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.

Our sponsor and its affiliates manage numerous investment vehicles, including Rice I, which may compete with us for acquisition opportunities, and if pursued by them, we may be precluded from such opportunities for our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, as well as Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, may sponsor, form or participate in other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. In particular, affiliates of our sponsor and certain of our officers and directors have formed and are actively engaged in Rice I, a special purpose acquisition company that completed its initial public offering in October 2020 and announced in April 2021 that it plans to consummate a business combination transaction with Aria Energy LLC and Archaea Energy LLC, which will create an industry-leading renewable natural gas platform. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 subject to certain closing conditions. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders” for more information. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.

Initial Business Combination

The NYSE rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in trust (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in trust) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of a target business or businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of a target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, our board may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business or there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects.

We may pursue an acquisition opportunity jointly with our sponsor, or one or more affiliates, including Rice Investment Group and/or one or more of its portfolio companies, which we refer to as an “Affiliated Joint Acquisition.” Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation to make any such investment and may compete with us for potential business combinations. Any such issuance of equity or equity-linked securities

8

Table of Contents

would, on a fully diluted basis, reduce the percentage ownership of our then-existing shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our founder units, issuances or deemed issuances of our Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities would result in an adjustment to the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding founder units agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that, after all founder units have been exchanged for our Class A ordinary shares, the aggregate number of our Class A ordinary shares received by holders in exchange for founder units would equal, on an as converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total outstanding ordinary shares upon the completion of this offering plus all of our Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, the business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination and excluding the sponsor units).

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that we will control 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses or (ii) in such a way so that we control less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition as described above. However, we will only complete a business combination if we control 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise are not required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Even if we control 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If we control less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that is controlled is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for seeking shareholder approval or for purposes of a tender offer, as applicable.

To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

Other Considerations

We currently do not have any specific business combination under consideration. Our officers and directors have neither individually selected nor considered a target business nor have they had any substantive discussions regarding possible target businesses among themselves or with our underwriters or other advisors. Our management team or board of directors is regularly made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination, but we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf) contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to a business combination transaction with our company. Additionally, we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, taken any substantive measure, directly or indirectly, to identify or locate any suitable acquisition candidate for us, nor have we engaged or retained any agent or other representative to identify or locate any such acquisition candidate.

9

Table of Contents

Corporate Information

Our executive offices are located at 102 East Main Street, Second Story, Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106, and our telephone number is (713) 446-6259. Upon completion of this offering, our corporate website address will be https://ricespac.com/rac-ii/. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this prospectus. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.

We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time), or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (ii) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th.

Our Structure

This offering is conducted through an “Up-C” structure. Following the offering, investors in this offering will hold a direct economic equity ownership interest in Rice Acquisition Corp. II in the form of our Class A ordinary shares, and an indirect ownership interest in Opco through Rice Acquisition Corp. II’s ownership of Class A Units of Opco. By contrast, our initial shareholders will own founder units and sponsor units, which include direct economic interests in Opco in the form of Class A and Class B Units of Opco and a corresponding non-economic

10

Table of Contents

voting equity interest in Rice Acquisition Corp. II in the form of our Class B ordinary shares, as well as a direct interest in the form of our Class A ordinary shares in Rice Acquisition Corp. II. The Class A Units and Class A ordinary shares comprising the sponsor units will be purchased for $10.00 each and, in the absence of an initial business combination, will generally participate in liquidation or other payments on a pari passu basis with our Class A ordinary shares purchased as part of units in this offering. However, given the relatively de minimis number of sponsor units relative to public shares, in many cases the economic, governance or other effects of the sponsor units are not material to the holders of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, and for simplicity, portions of this disclosure may not fully describe or reflect these immaterial effects. Our Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares are entitled to vote on the same basis, other than, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Following this offering, Rice Acquisition Corp. II will own a number of Class A Units of Opco equivalent to the number of our Class A ordinary shares outstanding after this offering, as well as a number of warrants to acquire Class A Units of Opco equivalent to the number of warrants to acquire our Class A ordinary shares sold in this offering, and will be the sole managing member of Opco. Opco will hold all of our material assets, including the trust account. Because the Opco Units are not held through Rice Acquisition Corp. II, the Opco Units could be entitled to different after-tax economics on a per unit basis compared to public shares on a per share basis (for example, as a result of Rice Acquisition Corp. II becoming subject to corporate income tax following the business combination or differing tax basis in the founder units as compared to the public shares). Please see the risk factor entitled “Our organizational structure confers certain benefits upon our initial shareholders that will not benefit the holders of our Class A ordinary shares to the same extent as it will benefit our initial shareholders” for additional information.

In connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, our initial business combination, the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided under the caption in the offering summary “Founder units conversion and anti-dilution rights.” In addition, following our initial business combination, our initial shareholders will have the right, subject to certain limitations, as further described herein, to exchange Class A Units of Opco (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) for cash or our Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided under the caption in the offering summary “Founder units conversion and anti-dilution rights.” Our Class B ordinary shares comprising the founder units and sponsor units cannot be transferred without transferring a corresponding number of Class A Units or Class B Units of Opco, as applicable, and vice versa. Following any exchange of Class A Units of Opco, Rice Acquisition Corp. II will retain such Class A Units. Please read “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Opco LLC Agreement.” In connection with our initial business combination, we might choose to issue additional Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) to participants in the business combination, such as sellers of assets or entities or financing sources.

We believe that our Up-C structure provides us with significant advantages as it provides flexibility in structuring a variety of business combinations, including the flexibility to retain an Up-C structure following the business combination or restructure as a result of the business combination, depending on the nature and structure of the target and the efficiency and administrability of retaining our post-offering structure after the business combination. In addition, if we re-domicile to the United States in connection with a business combination and retain our Up-C structure, subsequent exchanges of Opco Units for Class A ordinary shares by the initial shareholders, or by owners of the target of a business combination, may result in adjustments to the tax basis of the assets held by Opco at the time of the exchange, which adjustments would be allocated to Rice Acquisition Corp. II. These adjustments would not have been available to Rice Acquisition Corp. II absent such exchanges and may increase (for tax purposes) Rice Acquisition Corp. II’s depreciation and amortization deductions and may also decrease Rice Acquisition Corp.’s II gains (or increase its losses) on future dispositions of certain assets to the extent the increase in tax basis is allocated to those assets. Such increased deductions and losses and reduced gains may reduce the amount of tax that Rice Acquisition Corp. II would otherwise be required to pay in the future. However, while we have no present intent or expectation to enter into such an agreement, it is possible that we may enter into a tax receivable agreement pursuant to which we agree to share with our sponsor or owners of the target of a business combination, to the extent they receive Opco Units as consideration, a portion of tax benefits resulting from such increased deductions, losses and reduced gains. While our Up-C structure differs from the structure of other special purpose acquisition companies, the terms of this offering are generally consistent with those of other special purpose acquisition companies. Please read “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Offerings by Other Special Purpose Acquisition Companies.”

11

Table of Contents

The following diagram illustrates our simplified ownership structure after giving effect to this offering. This diagram assumes that affiliates of Rice Investment Group do not purchase any units in this offering.

12

Table of Contents

The Offering

In deciding whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the backgrounds of the members of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company and the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section below entitled “Risk Factors” of this prospectus.

Securities offered

 

25,000,000 units (or 28,750,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:

•   one Class A ordinary share; and

•   one-fourth of one redeemable warrant.

Proposed NYSE symbols

 

Units: “RONI U”

Class A ordinary shares: “RONI”

Warrants: “RONI WS”

Trading commencement and separation of Class A ordinary shares and warrants

 


The units are expected to begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., the representatives of the underwriters, inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the Class A ordinary shares and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into Class A ordinary shares and warrants. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least four units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.

Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.

Separate trading of the Class A ordinary shares and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K

 



In no event will the Class A ordinary shares and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K that includes an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

13

Table of Contents

Units:

   

Number outstanding before this offering

 

0

Number outstanding after this offering

 

25,000,000(1)

Ordinary shares:

   

Number outstanding before this offering

 

2,500 of our Class A ordinary shares and 7,187,600 of our Class B ordinary shares(2)(3)

Number outstanding after this offering

 

25,002,500 of our Class A ordinary shares and 6,250,100 of our Class B ordinary shares(1)(3)

Warrants:

   

Number of private placement warrants to be sold in a private placement simultaneously with this offering

 



9,000,000(1)

Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the sale of private placement warrants

 


15,250,000(1)

Exercisability

 

Each whole warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share, subject to adjustment as described herein. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase either one of our Class A ordinary shares or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco (and one corresponding Class B ordinary share). Only whole warrants are exercisable. Upon the exercise of a warrant to purchase one of our Class A ordinary shares, Rice Acquisition Corp. II will exercise a corresponding warrant to acquire one Class A Unit of Opco.

We structured each unit to contain one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable for one Class A ordinary share, as compared to units issued by some other similar blank check companies which contain whole warrants exercisable for one whole share, in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of our initial business combination as compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses.

____________

(1)      Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 937,500 founder units. The ordinary shares included in the units are our Class A ordinary shares.

(2)      Includes up to 937,500 shares of our founder units that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.

(3)      The Class B ordinary shares comprise a portion of the founder units and the sponsor units. For each Class B ordinary share there is a corresponding Class A or Class B Unit of Opco. In connection with our initial business combination, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described under “Founder units conversion and anti-dilution rights.” The Class A Units of Opco that comprise the founder units and sponsor units will be exchangeable (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) for cash or into our Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis. Each Class B ordinary share has no economic rights but entitles its holder to one vote. We refer to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares collectively herein as our ordinary shares.

14

Table of Contents

Exercise price

 

$11.50 per whole share, subject to adjustments as described herein.

In addition, if (i) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder units held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described under “Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00” and “Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price described under “Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.

Exercise period

 

The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; provided that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available and such shares are registered, qualified or exempt from registration under the securities, or blue sky, laws of the state of residence of the holder (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement, including as a result of a notice of redemption described below under “Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00”). If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.

15

Table of Contents

 

We have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a post-effective amendment to the registration statement for this offering or a new registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement, provided that if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement. If a post-effective amendment to the registration statement for this offering or a new registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th day after the closing of the initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. On the exercise of any warrant, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.

Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00

 



Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

•   in whole and not in part;

•   at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

•   upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the “30-day redemption period”; and

16

Table of Contents

 

•   if, and only if, the last reported sale price (the “closing price”) of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

We will not redeem the warrants as described above unless an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.

Except as set forth below, none of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00

 



Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants:

•   in whole and not in part;

•   at $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of Class A ordinary shares determined by reference to the table set forth under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants” based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” (as defined below) of our Class A ordinary shares, except as otherwise described in “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants”;

   

•   if, and only if, the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per public share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within the 30-trading day period ending three trading days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and

17

Table of Contents

 

•   if the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”), the private placement warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding public warrants, as described above.

The “fair market value” of our Class A ordinary shares for the above purpose shall mean the volume weighted average price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. This redemption feature differs from the typical warrant redemption features used in other blank check offerings. We will provide our warrant holders with the final fair market value no later than one business day after the 10 trading day period described above ends. In no event will the warrants be exercisable in connection with this redemption feature for more than 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment).

No fractional Class A ordinary shares will be issued upon redemption. If, upon redemption, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will round down to the nearest whole number of the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the holder. Please see the section entitled “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants” for additional information.

Founder units

 

On February 10, 2021, our sponsor received an aggregate of 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco and 7,187,500 of our Class B ordinary shares that comprise the founder units. The number of founder units issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder units would represent 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). As such, the founder units will collectively represent 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). In June 2021, our sponsor forfeited 90,000 Class B Units of Opco, and 30,000 Class B Units of Opco were issued to each of our independent director nominees. Our sponsor transferred a corresponding number of shares of our Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees. The per share price of the founder units was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder units issued. If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share capitalization or a share surrender or redemption or other

18

Table of Contents

 

appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares and Class B Units immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder units, on an as-converted basis, at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). Up to 937,500 founder units are subject to forfeiture by the sponsor, depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.

Together, the founder units are similar to the Class A ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, except that:

•   prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the founder units have the right to vote on the election of directors and holders of a majority of our founder units may remove a member of our board of directors for any reason;

•   the founder units consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares, which together will be exchangeable for our Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein;

•   the founder units are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below;

   

•   pursuant to the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco (the “Opco LLC Agreement”) and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed (i) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder units and sponsor units, (ii) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder units, sponsor units and public shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, (iii) that they will not be entitled to rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder units they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the

19

Table of Contents

 

    closing of this offering (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares and any sponsor units they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame), and (iv) in certain circumstances the Class B Units of Opco will have more limited rights to current or liquidating distributions from us. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote any founder units and sponsor units held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder units and sponsor units, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,562,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved;

   

•   the founder units are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco at the time of, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, our initial business combination as described below under “Founder units conversion and anti-dilution rights” and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association;

•   Class A ordinary shares, into which the founder units are exchangeable, are entitled to registration rights; and

•   because the founder units are not held through Rice Acquisition Corp. II, the founder units could be entitled to different after-tax economics on a per unit basis compared to Class A ordinary shares on a per share basis (for example, as a result of Rice Acquisition Corp. II becoming subject to corporate income tax following the business combination or differing tax basis in the founder units as compared to the Class A ordinary shares).

Transfer restrictions on founder units

 

Except as described herein, our sponsor, directors and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder units, and any of our Class A ordinary shares acquired upon exchange of founder units, until the earliest of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for

20

Table of Contents

 

share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our sponsor, directors and executive officers with respect to any founder units.

Our Class B ordinary shares comprising the founder units and sponsor units cannot be transferred without transferring a corresponding number of Opco Units and vice versa.

On February 10, 2021, our sponsor received an aggregate of 2,500 of our Class A ordinary shares and 100 Class A Units of Opco and 100 corresponding Class B ordinary shares that comprise the sponsor units.

Founder units conversion and anti-dilution rights

 


The founder units consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares. The Class A Units into which the Class B Units are expected to convert will be exchangeable for cash or our Class A ordinary shares (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) after the time of our initial business combination (as described above) on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further 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 sold in this offering and related to the closing of the initial business combination, the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert may be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding founder units agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that, after all founder units have been exchanged for our Class A ordinary shares, the aggregate number of our Class A ordinary shares received by holders in exchange for founder units would equal 20% of the sum of the total outstanding ordinary shares upon the completion of this offering plus all our Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination and excluding the sponsor units). In addition, the number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares will be adjusted through a share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like so that the total number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares corresponds to the total number of Class A Units of Opco outstanding (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) plus the total number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are entitled to convert.

In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one-to-one.

21

Table of Contents

Election of directors; Voting rights

 

Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder units may remove a member of our board of directors for any reason. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may only be amended by a special resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at our general meeting, which shall include the affirmative vote of a simple majority of our Class B ordinary shares. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our shareholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, holders of our Class A ordinary shares and holders of our Class B ordinary shares will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.

Private placement warrants

 

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase for $11.50 one Class A ordinary share or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary share) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,000,000 in the aggregate or $9,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, the portion of the proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the private placement warrants will expire worthless.

   

The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable by us (except as set forth under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00”) and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees (see “Description of Securities — Warrants — Private Placement Warrants”). If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering and will only be exercisable for Class A ordinary shares.

22

Table of Contents

Transfer restrictions on private placement warrants

 


The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as described herein under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Units and Private Placement Warrants.”

Cashless exercise of private placement
warra
nts

 


If holders of private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (i) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (ii) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the volume weighted average price of our Class A ordinary shares as reported during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the sponsor or its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following a business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public shareholders who could sell our Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants freely in the open market, the insiders could be significantly restricted from doing so. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

23

Table of Contents

Proceeds to be held in trust account

 

The rules of the NYSE provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. We will use the proceeds we receive from this offering to purchase Class A Units and warrants in Opco. Opco will deposit approximately $250.0 million, or $10.00 per unit (approximately $287.5 million, or $10.00 per unit, if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), into a U.S.-based trust account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee and will use $7.0 million to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. The proceeds to be placed in the trust account include $8.75 million (or $10.1 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.

Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay tax obligations of the company or Opco, if any, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as discussed below and subject to the requirements of law and regulation, will provide that the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account (i) to us, until the completion of our initial business combination, or (ii) to our public shareholders, until the earliest of (a) the completion of our 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 our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, and (c) the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, 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 we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. 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 shareholders.

24

Table of Contents

Anticipated expenses and funding sources

 

Except as described above with respect to the payment of taxes, unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations 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 which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year, we estimate the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $250,000 per year; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from:

•   the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account, which will be approximately $2,000,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $2,000,000 million in expenses relating to this offering; and

•   any loans or additional investments from our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors, although they are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances, and provided any such loans will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the trust account unless such proceeds are released to us upon completion of our initial business combination.

Conditions to completing our initial business combination

 


So long as our securities are then listed on the NYSE, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in trust) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses or if we are considering an initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm. Our shareholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. If our securities are not then listed on the NYSE for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net asset test.

25

Table of Contents

 

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that we will control 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that we control less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, including, but not limited to, an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. However, we will only complete such business combination if we control 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise are not required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if we control 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. If we control less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that is controlled is what will be taken into account for purposes of the NYSE’s 80% of net assets test, provided that in the event that the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the transactions together as our initial business combination for seeking shareholder approval or for purposes of a tender offer, as applicable.

Permitted purchases of public shares and warrants by our affiliates and other transactions by our affiliates with respect to our securities

 




If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange

26

Table of Contents

 

Act”). We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. See “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination, or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, in cases where, among others, it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination

 



We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon 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 calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay taxes of the company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.00 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred

27

Table of Contents

 

underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Further, we will not proceed with redeeming our public shares, even if a public shareholder has properly elected to redeem its shares, if a business combination does not close. Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder units and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering. In connection with the redemption of any public shares, a corresponding number of Class A Units of Opco held by us will also be redeemed.

Limitations on redemptions

 

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, a greater net tangible asset or cash requirement may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes, or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. Furthermore, although we will not redeem shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to fall below $5,000,001, we do not have a maximum redemption threshold based on the percentage of shares sold in this offering, as many blank check companies do. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceeds the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

28

Table of Contents

Manner of conducting redemptions

 

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval, while direct mergers with our company and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons.

If we hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will:

•   conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and

•   file proxy materials with the SEC.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder units, sponsor units and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder units, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,562,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum

29

Table of Contents

 

are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether it votes for or against the proposed transaction or votes at all. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require that at least five days’ notice will be given of any such general meeting.

If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

•   conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and

•   file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination, which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.

Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.

30

Table of Contents

Limitation on redemption rights of shareholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold shareholder vote

 




Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against a business combination if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem to no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those shareholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination.

Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination

 


On the completion of our initial business combination, the funds held in the trust account will be disbursed directly by the trustee to pay amounts due to any public shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination,” to pay the underwriters their deferred underwriting commissions, to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or the redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

31

Table of Contents

Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination

 



Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that we will have only 24 months from the closing of this offering to consummate our initial business combination. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we 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 us to pay taxes of the company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that they will not be entitled to their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder units they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares and any sponsor units they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame).

The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II).

32

Table of Contents

 

Our sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment 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 us to pay taxes of the company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitations described above under “Limitations on redemptions.” For example, our board of directors may propose such an amendment if it determines that additional time is necessary to complete our initial business combination. In such event, we will conduct a proxy solicitation and distribute proxy materials pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act seeking shareholder approval of such proposal and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon shareholder approval of such amendment. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any officer, director or director nominee, or any other person. In connection with the redemption of any public shares, a corresponding number of Class A Units of Opco held by us will also be redeemed.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

Limited payments to insiders

 

There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made by the company to our sponsor, officers or directors or their respective affiliates for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

•   repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;

33

Table of Contents

 

•   reimbursement for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor, in the amount of $10,000 per month;

•   reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating, negotiating and completing an initial business combination; and

•   repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans.

Any such payments will be made either (i) prior to our initial business combination using proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held outside the trust account or from loans made to us by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors or (ii) in connection with or after the consummation of our initial business combination.

Audit Committee

 

We will establish and maintain an audit committee, which initially will be composed of a majority of independent directors and, within one year of the date of this offering, will be composed entirely of independent directors. Among its responsibilities, the audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors or their respective affiliates and monitor compliance with the other terms relating to this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to promptly take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Committees of the Board of Directors — Audit Committee.”

34

Table of Contents

Risks

We are a newly incorporated company that has conducted no operations and has generated no revenues. Until we complete our initial business combination, we will have no operations and will generate no operating revenues. In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the background of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company. This offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. For additional information concerning how Rule 419 blank check offerings differ from this offering, please see “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.” You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” of this prospectus. Such risks include, but are not limited to:

•        We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

•        Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group, Rice I or our management team or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

•        Our shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our shareholders do not support such a combination.

•        Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.

•        If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

•        The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.

•        The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

•        The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.

•        Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.

•        If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants.

•        Certain of our officers and directors have or will have direct and indirect economic interests in us and/or our sponsor after the consummation of this offering and such interests may potentially conflict with those of our public shareholders as we evaluate and decide whether to recommend a potential business combination to our public shareholders.

•        If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

35

Table of Contents

•        You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

•        The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

•        You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.

•        Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

•        If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following the closing of this offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and our ability to complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.

•        An investment in this offering may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

36

Table of Contents

SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

The following table summarizes the relevant financial data for our business and should be read with our financial statements, which are included in this prospectus. We have not had any significant operations to date, so only balance sheet data is presented.

 

February 26, 2021

   

Actual

 

As Adjusted

Balance Sheet Data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working capital (deficiency)

 

$

(156,277

)

 

$

243,252,161

Total assets

 

$

169,267

 

 

$

252,002,161

Total liabilities

 

$

167,106

 

 

$

27,638,000

Value of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption

 

$

 

 

$

219,338,160

Shareholders’ equity

 

$

2,161

 

 

$

5,026,001

The “as adjusted” information gives effect to the sale of the units in this offering, the sale of the private placement warrants, repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor and the payment of the estimated expenses of this offering and assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The “as adjusted” total assets amount includes the $250,000,000 held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, which amount, less deferred underwriting commissions, will be available to us only upon the completion of our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. The “as adjusted” working capital and “as adjusted” total assets include $8,750,000 being held in the trust account representing deferred underwriting commissions. The “as adjusted” total liabilities calculation includes $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting commissions and $18,888,000 of warrant liabilities, assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised. The underwriters will not be entitled to any interest accrued on the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.

If no business combination is completed within 24 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay taxes of the company or Opco and working capital needs as described herein (less $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II). Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that they will not be entitled to rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder units held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such time period.

37

Table of Contents

RISK FACTORS

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination

We are a newly formed company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

We are a newly formed company with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through this offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders.

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I or our management team is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical record of the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I or our management team as indicative of our future performance or of an investment in the company or the returns the company will, or is likely to, generate going forward.

Our shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our shareholders do not support such a combination.

We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would typically not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except for as required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.

Please see the section entitled “Proposed Business — Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.

Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.

At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment

38

Table of Contents

decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

Our initial shareholders will own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares immediately following the completion of this offering (assuming our initial shareholders do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the sponsor units). Our sponsor and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder units, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,562,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial shareholders and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we have not consummated an initial business within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) 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 we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.

We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of

39

Table of Contents

our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.

The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.

The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.

If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.

The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the time frame described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a

40

Table of Contents

business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted, and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result, in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected, in the case of COVID-19, and could adversely affect, in future outbreaks of infectious diseases, the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 continues to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.

In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Furthermore, the impact of COVID-19 may increase the other risks identified herein.

We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.

We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein.

For example, the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as

41

Table of Contents

promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law. In either such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.00 per public share, or less than $10.00 per public share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of shares our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and the rules of the NYSE. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions.

In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. See “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. For example, we may require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”

42

Table of Contents

As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.

In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination. In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.

If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months following the closing of this offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and our ability to complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.

Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, only approximately $2,000,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that, upon the closing of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of this offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate, and our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team are under no obligation to advance funds

43

Table of Contents

to us in such circumstances. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.

In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $2,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, unless funded by the proceeds of loans available from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $2,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. The amount held in the trust account will not be impacted as a result of such increase or decrease. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, its affiliates, members of our management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor their affiliates is under any obligation to us in such circumstances. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.

We may seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.

We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our initial business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.

We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.

We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination target is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business

44

Table of Contents

combination target, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in this offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination target. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

Unlike some other similarly structured blank check companies, the conversion ratio by which Class B Units convert into Class A Units may be adjusted if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.

The founder units consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares, which together will be exchangeable for our Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities convertible or exercisable for our Class A ordinary shares are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert may be adjusted so that, after all founder units have been exchanged for Class A ordinary shares, the aggregate number of our Class A ordinary shares received by holders in exchange for founder units would equal 20% of our total outstanding ordinary shares upon completion of this offering plus the number of Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination, and excluding the sponsor units. In addition, the number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares will be adjusted through a share split or share dividend so that the total number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares correspond to the total number of Class A Units of Opco outstanding (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) plus the total number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are entitled to convert.

We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceeds the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.

In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, extended the time

45

Table of Contents

to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, meaning the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants (except for provisions of the warrant agreement enabling amendments without shareholder or warrant holder approval that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements). In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.

Our initial shareholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.

Upon closing of this offering, our initial shareholders will own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the sponsor units). Accordingly, it may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. If our sponsor purchases any units in this offering or if our sponsor purchases any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our sponsor, because of its ownership position, will control the outcome, as only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors and to remove directors prior to our initial business combination. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor.

Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition,

46

Table of Contents

charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.

We may pursue business combination opportunities in any sector, except that we will not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials (as applicable) relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

47

Table of Contents

We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.

Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm. However, our shareholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion, nor will they be able to rely on such opinion.

We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after this offering, which may include acting as financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions that will released from the trust only on a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after this offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.

We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after this offering, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay such underwriter or its affiliate fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates and no fees or other compensation for such services will be paid to any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates prior to the date that is 60 days from the date of this prospectus, unless FINRA determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this offering. The underwriters are also entitled to receive deferred commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The fact that the underwriters’ or their respective affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.

Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

48

Table of Contents

Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.

Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to the rights of a company’s shareholders, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that any of its provisions related to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares; provided that the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at our general meeting which shall include the affirmative vote of a simple majority of our Class B ordinary shares. Our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, who will collectively beneficially own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our Class A ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the sponsor units), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II). These agreements

49

Table of Contents

are contained in a letter agreement, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, that we have entered into with our sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers, directors or director nominees for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.

Our current officers may not remain in their positions following our initial business combination. We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.

When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials (as applicable) relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.

Certain agreements related to this offering may be amended or waived without shareholder approval.

Each of the agreements related to this offering to which we are a party, other than the warrant agreement (except for provisions of the warrant agreement enabling amendments without shareholder or warrant holder approval that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then

50

Table of Contents

existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements) and the investment management trust agreement, may be amended or waived without shareholder approval. Such agreements are: the underwriting agreement; the letter agreement among us and our initial shareholders, officers and directors; the registration rights agreement among us and our initial shareholders; the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor; and the administrative services agreement among us, our sponsor and an affiliate of our sponsor. These agreements contain various provisions that our public shareholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and any other securities held by our initial shareholders, officers and/or directors. Amendments to or waivers of such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to or waiver of any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to or waivers of any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any amendment or waiver entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to or waiver of any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments or waivers would not require approval from our shareholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to or waivers of the lock-up provision discussed above may result in our initial shareholders selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.

We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.

Although we have no commitments as of the date of this prospectus to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following this offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

•        default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

•        acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

•        our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;

•        our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;

•        our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares;

•        using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

•        limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

•        increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and

51

Table of Contents

•        limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.

We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.

The net proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will provide us with up to $241,250,000 (or $277,437,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $8,750,000, or $10,062,500 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account and the estimated expenses of this offering).

We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single-target business or multiple-target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

•        solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or

•        dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.

This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.

We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.

If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

52

Table of Contents

Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.

The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.

If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of this offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

Risks Relating to our Securities

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption

53

Table of Contents

distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

We intend to apply to have our units listed on the NYSE on or promptly after the date of this prospectus and our Class A ordinary shares and warrants listed on or promptly after their date of separation. Although after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 round lot holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our aggregate market value would be required to be at least $100,000,000, and the market value of our publicly-held shares would be required to be at least $80,000,000. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

•        a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

•        reduced liquidity for our securities;

•        a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

•        a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

•        a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

Our sponsor was issued Class B Units of Opco for no consideration and paid an aggregate of $26,000 for the sponsor units and Class B ordinary shares, and, accordingly, if and when founder units convert into Class A Units you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class A ordinary shares to the benefit of our sponsor and certain of our directors and officers.

The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the Class A ordinary share and none to the warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per Class A ordinary share after this offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in this offering. Our sponsor was issued Class B Units for no consideration, and the conversion of Class B Units into Class A Units and the exchange of founder units for Class A ordinary shares would significantly contribute to this dilution. Upon

54

Table of Contents

closing of this offering, if the Class B Units were to be converted into Class A Units and the Class A Units were to be exchanged for Class A ordinary shares at such time, and assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units, you and the other public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 93.2% (or $9.32 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.68 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the founder units result in an increase in the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert after the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public shareholders seek redemptions from the trust for their public shares. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the founder units, any equity or equity-linked securities issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A ordinary shares.

We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares, preference shares or Opco Units (and a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco upon the conversion of the founder units at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will authorize the issuance of up to 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 275,000,000 and 23,750,000 (assuming in each case that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option) authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants, shares issuable upon exchange of founder units or other Class A Units of Opco, if any. Immediately after this offering, there will be no preference shares issued and outstanding. The Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) are exchangeable for our Class A ordinary shares at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein.

We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares, preference shares or Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redeeming the warrants as described in “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants” or additional Class A ordinary shares upon exchange of the founder units, as a result of adjustment to the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units or Opco are expected to convert at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares or Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares):

•        may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B ordinary shares resulted in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares;

•        may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares;

•        could cause a change in control if a substantial number of Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;

55

Table of Contents

•        may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;

•        may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants; and

•        may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.

Holders of Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any election of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination.

Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder units will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder units may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.

We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants, or for amendments necessary for the warrants to be classified as equity. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the warrant could be converted into cash or shares (at a ratio different than initial provided), the exercise period could be shortened and the number of our Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.

Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any shareholder or warrant holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision, (ii) amending the provisions relating to cash dividends on ordinary shares as contemplated by and in accordance with the warrant agreement, (iii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the warrant agreement as the parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants or (iv) to make any amendments that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements; provided that the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is required to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants (i) in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment, (ii) to the extent necessary for the warrants in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements without the consent of any shareholder or warrant holder and (iii) solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or shares (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.

Our warrants are expected to be accounted for as a warrant liability and will be recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.

In connection with this offering and the concurrent private placement of warrants, we will issue an aggregate of 15,250,000 warrants in connection with this offering (comprised of the 6,250,000 warrants included in the units and the 9,000,000 private placement warrants, assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised). We expect to account for these as a warrant liability and will record at fair value upon issuance any changes in

56

Table of Contents

fair value each period reported in earnings as determined by us based upon a valuation report obtained from our independent third party valuation firm. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, potential targets may seek a SPAC that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants.

In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. Please see “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00.” The value received upon exercise of the warrants (i) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (ii) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.

None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us as (except as set forth under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00”) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

Our warrants and founder units may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.

We will be issuing warrants to purchase 6,250,000 of our Class A ordinary shares (or up to 7,187,500 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) as part of the units offered by this prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of this offering, we will be issuing in a private placement an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase for $11.50 either one Class A ordinary share or, in certain circumstances, on Class A Unit of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary share), subject to adjustment. The founder units are exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if the sponsor, its affiliates or a member of our management team makes

57

Table of Contents

any working capital loans, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redemption of our warrants.

To the extent we issue ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.

Because each unit contains one-fourth of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.

Each unit contains one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-fourth of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses.

Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if a unit included a warrant to purchase one whole share.

A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.

Unlike most blank check companies, if (i) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices described below under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00” and “— Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.

In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within twenty business days of the closing of an initial business combination.

58

Table of Contents

The determination of the offering price of our units and the size of this offering is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our units properly reflects the value of such units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.

Prior to this offering there has been no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the units and the terms of the warrants were negotiated between us and the underwriters. In determining the size of this offering, management held customary organizational meetings with representatives of the underwriters, both prior to our inception and thereafter, with respect to the state of capital markets, generally, and the amount the underwriters believed they reasonably could raise on our behalf. Factors considered in determining the size of this offering, prices and terms of the units, including the Class A ordinary shares and warrants underlying the units, include:

•        the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;

•        prior offerings of those companies;

•        our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;

•        a review of debt-to-equity ratios in leveraged transactions;

•        our capital structure;

•        an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;

•        general conditions of the securities markets at the time of this offering; and

•        other factors as were deemed relevant.

Although these factors were considered, the determination of our offering price is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities of an operating company in a particular industry since we have no historical operations or financial results.

There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.

There is currently no market for our securities. Shareholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.

Risks Relating to our Sponsor and Human Capital

We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.

Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although

59

Table of Contents

some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.

In addition, the officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.

Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business.

The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.

Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors may also serve as officers or board members for other entities. In particular, certain of our officers and directors are officers and directors of Rice I. In addition, our founders, sponsors, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Such entities, including Rice I, may compete with us for business combination opportunities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management — Officers, Directors and Director Nominees.”

60

Table of Contents

Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including Rice I or another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor, officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Thus, they may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties, including fiduciary and contractual duties to Rice I. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.

For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Management — Officers, Directors and Director Nominees,” “Management — Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.

We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so, or we may acquire a target business through an Affiliated Joint Acquisition with one or more affiliates of our sponsor, including Rice Investment Group and/or one or more of its portfolio companies. We do not we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our shareholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders’ rights. See the section entitled “Description of Securities — Certain Differences in Corporate Law — Shareholders’ Suits” for further information on the ability to bring such claims. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.

In particular, members of our sponsor and its affiliates, including Rice Investment Group, Rice I and its portfolio companies, are focused on investments in the energy industry. As a result, there may be substantial overlap between companies that would be a suitable business combination for us and companies that would make an attractive target for such affiliates.

61

Table of Contents

We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders, which may raise potential conflicts of interest.

In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders, including one or more portfolio companies of Rice Investment Group. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Management — Conflicts of Interest.” Our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or initial shareholders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

Moreover, we may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with one or more affiliates of our sponsor, including Rice Investment Group and/or one or more of its portfolio companies. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the business combination by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.

We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-business combination company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.

62

Table of Contents

Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to sponsor units and public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

On February 10, 2021, our sponsor received an aggregate of 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco and 7,187,500 of our Class B ordinary shares that comprise the founder units. The number of founder units issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder units would represent, on an as converted basis, 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). Prior to the initial investment in the Company of $26,000 by our sponsor, the Company had no assets, tangible or intangible. In June 2021, our sponsor forfeited 90,000 Class B Units of Opco, and 30,000 Class B Units of Opco were issued to each of our independent director nominees. Our sponsor transferred a corresponding number of shares of our Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees. The per unit price of the founder units and sponsor units was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the Company by the number of founder units and sponsor units issued. The founder units and sponsor units will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination and our sponsor and members of our board of directors acquired the founder units and sponsor units for approximately $0.0036 per unit and we are offering units at a price of $10.00 per unit in this offering; as a result, our sponsor and members of our board of directors could make a substantial profit after the initial business combination even if public investors experience substantial losses and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Our sponsor will forfeit up to 937,500 founder units depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised. The founder units will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase for $11.50 either one Class A ordinary share or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary share), subject to adjustment, at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,000,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised or $9,750,000 if underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. If we do not consummate an initial business within 24 months from the closing of this offering, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The founder units are similar to our Class A ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, except that only holders of the founder units have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to our initial business combination, they include Units in Opco that will be exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein, and in certain limited circumstances the Class B Units of Opco will have more limited rights to current or liquidating distributions from us. However, the holders have agreed (i) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (ii) not to redeem any founder units or sponsor units in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month anniversary of the closing of this offering nears, which is the deadline for our consummation of an initial business combination.

Certain of our officers and directors have or will have direct and indirect economic interests in us and/or our sponsor after the consummation of this offering and such interests may potentially conflict with those of our public shareholders as we evaluate and decide whether to recommend a potential business combination to our public shareholders.

Certain of our officers and directors may own membership interests in our sponsor and indirect interests in our Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants which may result in interests that differ from the economic interests of the investors in this offering, which includes making a determination of whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. There may be a potential conflict of interest between our officers and directors that hold membership interests in our sponsor and our public shareholders that may not be resolved in favor of our public shareholders. See “Management — Conflicts of Interest.”

63

Table of Contents

Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries

If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.

If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.

If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:

•        costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations;

•        rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;

•        laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;

•        exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;

•        tariffs and trade barriers;

•        regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

•        local or regional economic policies and market conditions;

•        unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

•        longer payment cycles;

•        tax issues, such as complex withholding or other tax regimes which may apply in connection with our business combination or to our structure following our business combination, potential tax law changes in the United States and/or relevant non-U.S. jurisdictions and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;

•        currency fluctuations and exchange controls;

•        rates of inflation;

•        challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

•        cultural and language differences;

•        employment regulations;

•        underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;

•        corruption;

•        protection of intellectual property;

•        social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances;

•        regime changes and political upheaval;

•        terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; and

•        deterioration of political relations with the United States.

64

Table of Contents

We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.

Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.

After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue may be derived from our operations in any such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and social conditions and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.

The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.

Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.

In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.

We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.

In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.

65

Table of Contents

Risks Relating to Taxes

An investment in this offering may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

An investment in this offering may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we are issuing in this offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the Class A ordinary shares and the one-fourth of a warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share included in each unit could be challenged by the IRS or courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the units we are issuing in this offering is unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our ordinary shares suspend the running of a U.S. Holder’s (as defined below in “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — General”) holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of Class A ordinary shares is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. See the section of this prospectus captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations” for a summary of the U.S. federal income tax considerations of an investment in our securities. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.

We may be a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder (as defined in the section of this prospectus captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — General”) of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception and the timing of our initial business combination (see the section of this prospectus captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules”). Depending on the particular circumstances the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may require, including a PFIC Annual Information Statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. investors to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules with respect to their particular circumstances. For a more detailed discussion of the tax consequences of PFIC classification to U.S. Holders, see the section of this prospectus captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”

We may enter into one or more transactions, including reincorporating in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and any such transaction may result in taxes being imposed on shareholders and/or warrantholders.

We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, enter into one or more transactions, including reincorporating in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. Any such transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us in connection with or after any such transaction.

66

Table of Contents

Other Key Risks

We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our shareholders to elect directors.

In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings to elect directors. Until we hold an annual meeting of shareholders, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to elect directors and to discuss company affairs with management. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of shareholders) serving a three-year term.

After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.

It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.

You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.

Since the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and will file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if this offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share.

Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (except our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third-party that has not executed a waiver if management believes

67

Table of Contents

that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue.

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third-party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have 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 public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our 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 our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.

However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced 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 public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay tax obligations of the company or Opco, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per public share.

68

Table of Contents

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy and/or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including restrictions on the nature of our investments and restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

•        registration as an investment company with the SEC;

•        adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

•        reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are currently not subject to.

In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.

We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not

69

Table of Contents

permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. This offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering; or (iii) absent our completing an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public shareholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination, or may result in liquidation. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

The securities in which we invest the proceeds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the interest income available for payment of taxes or reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

The net proceeds of this offering and certain proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants, in the amount of $250,000,000, or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, will be held in an interest-bearing trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in direct U.S. Treasury obligations having a maturity of 185 days or less, or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. Treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may withdraw to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income. If the balance of the trust account is reduced below $250,000,000, or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.

Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions will include a staggered board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our Class B ordinary shares, which have been issued to our sponsor, are entitled to vote on the election of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

70

Table of Contents

The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of this offering, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the Class A ordinary shares into which founder units and sponsor units are exchangeable, the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants or upon exchange of any Class A units of Opco issued upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants or upon exchange of any Class A Units of Opco issued upon exercise of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder units and the private placement warrants and the exchange of any Class A Units of Opco and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. Assuming the founder units and sponsor units are exchanged on a one-for-one basis and no warrants are issued upon conversion of working capital loans, an aggregate of up to 6,250,000 of our Class A ordinary shares and up to 9,000,000 warrants (or up to 7,187,600 of our Class A ordinary shares and up to 9,750,000 warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) are subject to registration under these agreements. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our securities that is expected when the securities owned by our initial shareholders, holders of our private placement warrants or their permitted transferees are registered for resale.

We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers.

We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to “emerging growth companies” or “smaller reporting companies,” this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive

71

Table of Contents

as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (ii) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

Our warrant agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.

Our warrant agreement will provide that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (i) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (ii) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.

This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.

72

Table of Contents

Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.

Our corporate affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.

We have been advised by our Cayman Islands legal counsel that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.

Our organizational structure could confer certain tax benefits upon our initial shareholders that will not benefit the holders of our Class A ordinary shares to the same extent as it will benefit our initial shareholders.

We are a holding company and will not have material assets other than our ownership of Opco Units. Subject to the obligation of Opco to make tax distributions and to reimburse us for our corporate and other overhead expenses, we will have the right to determine whether to cause Opco to make non-liquidating distributions, and the amount of any such distributions. We do not anticipate causing Opco to make any such distributions to holders of Opco Units (including Rice Acquisition Corp. II) prior to our initial business combination, other than required redemptions of Class A Units of Opco held by us in connection with a redemption of public shares. If Opco makes distributions after our initial business combination, the initial shareholders will be entitled to receive equivalent distributions from Opco on a pro rata basis. However, because we may be required to pay taxes following the business combination, amounts we may distribute as dividends to holders of our Class A ordinary shares could be less on a per share basis than the amounts distributed by Opco to the initial shareholders on a per unit basis. Thus, our initial shareholders may receive different tax treatment than our public shareholders in certain circumstances.

73

Table of Contents

Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.

If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of $18,292.68 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.

General Risk Factors

Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.

We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements and numerous complex tax laws. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.

74

Table of Contents

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements contained in this prospectus may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, for example, statements about:

•        our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;

•        our ability to complete our initial business combination;

•        our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses;

•        our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;

•        our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;

•        our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;

•        our pool of prospective target businesses;

•        our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the recent COVID-19 pandemic and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or other significant outbreaks of infectious diseases);

•        the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;

•        our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

•        the lack of a market for our securities;

•        the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;

•        the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or

•        our financial performance following this offering.

The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

75

Table of Contents

USE OF PROCEEDS

We are offering 25,000,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering, together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement warrants, will be used as set forth in the following table:

 

Without
Over-allotment
Option

 

Over-allotment
Option
Exercised

Gross Proceeds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gross Proceeds from units offered to public(1)

 

$

250,000,000

 

 

$

287,500,000

 

Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement

 

 

9,000,000

 

 

 

9,750,000

 

Total gross proceeds

 

$

259,000,000

 

 

$

297,250,000

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Estimated offering expenses(2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underwriting commissions (2.0% of gross proceeds from units offered to public, excluding deferred portion)(3)

 

$

5,000,000

 

 

$

5,750,000

 

Legal fees and expenses

 

 

350,000

 

 

 

350,000

 

Printing and engraving expenses

 

 

40,000

 

 

 

40,000

 

Accounting fees and expenses

 

 

50,000

 

 

 

50,000

 

SEC/FINRA Expenses

 

 

74,992

 

 

 

74,992

 

Travel and road show

 

 

20,000

 

 

 

20,000

 

NYSE listing and filing fees

 

 

85,000

 

 

 

85,000

 

Director & Officer liability insurance premiums

 

 

1,000,000

 

 

 

1,000,000

 

Miscellaneous

 

 

380,008

 

 

 

380,008

 

Total estimated offering expenses (excluding underwriting commissions)

 

$

2,000,000

 

 

$

2,000,000

 

Proceeds after estimated offering expenses

 

$

252,000,000

 

 

$

289,500,000

 

Held in trust account(3)

 

$

250,000,000

 

 

$

287,500,000

 

% of public offering size

 

 

100

%

 

 

100

%

Not held in trust account

 

$

2,000,000

 

 

$

2,000,000

 

The following table shows the use of the estimated $2,000,000 of net proceeds not held in the trust account.(4)(5)

 

Amount

 

% of Total

Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel, and other expenses in connection with any business combination(6)

 

$

650,000

 

32.50

%

Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations

 

 

160,000

 

8.00

%

Payment for office space, administrative and support services

 

 

240,000

 

12.00

%

NYSE continued listing fees

 

 

85,000

 

4.25

%

Working capital to cover miscellaneous expenses and reserves

 

 

865,000

 

43.25

%

Total

 

$

2,000,000

 

100.00

%

____________

(1)      Includes amounts payable to public shareholders who properly redeem their shares in connection with our successful completion of our initial business combination.

(2)      A portion of the offering expenses will be paid from the proceeds of loans from our sponsor of up to $300,000 as described in this prospectus. To date, we have not borrowed any money under the promissory note with our sponsor. Any amounts that are borrowed will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting discounts and commissions) and not to be held in the trust account. In the event that offering expenses are less than as set forth in this table, any such amounts will be used for post-closing working capital expenses. In the event that the offering expenses are more than as set forth in this table, we may fund such excess with funds not held in the trust account.

(3)      The underwriters have agreed to defer underwriting commissions of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering. Upon and concurrently with the completion of our initial business combination, $8,750,000, which constitutes the underwriters’ deferred discounts and commissions (or $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be paid to the underwriters from the funds held in the trust account. See “Underwriting.” The remaining funds, less amounts released to the trustee to pay redeeming shareholders, will be released to us and can be used to pay all or a portion of the

76

Table of Contents

purchase price of the business or businesses with which our initial business combination occurs or for general corporate purposes, including payment of principal or interest on indebtedness incurred in connection with our initial business combination, to fund the purchases of other companies or for working capital. The underwriters will not be entitled to any interest accrued on the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.

(4)      These expenses are estimates only. Our actual expenditures for some or all of these items may differ from the estimates set forth herein. For example, we may incur greater legal and accounting expenses than our current estimates in connection with negotiating and structuring our initial business combination based upon the level of complexity of such business combination. In the event we identify a business combination target in a specific industry subject to specific regulations, we may incur additional expenses associated with legal due diligence and the engagement of special legal counsel. In addition, our staffing needs may vary and as a result, we may engage a number of consultants to assist with legal and financial due diligence. We do not anticipate any change in our intended use of proceeds, other than fluctuations among the current categories of allocated expenses, which fluctuations, to the extent they exceed current estimates for any specific category of expenses, would not be available for our expenses. The amount in the table above does not include interest available to us from the trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations 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 which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year, we estimate the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $250,000 per year; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount.

(5)      Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

(6)      Includes estimated amounts that may also be used in connection with our initial business combination to fund a “no shop” provision and commitment fees for financing.

The rules of the NYSE provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. We will use the net proceeds of this offering to purchase Class A Units and warrants of Opco. Opco will deposit $250,000,000 (or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), of which $8,750,000 (or $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) may be required to pay deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, into a U.S. based trust account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and will use $9,000,000 (or $9,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. We will not be permitted to withdraw any of the principal or interest held in the trust account, except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law, or (iii) the redemption of our public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering. Based on current interest rates, we expect that interest income earned on the trust account (if any) will be sufficient to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco.

The net proceeds held in the trust account may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we ultimately complete our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), we may apply the balance of the cash released from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-business combination company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination.

We believe that amounts not held in trust, together with funds available to us from loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team will be sufficient to pay the costs and expenses to which such proceeds are allocated. However, if our estimate of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may be required to raise additional capital, the amount, availability and cost of which is currently unascertainable. If we are required to seek additional

77

Table of Contents

capital, we could seek such additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors although they are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances.

We will reimburse our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to members of our management team, in the amount of $10,000 per month. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

Prior to the closing of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. To date, we have not borrowed any money under the promissory note with our sponsor. This loan is non-interest bearing, unsecured and is due at the earlier of September 30, 2021 or the closing of this offering. The loan will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the offering proceeds not held in the trust account.

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Except as set forth above, the terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or any members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection therewith pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and the rules of the NYSE. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Subsequent to the consummation of this offering, we will adopt an insider trading policy which will require insiders to: (i) refrain from purchasing securities during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information; and (ii) to clear all trades with our legal counsel prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases. Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.

We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.

We may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) and the agreement for our initial business combination may require as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights so that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement or any net worth or cash requirements, we would not proceed with the redemption of our public shares or the business combination, and instead may search for an alternate business combination.

78

Table of Contents

A public shareholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with our completion of an initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or (iii) the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein and any limitations (including but not limited to cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account.

Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that any founder units and sponsor units held by them will not be entitled to redemption rights, and they will waive any such redemption rights for any public shares held by them, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, our initial shareholders have agreed that any founder units held by them are not entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account, and they will not be entitled to any such rights to liquidating distributions for any founder units, if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. However, if our sponsor or any of our officers, directors or affiliates acquires public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares and the sponsor units, if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

79

Table of Contents

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. If we increase the size of this offering, we will effect a share capitalization or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder units, on an as-converted basis, at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

80

Table of Contents

DILUTION

The difference between the public offering price per Class A ordinary share, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units we are offering pursuant to this prospectus or the private placement warrants, and the pro forma net tangible book value per Class A ordinary share after this offering constitutes the dilution to investors in this offering. Such calculation does not reflect any dilution associated with the sale and exercise of warrants, including the private placement warrants, which would cause the actual dilution to the public shareholders to be higher, particularly where a cashless exercise is utilized. Net tangible book value per share is determined by dividing our net tangible book value, which is our total tangible assets less total liabilities (including the value of Class A ordinary shares which may be redeemed for cash), by the number of outstanding Class A ordinary shares.

At February 26, 2021, our net tangible book deficit was $156,277, or approximately $(0.02) per ordinary share. After giving effect to the sale of 25,000,000 Class A ordinary shares included in the units we are offering by this prospectus (or 28,750,000 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), the sale of the private placement warrants and the deduction of underwriting commissions and estimated expenses of this offering, our pro forma net tangible book value at February 26, 2021 would have been $5,026,001 or $0.54 per share (or $5,026,001 or $0.47 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of 21,933,816 Class A ordinary shares that may be redeemed for cash, or 25,332,766 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of $.56 per share (or $0.49 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) to our sponsor as of the date of this prospectus. Total dilution to public shareholders from this offering will be $9.46 per share (or $9.53 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full).

The following table illustrates the dilution to the public shareholders on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units or the private placement warrants:

 

Without
Over-allotment

 

With
Over-allotment

Public offering price

   

 

 

$

10.00

 

   

 

 

$

10.00

 

Net tangible book deficit before this offering

 

(0.02

)

 

 

 

 

 

(0.02

)

 

 

 

 

Increase attributable to public shareholders

 

0.56

 

 

 

 

 

 

0.49

 

 

 

 

 

Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants

   

 

 

 

0.54

 

   

 

 

 

0.47

 

Dilution to public shareholders

   

 

 

$

9.46

 

   

 

 

$

9.53

 

Percentage of dilution to public shareholders

   

 

 

 

94.6

%

   

 

 

 

95.3

%

For purposes of presentation, we have reduced our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) by $219,338,160 because holders of up to approximately 95.3% of our public shares may redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account at a per share redemption price equal to the amount in the trust account as set forth in our tender offer or proxy materials (initially anticipated to be the aggregate amount held in trust two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II)).

81

Table of Contents

The following table sets forth information with respect to our sponsor and the public shareholders:

 


Shares Purchased

 


Total Consideration

 

Average
Price per
share

   

Number

 

Percentage

 

Amount

 

Percentage

 

Class A and Class B Ordinary Shares(1)

 

6,252,600

 

20.0

%

 

$

26,000

 

0.01

%

 

$

0.004

Public Shareholders

 

25,000,000

 

80.0

%

 

 

250,000,000

 

99.99

%

 

$

10.00

   

31,252,600

 

100.0

%

 

$

250,026,000

 

100.0

%

 

 

 

____________

(1)      Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 937,500 Class B ordinary shares held by our sponsor.

The pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering (assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option) is calculated as follows:

 

Without
Over-allotment

 

With
Over-allotment

Numerator:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net tangible book deficit before this offering

 

$

(156,277

)

 

$

(156,277

)

Net proceeds from this offering and sale of the private placement warrants(1)

 

 

252,000,000

 

 

 

289,500,000

 

Plus: Offering costs paid in advance, excluded from tangible book value before this offering

 

 

158,438

 

 

 

158,438

 

Less: Deferred underwriting commissions

 

 

(8,750,000

)

 

 

(10,062,500

)

Less: Warrant Liabilities

 

 

(18,888,000

)

 

 

(21,086,000

)

Less: Proceeds held in trust subject to redemption(2)

 

 

(219,338,160

)

 

 

(253,327,660

)

   

$

5,026,001

 

 

$

5,026,001

 

Denominator:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares outstanding prior to this offering

 

 

2,500

 

 

 

2,500

 

Class B ordinary shares outstanding prior to this offering

 

 

7,187,600

 

 

 

7,187,600

 

Class B ordinary shares forfeited if over-allotment is not exercised

 

 

(937,500

)

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares included in the units offered

 

 

25,000,000

 

 

 

28,750,000

 

Less: Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption

 

 

(21,933,816

)

 

 

(25,332,766

)

   

 

9,318,784

 

 

 

10,607,334

 

____________

(1)      Expenses applied against gross proceeds include offering expenses of $2,000,000 and underwriting discounts and commissions of $5,000,000 or $5,750,000 if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option (excluding deferred underwriting discounts and commissions). See “Use of Proceeds.”

(2)      If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. In the event of any such purchases of our shares prior to the completion of our initial business combination, the number of Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption will be reduced by the amount of any such purchases, increasing the pro forma net tangible book value per share. See “Proposed Business — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities.”

82

Table of Contents

CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization at February 26, 2021, and as adjusted to give effect to the filing of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the sale of our units in this offering and the private placement warrants and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:

 

February 26, 2021

   

Actual

 

As Adjusted

Note payable to related party(1)

 

$

 

 

$

 

Deferred underwriting commissions

 

 

 

 

 

8,750,000

 

Warrant Liabilities(4)

 

 

 

 

 

18,888,000

 

Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption; -0- and 21,933,816 shares, actual and as adjusted, respectively(2)

 

 

 

 

 

219,338,160

 

Preferred shares, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, 300,000,000 shares authorized; 2,500 and 3,066,184 shares issued and outstanding (excluding -0- and 21,933,816 shares subject to possible redemption), actual and as adjusted, respectively

 

 

 

 

 

118

 

Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, 30,000,000 shares authorized; 7,187,600 and 6,250,100 shares issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted, respectively

 

 

719

 

 

 

625

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

 

24,281

 

 

 

5,711,771

 

Accumulated deficit

 

 

(22,922

)

 

 

(686,785

)

Total Rice Acquisition Corp II equity

 

 

2,078

 

 

 

5,025,918

 

Non-controlling interest in subsidiary

 

 

83

 

 

 

83

 

Total shareholders’ equity

 

$

2,161

 

 

$

5,026,001

 

Total capitalization

 

$

2,161

 

 

$

252,002,161

 

____________

(1)      Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 937,500 Class B ordinary shares held by our sponsor.

(2)      Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of February 26, 2021, we have not borrowed any money under the promissory note with our sponsor.

(3)      Upon the completion of our initial business combination, we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash at a per share price equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitations described herein whereby redemptions cannot cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination.

(4)      We will account for the 15,250,000 warrants to be issued in connection with this offering (comprised of 6,250,000 warrants included in the units and 9,000,0000 private placement warrants, assuming the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is not exercised) in accordance with the guidance contained in Accounting Standards Codification Topic 815-40. Such guidance provides that because the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each warrant must be recorded as a liability. Accordingly, we will classify each warrant as a liability at its fair value. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date. With each such re-measurement, the warrant liability will be adjusted to fair value, with the change in fair value recognized in our statement of operations. The warrants are also subject to re-evaluation of the proper classification and accounting treatment at each reporting period.

83

Table of Contents

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated on February 2, 2021 as a Cayman Islands exempted company 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. 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. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing or other sources.

The issuance of additional Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares), Class A ordinary shares or preference shares:

•        may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the founder units resulted in an increase in the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert;

•        may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares;

•        could cause a change in control if a substantial number of our Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;

•        may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;

•        may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants; and

•        may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.

Similarly, if we issue debt or otherwise incur significant debt, it could result in:

•        default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

•        acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

•        our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;

•        our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;

•        our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares;

•        using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

•        limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

84

Table of Contents

•        increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and

•        limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.

As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, as of February 26, 2021, we had no cash, and a working capital deficit of approximately $156,000. Further, we expect to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial business combination will be successful.

Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for this offering. Following this offering, we will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents after this offering. There has been no significant change in our financial or trading position and no material adverse change has occurred since the date of our audited financial statements. After this offering, we expect to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses. We expect our expenses to increase substantially after the closing of this offering.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our liquidity needs have been satisfied prior to the completion of this offering through (i) $26,000 paid by our sponsor to cover certain of our offering costs in exchange for the issuance of the founder units to our sponsor and (ii) the receipt of loans to us of up to $300,000 by our sponsor under an unsecured promissory note. To date, we have not borrowed any amounts under the unsecured promissory note. We estimate that the net proceeds from (i) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting estimated offering expenses of $2,000,000, underwriting discounts and commissions of $5,000,000, or $5,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (excluding deferred underwriting discounts and commissions of $8,750,000, or $10,062,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), and (ii) the sale of the private placement warrants for a purchase price of $9,000,000 will be $252,000,000 (or $289,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $250,000,000 (or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be held in the trust account, which includes the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions described above. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations 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 which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. The remaining $2,000,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $2,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $2,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (less taxes payable and deferred underwriting commissions), to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest income (if any) to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and other income earned on the amounts held in the trust account. We expect the interest income earned on the amount in the trust account (if any) will be sufficient to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco. To the extent that our equity or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.

85

Table of Contents

Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we will have available to us the $2,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, as well as certain funds from loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team. We will use these funds to primarily identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a business combination.

We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business prior to our initial business combination, other than funds available from loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.

We expect our primary liquidity requirements during that period to include approximately $650,000 for legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses associated with structuring, negotiating and documenting successful business combinations; $160,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations; $240,000 for office space, administrative and support services; $85,000 for the NYSE continued listing fees; and $865,000 for general working capital that will be used for miscellaneous expenses and reserves.

These amounts are estimates and may differ materially from our actual expenses. In addition, we could use a portion of the funds not being placed in trust to pay commitment fees for financing, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into an agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business, the amount that would be used as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision would be determined based on the terms of the specific business combination and the amount of our available funds at the time. Our forfeiture of such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise) could result in our not having sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conducting due diligence with respect to, prospective target businesses.

Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account.

Controls and Procedures

We are not currently required to maintain an effective system of internal controls as defined by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will be required to comply with the internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company would we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend

86

Table of Contents

to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement.

Prior to the closing of this offering, we have not completed an assessment, nor have our auditors tested our systems, of our internal controls. We expect to assess the internal controls of our target business or businesses prior to the completion of our initial business combination and, if necessary, to implement and test additional controls as we may determine are necessary in order to state that we maintain an effective system of internal controls. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding the adequacy of internal controls. Many small and mid-sized target businesses we may consider for our initial business combination may have internal controls that need improvement in areas such as:

•        staffing for financial, accounting and external reporting areas, including segregation of duties;

•        reconciliation of accounts;

•        proper recording of expenses and liabilities in the period to which they relate;

•        evidence of internal review and approval of accounting transactions;

•        documentation of processes, assumptions and conclusions underlying significant estimates; and

•        documentation of accounting policies and procedures.

Because it will take time, management involvement and perhaps outside resources to determine what internal control improvements are necessary for us to meet regulatory requirements and market expectations for our operation of a target business, we may incur significant expenses in meeting our public reporting responsibilities, particularly in the areas of designing, enhancing, or remediating internal and disclosure controls. Doing so effectively may also take longer than we expect, thus increasing our exposure to financial fraud or erroneous financing reporting.

Once our management’s report on internal controls is complete, we will retain our independent registered public accounting firm to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The independent registered public accounting firm may identify additional issues concerning a target business’s internal controls while performing their audit of internal control over financial reporting.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

The net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be invested in U.S. government treasury obligations 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 which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

Related Party Transactions

On February 10, 2021, our sponsor received 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco for no consideration and purchased 7,187,500 corresponding Class B ordinary shares, 2,500 of our Class A ordinary shares and 100 Class A Units of Opco and 100 corresponding Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate of $26,000. In June 2021, our sponsor forfeited 90,000 Class B Units of Opco, and 30,000 Class B Units of Opco were issued to each of our independent director nominees. Our sponsor transferred a corresponding number of shares of our Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees.

Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NYSE, we have agreed to pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.

87

Table of Contents

Prior to the consummation of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the closing of this offering. The loan will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the offering proceeds held in the trust account.

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.

Our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,000,000 in the aggregate, or $9,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase for $11.50, either one of our Class A ordinary shares or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary share). Our sponsor will be permitted to transfer the private placement warrants held by it to certain permitted transferees, including their officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with or related to them, but the transferees receiving such securities will be subject to the same agreements with respect to such securities as the sponsor. Otherwise, these warrants will not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferable, assignable or saleable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by our sponsor or their permitted transferees. The private placement warrants may also be exercised by the sponsor or their permitted transferees for cash or on a cashless basis. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.

Pursuant to a registration rights agreement we will enter into with our initial shareholders on or prior to the closing of this offering, we may be required to register certain securities for sale under the Securities Act. These holders and holders of warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any, are entitled under the registration rights agreement to make up to three demands that we register certain of our securities held by them for sale under the Securities Act and to have the securities covered thereby registered for resale pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders have the right to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. We will bear the costs and expenses of registering these securities.

Off-balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations; Quarterly Results

As of February 26, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations. No unaudited quarterly operating data is included in this prospectus as we have not conducted any operations to date.

JOBS Act

The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

88

Table of Contents

Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis) and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the principal officer’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.

89

Table of Contents

PROPOSED BUSINESS

General

We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on February 2, 2021. We were formed 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, 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 potential business combination target regarding entering into a business combination with us.

We intend to focus our search for a target business in the broadly defined energy transition or sustainability arena. Specifically, although we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business industry or sector, we plan to concentrate our search on supply-side solutions and innovations that enable the economy to decarbonize in sectors that include renewable fuels, sustainable chemical production and feedstocks, carbon capture, utilization and storage technology and equipment, applications, infrastructure and technology focused on reducing the carbon intensity of fuels, energy production methods, and industrial processes.

We intend to identify and acquire a business that could benefit from a hands-on owner with extensive operational experience and the public company expertise our management team possesses, and/or that relies on the target’s executive and operational expertise but presents potential for an attractive risk-adjusted return profile under our stewardship. Members of our management team previously served as executive officers of Rice Energy, an Appalachian Basin focused natural gas operator, and Rice Midstream, an operator of large-scale natural gas and water infrastructure. Rice Energy was formed in 2007 by the Rice family and quickly grew to become one of the largest producers of natural gas in the United States. Nine months after Rice Energy’s $1 billion initial public offering in January 2014, its midstream assets were spun off into Rice Midstream, a tax efficient master limited partnership, and taken public via initial public offering in December 2014. Rice Energy’s and Rice Midstream’s growth was fueled both organically and by large-scale acquisitions of strategic targets. Rice Energy was acquired by EQT in 2017 for $8.2 billion, forming the largest natural gas operator in the United States, and Rice Midstream was acquired by EQM for $2.4 billion in 2018. We believe these businesses played a critical role in lowering carbon emissions by displacing coal with a growing supply of low-cost, cleaner burning U.S. natural gas. We believe our management team’s track record of building Rice Energy and Rice Midstream demonstrate our ability to successfully establish, build and grow large scale businesses in growing industries while generating peer leading returns for shareholders and contributing to lower U.S. emissions.

Subsequent to the sales of Rice Energy and Rice Midstream, members of our management team formed Rice Investment Group, a multi-strategy fund controlled by the Rice family and other members of our management focused on a diverse array of energy-related investments, including energy transition investments. Rice Investment Group maintains a 20-year investment horizon and has relied upon the experience, breadth of knowledge and vision of its management team to find, create and invest in compelling long-term energy opportunities. Certain of those opportunities include successful early stage investments in companies tasked with solving today’s most pressing climate-related challenges, including, but not limited to, development of AI-enhanced carbon monitoring and measurement tools, developing low cost renewable gas capture and development projects, and building AI-enhanced flow control solutions to minimize carbon emissions. We intend to leverage our management’s experience and track record of finding, evaluating, investing and guiding these forward-thinking businesses.

Our management team also has experience transforming underperforming businesses. Following a year of disappointing operational results and poor shareholder returns at EQT, in response to inquiries from other EQT shareholders, certain members of the Rice Investment Group, including members of the Rice Team, conducted a shareholder campaign to revamp the strategic direction of EQT and elect a new majority slate of directors to EQT’s board of directors. In July 2019, over 80% of EQT’s shareholders voted to install the Rice Team’s director nominees. The Rice Team, working in conjunction with the EQT board of directors and management, executed on a 100-day plan to transform EQT into a peer leader in capital efficiency. EQT has reported that it decreased per unit capital costs, renegotiated key service arrangements to reduce per unit operating expenses, streamlined the organizational structure to reduce general and administrative expenses, and installed numerous enterprise applications as part of a digital transformation to support further evolution of EQT’s business processes. Our management team’s experience at EQT demonstrates our ability to rapidly transform a business plagued by poor operational performance into a peer leader.

90

Table of Contents

We believe that our management team is well-positioned to identify attractive risk-adjusted returns in the marketplace and that its contacts and transaction sources, ranging from industry executives, private owners, private equity funds and investment bankers, in addition to the industry reach of Rice Investment Group, will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities.

An affiliate of Rice Investment Group also formed and sponsored Rice I, a blank check company like our company that was formed to consummate an initial business combination. Rice I completed its initial public offering in October 2020, in which it sold 23,725,000 units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock of Rice I and one-half of one redeemable warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock of Rice I, for an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating aggregate proceeds of $237,250,000. On April 7, 2021, Rice I announced that it plans to consummate a business combination transaction with Aria Energy LLC and Archaea Energy LLC, which will create an industry-leading renewable natural gas platform. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 subject to certain closing conditions. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders” for more information.

Management, Board of Directors and Our Sponsor

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV, our Chief Executive Officer, has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Rice is also the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Rice I. Mr. Rice is a Partner of Rice Investment Group and served as Chief Executive Officer of Rice Energy from October 2013 through the completion of its acquisition by EQT in November 2017. Prior to his role as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rice served as Chief Operating Officer of Rice Energy from October 2012 through September 2013 and as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Rice Energy from October 2008 through September 2012. Mr. Rice oversaw Rice Energy’s growth from start-up through its $1 billion initial public offering in 2014 and eventual $8.2 billion sale to EQT in 2017. Mr. Rice also oversaw the creation and growth of Rice Midstream, which was acquired by EQM for $2.4 billion in 2018. Mr. Rice established Rice Energy’s strategic framework for value creation, which yielded success for its shareholders and employees. He has utilized his operating and growth strategy formulation experience as the founder of Rice Energy to help portfolio companies of Rice Investment Group to refine and optimize their business strategies in order to profitably grow. Mr. Rice currently serves on the board of directors of EQT and the board of Whiting Petroleum Corporation. Prior to joining Rice Energy, he was an investment banker for Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in Houston and held finance and strategic roles with Transocean Ltd. and Tyco International plc.

J. Kyle Derham, our President and Chief Financial Officer, is a Partner of Rice Investment Group. Mr. Derham is also the President, Chief Financial Officer and a director of Rice I. Mr. Derham, as part of the Rice Team, led the shareholder campaign in 2019 to revamp the strategic direction of EQT and successfully elect a majority slate of director candidates to the board of EQT, the largest operator of natural gas production in the United States. Following the campaign, Mr. Derham served as interim Chief Financial Officer of EQT and currently serves as a strategic advisor to the company. Mr. Derham previously served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Finance of Rice Energy and Rice Midstream from January 2014 through November 2017. Through his various roles working alongside the Rice family, Mr. Derham has focused on evaluating, structuring and negotiating key acquisitions and execution of critical strategic initiatives to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for investors. Mr. Derham also has experience as a private equity investor, working as an associate at First Reserve and as an investment banker at Barclays Investment Bank.

James Wilmot Rogers, our Chief Accounting Officer, served as Senior Vice Present and Chief Accounting Officer & Administrative Officer, Treasurer of Rice Energy from April 2011 through November 2017. Mr. Rogers is also the Chief Accounting Officer of Rice I. Mr. Rogers led accounting, tax and human resources functions for Rice Energy, Rice Midstream and its numerous joint ventures and joint venture companies. Mr. Rogers oversaw such functions through two initial public offerings in a single calendar year (Rice Energy in January 2014 and Rice Midstream in December 2014) and through numerous asset and corporate level acquisitions totaling more than $10 billion in asset value. He also has numerous years in public accounting experience, having worked at both Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

We will also draw on the experience of our other board members:

Jide Famuagun, one of our independent director nominees is the Founder & CEO of Alpha Capital Partners, a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm. The firm is an investor, developer, operator, and fund manager of thriving Multifamily and Student Housing investments across the Midwest, South, and Southeast markets. Prior to

91

Table of Contents

founding Alpha, Mr. Famuagun served as Vice President of Production at Rice Energy from June 2012 through November 2017 and was responsible for production engineering, operations, flowback and well workovers, facilities engineering and construction, automation and SCADA, produced water recycling, and gas control and measurement groups. At Rice Energy, Mr. Famuagun was an early adopter of automation and machine learning within the energy industry automating onsite operations across Rice Energy’s operating footprint to drive performance and operating cost efficiency. Prior to Rice Energy, Mr. Famuagun held engineering and executive roles across energy, recycling, and international trade, conducting business in over 30 countries. Mr. Famuagun holds three patents focused on sustainable technology within the energy industry. Mr. Famuagun earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA with a concentration in Engineering and Technology Management from Oklahoma Christian University.

Carrie M. Fox, one of our independent director nominees, has served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer for Cygnet Resources, a real property investment company, since September 2020, Chief Financial Officer for Driltek, Inc., a global onshore and offshore upstream operations and decommissioning company, since September 2020, and Director for Extraction Oil and Gas (NASDAQ: XOG), an independent oil and gas company, since January 2021. Ms. Fox previously served as a Vice President of Business Development for California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) from 2014 to August 2020, where her accomplishments included originating and closing multiple midstream/development joint ventures and asset acquisitions/divestitures. Prior to joining business development at CRC, Ms. Fox held numerous leadership positions within the asset development and exploitation organizations for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) from 2006 to 2014. There, Ms. Fox also served as California Government Affairs Manager where she analyzed and developed legislative and regulatory strategies. Ms. Fox was selected for Hart Energy’s “40 under 40” in 2020. Ms. Fox began her career as a reservoir and operations engineer responsible for assets under primary, secondary, and tertiary recovery mechanisms in the San Joaquin and Los Angeles Basins. Ms. Fox holds a B.Sc. in engineering from California Polytechnical State University, San Luis Obispo.

James Lytal, one of our independent director nominees, has served as a Senior Advisor for Global Infrastructure Partners (a leading global, independent infrastructure investor) since April 2009. From 1994 to 2004, he served as President of Leviathan Gas Pipeline Partners, which later became El Paso Energy Partners, and then Gulfterra Energy Partners. In 2004, Gulfterra merged with Enterprise Products Partners (a North American midstream energy services provider), where he served as Executive Vice President until 2009. From 1980 to 1994, Mr. Lytal held a series of commercial, engineering and business development positions with various companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and production and gas pipeline services. Mr. Lytal currently serves on the board of directors for Archrock, Inc, a publicly listed natural gas compression services company. Previously, Mr. Lytal served as a director and member of the audit committee and chairman of the conflicts committee of Rice Midstream Management LLC, the managing general partner of Rice Midstream Partners, L.P. from 2015 until it was acquired in July 2018; director of Gulfterra Energy Partners from 1994 to 2004; director of Azure Midstream Partners GP, LLC, the general partner of Azure Midstream Partners, LP from 2013 to 2017, including service as member of the audit committee and chairman of the conflicts committee; and director and chairman of the compensation committee and member of the audit committee of SemGroup Corporation from 2011 until it was acquired in December of 2019. Mr. Lytal holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Our sponsor, Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, is an entity controlled by its managing members, Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and J. Kyle Derham, and owned by members of our management and other individuals. For approximately 15 years, the Rice family has built a successful track record through a disciplined investment framework with expertise that spans across the energy industry, including through Rice Investment Group. Rice Investment Group is a $200 million multi-strategy fund controlled by the Rice family and other members of our management focused on a diverse array of energy related investments, including energy transition investments. As a result of their investment activities, our management team and Rice Investment Group have developed deep industry relationships across the entire energy value chain, including the upstream and midstream sectors as well as the alternative energy and renewables sectors and companies providing services or components to these sectors. We believe the reputation and expertise of Rice Investment Group and our management team in the energy industry will make us a preferred partner for potential business combination targets. Toby Z. Rice, the brother of Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and the President and Chief Executive Officer of EQT, will not participate in the management of us or our sponsor.

Past performance of the Rice family, Rice Investment Group, Rice I or our management team is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of the Rice family, Rice Investment Group, Rice I or our management’s performance as indicative of our future performance.

92

Table of Contents

Market Opportunity

We intend to focus our search for a target business in the broadly defined energy transition or sustainability arena. Specifically, we plan to concentrate our search on supply-side solutions and innovations that enable the economy to decarbonize in sectors that include renewable fuels, sustainable chemical production and feedstocks, carbon capture, utilization and storage technology and equipment, applications, infrastructure and technology focused on reducing the carbon intensity of fuels, energy production methods, and industrial processes. We believe the recent capital market and investment activity directed at energy transition has focused on end-market applications such as vehicle electrification, energy efficiency for consumers and sustainable and eco-conscious products. These trends are important to the overall success of the energy transition; however, their adoption and commercial development require more focus on the production and supply of clean fuels, sustainable energy and industrial applications and infrastructure. We believe traditional renewable electricity generation from wind and solar will continue growing market share. These sources are ultimately limited by geography and intermittency, and will not solve the renewable energy needs of several sub-sectors of the economy less likely to electrify. Our focus on renewable fuels and sustainable chemical production will serve to bolster and complement the rapid development of wind and solar. Our management’s history and track record of owning and building successful energy production companies provides us with unique and differentiated insights into how the traditional fossil fuel-based energy value chain is changing to accommodate for a lower carbon footprint and a more sustainable future.

The potential growth in the production and consumption of sustainable fuels, including RNG, blue and green hydrogen, renewable diesel, renewable jet fuel, low or zero-carbon synthetic fuels and fuels that incorporate carbon capture, utilization and storage represents a significant market opportunity. We believe the widespread adoption of renewable fuels by major sectors of the economy such as freight, air and marine transportation, residential and industrial heating and power generation and energy storage will create a profound disruption resulting in a very large addressable market. The carbon intensity of energy and industrial production methods is one of the main drivers for the adoption of renewable and low-carbon fuels. For example, traditional cement and steel production is very energy intensive and polluting and can be decarbonized using clean fuels in heat generation and carbon capture, utilization and storage to reduce process-related emissions.

In addition, the infrastructure, industrial and technological requirements to increase the market penetration of sustainable fuels also present tremendous opportunity. Equipment, applications and installations such as anaerobic digesters that produce RNG, biodiesel plants that manufacture renewable diesel and electrolyzers that generate clean hydrogen need to be scaled up to handle increased demand and compete in markets including and beyond the transportation sector.

Large publicly traded companies in the energy, utility and waste management sectors have made significant investments in renewable energy production and infrastructure projects to meet their own emission reduction targets and adapt to changing regulatory frameworks and customer preferences. The advent of RNG, renewable diesel and blue and green hydrogen and technologies on carbon capture, utilization and storage will further increase the range of applications and use cases for renewable and zero-emission fuels over the longer term.

Furthermore, sustainable chemicals and materials also represent large addressable markets that displace carbon intensive fossil fuel-based products with lower emission sustainable alternatives. Petrochemicals can be replaced using biomass and recycled waste products as feedstock. The production of building materials can be decarbonized using recycling technologies and novel circular production methods that convert traditional waste products into valuable energy and/or feedstock sources.

Business Strategy

Our acquisition and value creation strategy will be to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, build a company whose principal effort is developing and advancing the objectives of global decarbonization while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. Our acquisition strategy will leverage our management team’s and Rice Investment Group’s network of potential proprietary and public transaction sources where we believe a combination of our relationships, knowledge and experience in the renewable and energy industries could effect a positive transformation or augmentation of existing businesses or properties. Our goal is to build a focused business with multiple competitive advantages that have the potential to improve the target business’s overall value proposition. We plan to utilize the network and industry experience of our management team and Rice Investment Group in seeking an initial business combination and employing our

93

Table of Contents

acquisition strategy. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team and their affiliates, including Rice Investment Group, have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships that we believe will serve as a useful source of acquisition opportunities. In addition to industry and lending community relationships, we plan to leverage relationships with management teams of public and private companies, investment bankers, restructuring advisers, attorneys and accountants, which we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. Upon completion of this offering, members of our management team will communicate with their networks of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a target business and a potential business combination and begin the process of pursuing and reviewing potentially interesting leads.

Acquisition Criteria

Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective targets for our initial business combination. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to acquire target businesses that we believe:

•        operate in high growth, large addressable markets with favorable long-term market dynamics;

•        display differentiated business attributes and/or product offerings that provide us confidence on the long-term prospects and profitability of the company;

•        are fundamentally sound and can benefit from a partnership with us by leveraging the operational, transactional, financial, managerial and investment experience of our management team and Rice Investment Group;

•        can utilize the extensive networks and insights that our management team and Rice Investment Group have built in the renewable and energy industry;

•        are at an inflection point, such as requiring additional management expertise, are able to innovate through new operational techniques, or where we believe we can drive improved financial performance;

•        exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy, which we believe have been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review; and

•        will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders.

Potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure will be weighed against any identified downside risks. In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and key employees, document reviews and inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information that will be made available to us. We will also utilize our management team’s transactional, financial, managerial and investment experience.

These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy solicitation or tender offer materials that we would file with the SEC.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with or from a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, including a portfolio company of Rice Investment Group, or from entering into an agreement with our sponsor, officers or directors or their affiliates with respect to the operation of any business we acquire in connection with the initial business combination. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our sponsor, officers or directors,

94

Table of Contents

we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Members of our management team or board of directors may directly or indirectly own founder units, sponsor units, ordinary shares and/or private placement warrants following this offering, and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Our sponsor and members of our board of directors acquired the founder units and sponsor units for approximately $0.0036 per unit and we are offering units at a price of $10.00 per unit in this offering; as a result, our sponsor and members of our board of directors could make a substantial profit after the initial business combination even if public investors experience substantial losses and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. (See “Risk Factors — Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to sponsor units and public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.”) Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity, including Rice I, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Also, certain members of our management team and board of directors cannot provide services for, or directly or indirectly own an interest in, any business that does or seeks to do business with or is in competition with EQT, without the prior written approval of EQT. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such entity a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.

Our sponsor and its affiliates manage numerous investment vehicles, including Rice I, which may compete with us for acquisition opportunities, and if pursued by them, we may be precluded from such opportunities for our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, as well as Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, may sponsor, form or participate in other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. In particular, affiliates of our sponsor and certain of our officers and directors have formed and are actively engaged in Rice I, a special purpose acquisition company that completed its initial public offering in October 2020 and announced in April 2021 that it plans to consummate a business combination transaction with Aria Energy LLC and Archaea Energy LLC, which will create an industry-leading renewable natural gas platform. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 subject to certain closing conditions. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders” for more information. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers

95

Table of Contents

and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.

Initial Business Combination

The NYSE rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in trust (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in trust) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of a target business or businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of a target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, our board may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business or there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects.

We may pursue an acquisition opportunity jointly with our sponsor, or one or more affiliates, including Rice Investment Group and/or one or more of its portfolio companies, which we refer to as an “Affiliated Joint Acquisition.” Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation to make any such investment and may compete with us for potential business combinations. Any such issuance of equity or equity-linked securities would, on a fully diluted basis, reduce the percentage ownership of our then-existing shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our founder units, issuances or deemed issuances of our Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities would result in an adjustment to the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding founder units agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that, after all founder units have been exchanged for our Class A ordinary shares, the aggregate number of our Class A ordinary shares received by holders in exchange for founder units would equal, on an as converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total outstanding ordinary shares upon the completion of this offering plus all of our Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, the business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination and excluding the sponsor units).

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that we will control 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses or (ii) in such a way so that we control less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition as described above. However, we will only complete a business combination if we control 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise are not required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if we control 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If we control less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that is controlled is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for seeking shareholder approval or for purposes of a tender offer, as applicable.

To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.

96

Table of Contents

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

Other Considerations

We currently do not have any specific business combination under consideration. Our officers and directors have neither individually selected nor considered a target business nor have they had any substantive discussions regarding possible target businesses among themselves or with our underwriters or other advisors. Our management team or board of directors is regularly made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination, but we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf) contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to a business combination transaction with our company. Additionally, we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, taken any substantive measure, directly or indirectly, to identify or locate any suitable acquisition candidate for us, nor have we engaged or retained any agent or other representative to identify or locate any such acquisition candidate.

Status as a Public Company

We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock, shares or other equity interests in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company), Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares, Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.

Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its equity as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.

While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved, If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

97

Table of Contents

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time), or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter or (ii) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.

Financial Position

With funds available for a business combination initially in the amount of $241,250,000, after payment of the estimated expenses of this offering and $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting discounts and commissions (or $277,437,500 after payment of the estimated expenses of this offering and $10,062,500 of deferred underwriting fees if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third-party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.

Effecting Our Initial Business Combination

General

We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following this offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of this offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing or other sources. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.

If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-business combination company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions with any business combination target. Additionally, we have not engaged or retained any agent or other representative to identify or locate any suitable acquisition candidate, to conduct any research or take any measures, directly or indirectly, to locate or contact a target business, other than our officers and directors. Accordingly, there is no current basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination. Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that

98

Table of Contents

this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely affect a target business.

We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.

Sources of Target Businesses

We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various affiliated and unaffiliated sources, including, investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since some of these sources will have read this prospectus and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates and other affiliated sources may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We have agreed to pay our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative support and to reimburse our sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-business combination company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with or from a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, including a portfolio company of Rice Investment Group, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors or their affiliates, including Rice Investment Group, Rice I and/or one or more of its portfolio companies. We are also not prohibited from entering into an agreement with our sponsor, officers or directors or their affiliates with respect to the operation of any business we acquire in connection with the initial business combination. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including fiduciary and contractual duties to Rice I and other entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business

99

Table of Contents

combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. See “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”

Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination

In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. We will also utilize our management team’s operational and capital planning experience. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor.

Lack of Business Diversification

For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

•        subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and

•        cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.

Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team

Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.

We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

100

Table of Contents

Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.

Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination

We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.

Under the NYSE’s listing rules, shareholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:

•        we issue Class A ordinary shares, or securities convertible or exercisable for Class A ordinary shares including Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares), that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our ordinary shares or voting power then outstanding;

•        any of our directors, officers or substantial security holders (as defined by the NYSE rules) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired and if the number of our Class A ordinary shares to be issued, or if the number of our Class A ordinary shares into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable, exceeds either (i) 1% of the number of ordinary shares or 1% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any of our directors or officers (ii) 5% of the number of ordinary shares or 5% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any substantial security holders; or

•        the issuance or potential issuance of our Class A ordinary shares or securities convertible or exercisable for Class A ordinary shares (including Opco Units (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) will result in our undergoing a change of control.

The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:

•        the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine shareholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek shareholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company;

•        the expected cost of holding a shareholder vote;

•        the risk that the shareholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination;

•        other time and budget constraints of the company; and

•        additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to shareholders.

Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares, subject to compliance with applicable law and the rules of the NYSE. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account

101

Table of Contents

will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights.

In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our initial business combination. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules.

The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of Class A ordinary shares) following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private transaction, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the general meeting related to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. We expect any such purchases would be reported by such person pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.

Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination

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 at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Pursuant to the Opco

102

Table of Contents

LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that any founder units and sponsor units held by them will not be entitled to redemption rights, and they will waive any such redemption rights for any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. In connection with the redemption of any public shares, a corresponding number of Class A Units of Opco held by us will also be redeemed.

Limitations on Redemptions

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceeds the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

Manner of Conducting Redemptions

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 either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with the NYSE rules.

If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

•        conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and

•        file proxy materials with the SEC.

In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder units and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder units, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,562,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder

103

Table of Contents

may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. In addition, pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that any founder units and sponsor units held by them will not be entitled to redemption rights, and they will waive any such redemption rights for any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination.

If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

•        conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and

•        file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.

Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.

Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Shareholder Approval

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, which we refer to as “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.

However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.

Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights

Public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver

104

Table of Contents

their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.

The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming shareholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.

Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.

If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.

If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation If No Initial Business Combination

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that we will have only 24 months from the closing of this offering to consummate an initial business combination. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A

105

Table of Contents

Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), 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 our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that any founder units held by them are not entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account, and they will not be entitled to any such rights to liquidating distributions for any founder units if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares and the sponsor units, if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II). However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.

We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the $2,000,000 held outside the trust account plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose.

If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.

Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (except our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including, but not limited, to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims

106

Table of Contents

challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third-party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third-party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. The representatives of the underwriters will not execute an agreement with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have 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 public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay tax obligations of the company or Opco, 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 our indemnity of the representatives of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced 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 public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay tax obligations of the company or Opco, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per public share.

We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $2,000,000 following this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the

107

Table of Contents

event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such shareholder. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $2,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $2,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy and/or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) 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 we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote.

108

Table of Contents

Comparison of Redemption or Purchase Prices in Connection with Our Initial Business Combination and If We Fail to Complete Our Initial Business Combination.

The following table compares the redemptions and other permitted purchases of public shares that may take place in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering:

 

Redemptions in Connection with Our Initial
Business Combination

 

Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares
by Our Affiliates

 

Redemptions if We Fail to Complete an Initial
Business Combination

Calculation of redemption price

 

Redemptions at the time of our initial business combination may be made pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a shareholder vote. The redemption price will be the same whether we conduct redemptions pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a shareholder vote. In either case, our public shareholders may redeem their public shares for cash equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination (which is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share), including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitation that no redemptions will take place if all of the redemptions would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 and any limitations (including, but not limited, to cash requirements) agreed to in connection with the negotiation of terms of a proposed business combination.

 

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit to the prices that our sponsor, directors, officers or their affiliates may pay in these transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules.

 

If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem all public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount, then on deposit in the trust account (which is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share), including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II).

109

Table of Contents

 

Redemptions in Connection with Our Initial
Business Combination

 

Other Permitted Purchases of Public Shares
by Our Affiliates

 

Redemptions if We Fail to Complete an Initial
Business Combination

Impact to remaining shareholders

 

The redemptions in connection with our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for our remaining shareholders, who will bear the burden of the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable.

 

If the permitted purchases described above are made, there would be no impact to our remaining shareholders because the purchase price would not be paid by us.

 

The redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we fail to complete our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for the shares held by our sponsor, who will be our only remaining shareholder after such redemptions.

Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419

The following table compares the terms of this offering to the terms of an offering by a blank check company subject to the provisions of Rule 419. This comparison assumes that the gross proceeds, underwriting discounts and commissions and underwriting expenses of our offering would be identical to those of an offering undertaken by a company subject to Rule 419, and that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option. None of the provisions of Rule 419 apply to our offering.

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Escrow of offering proceeds

 

The rules of the NYSE provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the private warrants be deposited in a U.S.-based trust account. $250,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be deposited into a trust account located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.

 

Approximately $212,625,000 of the offering proceeds, would be required to be deposited into either an escrow account with an insured depositary institution or in a separate bank account established by a broker-dealer in which the broker-dealer acts as trustee for persons having the beneficial interests in the account.

Investment of net proceeds

 

$250,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in trust will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations 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 which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.

 

Proceeds could be invested only in specified securities such as a money market fund meeting conditions of the Investment Company Act or in securities that are direct obligations of, or obligations guaranteed as to principal or interest by, the United States.

110

Table of Contents

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Receipt of interest on escrowed funds

 

Interest income (if any) on proceeds from the trust account to be paid to shareholders is reduced by (i) any income taxes paid or payable and (ii) in the event of our liquidation for failure to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time, up to $100,000 of net interest that may be released to us should we have no or insufficient working capital to fund the costs and expenses of our dissolution and liquidation.

 

Interest income on funds in escrow account would be held for the sole benefit of investors, unless and only after the funds held in escrow were released to us in connection with our completion of a business combination.

Limitation on fair value or net assets of target business

 

The NYSE rules require that our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in trust (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discounts held in trust) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination.

 

The fair value or net assets of a target business must represent at least 80% of the maximum offering proceeds.

Trading of securities issued

 

The units are expected to begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless the representatives of the underwriters inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering. If the over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the over-allotment option.

The units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.

 

No trading of the units or the underlying Class A ordinary shares and warrants would be permitted until the completion of a business combination. During this period, the securities would be held in the escrow or trust account.

111

Table of Contents

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Exercise of the warrants

 

The warrants cannot be exercised until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.

 

The warrants could be exercised prior to the completion of a business combination, but securities received and cash paid in connection with the exercise would be deposited in the escrow or trust account.

Election to remain an investor

 

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash at a per share price equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.

We may not be required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement to hold a shareholder vote. If we are not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and do not otherwise decide to hold a shareholder vote, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC and file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, we hold a shareholder vote, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation

 

A prospectus containing information pertaining to the business combination required by the SEC would be sent to each investor. Each investor would be given the opportunity to notify the company in writing, within a period of no less than 20 business days and no more than 45 business days from the effective date of a post-effective amendment to the company’s registration statement, to decide if he, she or it elects to remain a shareholder of the company or require the return of his, her or its investment. If the company has not received the notification by the end of the 45th business day, funds and interest or dividends, if any, held in the trust or escrow account are automatically returned to the shareholder. Unless a sufficient number of investors elect to remain investors, all funds on deposit in the escrow account must be returned to all of the investors and none of the securities are issued.

112

Table of Contents

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

   

pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require that at least five days’ notice will be given of any such general meeting.

   

Business combination deadline

 

If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we 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 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), 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 our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

 

If an acquisition has not been completed within 18 months after the effective date of the company’s registration statement, funds held in the trust or escrow account are returned to investors.

113

Table of Contents

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Release of funds

 

Except for the withdrawal of interest income (if any) to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, none of the funds held in trust will be released from the trust account until the earliest of:

(i)     the completion of our initial business combination,

(ii)     the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law, and

(iii)   the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering.

 

The proceeds held in the escrow account are not released until the earlier of the completion of a business combination or the failure to effect a business combination within the allotted time.

114

Table of Contents

Comparison of This Offering to Offerings by Other Special Purpose Acquisition Companies

While our Up-C structure differs from the structure of other special purpose acquisition companies, the terms of this offering are generally consistent with those of other special purpose acquisition companies. The following table compares the terms of this offering to the typical terms of offerings by other special purpose acquisition companies. This comparison assumes that the gross proceeds, underwriting discounts and commissions and underwriting expenses of our offering would be identical to those of offerings by other special purpose acquisition companies, and that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option.

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under Offerings by Other
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies

Units

 

We are offering units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and a fraction of a warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share.

 

Same.

Warrants

 

The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

 

Same.

Founder Units

 

Our sponsor acquired a number of Class B Units of Opco that will collectively represent 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants), for no consideration, together with a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares for a small amount.

 

Same, except that Opco does not exist, so the sponsor acquires a number of our Class B ordinary shares that will collectively represent 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering, for a small amount.

Sponsor Units

 

Our sponsor acquired 100 Class A Units of Opco (together with a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares) and 2,500 Class A ordinary shares for a small amount.

 

Not applicable.

At Risk Capital

 

Our sponsor will purchase warrants for an aggregate purchase price equal to 2% of the gross proceeds from this offering plus $4,000,000.

 

Same.

Private Placement Warrants

 

Each private placement warrant will be exercisable to purchase for $11.50 one of our Class A ordinary shares or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco (together with a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares).

 

Same, except that Opco does not exist, so each private placement warrant is only exercisable to purchase for $11.50 one Class A ordinary share.

Voting Rights

 

Our Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares are entitled to vote on the same basis, other than, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors.

 

Same.

115

Table of Contents

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under Offerings by Other
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies

Investment of net proceeds

 

We will use the proceeds we receive from this offering to purchase Class A Units and warrants in Opco. Opco will deposit approximately $250 million, or $10.00 per unit (approximately $287.5 million, or $10.00 per unit, if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), into a U.S. based trust account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee and will use $4,000,000 to pay expenses in connection with this offering and for working capital following this offering.

 

Same, except that Opco does not exist, so the company directly deposits generally $250 million, or $10.00 per unit ($287.5 million, or $10.00 per unit, if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), into a U.S. based trust account and uses $4,000,000 to pay expenses in connection with this offering and for working capital following this offering.

Business combination deadline

 

If we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we 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 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

 

Same.

Redemption Right

 

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes or Opco’s franchise and income taxes.

 

Same.

116

Table of Contents

 

Terms of Our Offering

 

Terms Under Offerings by Other
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies

Release of funds

 

Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to pay franchise and income tax obligations of the Company or Opco, the proceeds from this offering held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination (including the release of funds to pay any amounts due to any public shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights in connection therewith), (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering and (iii) the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law.

 

Same.

Opco Units

 

The Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco in connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, the initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as described elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition, following our initial business combination, holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than Rice Acquisition Corp. II) will have the right, subject to certain limitations, to exchange Class A Units of Opco (and a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares) for, at our option, (i) our Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, or (ii) an equivalent amount of cash.

 

Not applicable.

117

Table of Contents

Competition

In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies, and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.

Facilities

Our executive offices are located at 102 East Main Street, Second Story, Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106, and our telephone number is (713) 446-6259. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to our sponsor for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

We will register our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.

We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to shareholders. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

118

Table of Contents

regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we will be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.

We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Law (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time), or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (ii) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th.

Legal Proceedings

There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.

119

Table of Contents

MANAGEMENT

Officers, Directors and Director Nominees

Our officers, directors and director nominees are as follows:

Name

 

Age

 

Position

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV

 

40

 

Chief Executive Officer and Director

J. Kyle Derham

 

34

 

Chief Financial Officer and Director Nominee

James Wilmot Rogers

 

41

 

Chief Accounting Officer

Jide Famuagun

 

41

 

Independent Director Nominee

Carrie Fox

 

37

 

Independent Director Nominee

James Lytal

 

63

 

Independent Director Nominee

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  Chief Executive Officer and director. Mr. Rice has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Rice is also the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Rice I. Mr. Rice is a Partner of Rice Investment Group and served as Chief Executive Officer of Rice Energy from October 2013 through the completion of its acquisition by EQT in November 2017. Prior to his role as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rice served as Chief Operating Officer of Rice Energy from October 2012 through September 2013 and as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Rice Energy from October 2008 through September 2012. Mr. Rice oversaw Rice Energy’s growth from start-up through its $1 billion initial public offering in 2014 and eventual $8.2 billion sale to EQT in 2017. Mr. Rice also oversaw the creation and growth of Rice Midstream, which was acquired by EQM for $2.4 billion in 2018. Mr. Rice established Rice Energy’s strategic framework for value creation, which yielded success for its shareholders and employees. He has utilized his operating and growth strategy formulation experience as the founder of Rice Energy to help portfolio companies of Rice Investment Group to refine and optimize their business strategies in order to profitably grow. Mr. Rice currently serves on the board of directors of EQT, and he joined the board of Whiting Petroleum in August 2020. Prior to joining Rice Energy, he was an investment banker for Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in Houston and held finance and strategic roles with Transocean Ltd. and Tyco International plc.

J. Kyle Derham — Chief Financial Officer and director nominee. Mr. Derham is a Partner of Rice Investment Group. Mr. Derham is also the President, Chief Financial Officer and a director of Rice I. Mr. Derham, as part of the Rice Team, led the shareholder campaign in 2019 to revamp the strategic direction of EQT and elect a majority slate of director candidates to the board of EQT, the largest operator of natural gas production in the United States. Following the campaign, Mr. Derham served as interim Chief Financial Officer of EQT and currently serves as a strategic advisor to the company. Mr. Derham previously served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Finance of Rice Energy and Rice Midstream from January 2014 through November 2017. Through his various roles working alongside the Rice family, Mr. Derham has focused on evaluating, structuring and negotiating key acquisitions and execution of critical strategic initiatives to generate attractive risk adjusted returns for investors. Mr. Derham also has experience as a private equity investor, working as an associate at First Reserve and as an investment banker at Barclays Investment Bank.

James Wilmot Rogers — Chief Accounting Officer. Mr. Rogers served as Senior Vice Present and Chief Accounting Officer & Administrative Officer, Treasurer of Rice Energy from April 2011 through November 2017. Mr. Rogers is also the Chief Accounting Officer of Rice I. Mr. Rogers led accounting, tax and human resources functions for Rice Energy, Rice Midstream and its numerous joint ventures and joint venture companies. Mr. Rogers oversaw such functions through two initial public offerings in a single calendar year (Rice Energy in January 2014 and Rice Midstream in December 2014) and through numerous asset and corporate level acquisitions totaling more than $10 billion in asset value. He also has numerous years in public accounting experience, having worked at both Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Jide Famuagun — Independent director nominee. Mr. Famuagun is the Founder & CEO of Alpha Capital Partners, a vertically integrated private equity real estate firm. The firm is an investor, developer, operator, and fund manager of thriving Multifamily and Student Housing investments across the Midwest, South, and Southeast markets. Prior to founding Alpha, Mr. Famuagun served as Vice President of Production at Rice Energy from June 2012 through November 2017 and was responsible for production engineering, operations, flowback and well workovers, facilities engineering and construction, automation and SCADA, produced water recycling, and gas

120

Table of Contents

control and measurement groups. At Rice Energy, Mr. Famuagun was an early adopter of automation and machine learning within the energy industry automating onsite operations across Rice Energy’s operating footprint to drive performance and operating cost efficiency. Prior to Rice Energy, Mr. Famuagun held engineering and executive roles across energy, recycling, and international trade, conducting business in over 30 countries. Mr. Famuagun holds three patents focused on sustainable technology within the energy industry. Mr. Famuagun earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA with a concentration in Engineering and Technology Management from Oklahoma Christian University.

Carrie M. Fox — Independent director nominee. Ms. Fox has served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer for Cygnet Resources, a real property investment company, since September 2020, Chief Financial Officer for Driltek, Inc., a global onshore and offshore upstream operations and decommissioning company, since September 2020, and Director for Extraction Oil and Gas (NASDAQ: XOG), an independent oil and gas company, since January 2021. Ms. Fox previously served as a Vice President of Business Development for California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) from 2014 to August 2020, where her accomplishments included originating and closing multiple midstream/development joint ventures and asset acquisitions/divestitures. Prior to joining business development at CRC, Ms. Fox held numerous leadership positions within the asset development and exploitation organizations for Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) from 2006 to 2014. There, Ms. Fox also served as California Government Affairs Manager where she analyzed and developed legislative and regulatory strategies. Ms. Fox was selected for Hart Energy’s “40 under 40” in 2020. Ms. Fox began her career as a reservoir and operations engineer responsible for assets under primary, secondary, and tertiary recovery mechanisms in the San Joaquin and Los Angeles Basins. Ms. Fox holds a B.Sc. in engineering from California Polytechnical State University, San Luis Obispo.

James Lytal — Independent director nominee. Mr. Lytal has served as a Senior Advisor for Global Infrastructure Partners (a leading global, independent infrastructure investor) since April 2009. From 1994 to 2004, he served as President of Leviathan Gas Pipeline Partners, which later became El Paso Energy Partners, and then Gulfterra Energy Partners. In 2004, Gulfterra merged with Enterprise Products Partners (a North American midstream energy services provider), where he served as Executive Vice President until 2009. From 1980 to 1994, Mr. Lytal held a series of commercial, engineering and business development positions with various companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and production and gas pipeline services. Mr. Lytal currently serves on the board of directors for Archrock, Inc, a publicly listed natural gas compression services company. Previously, Mr. Lytal served as a director and member of the audit committee and chairman of the conflicts committee of Rice Midstream Management LLC, the managing general partner of Rice Midstream Partners, L.P. from 2015 until it was acquired in July 2018; director of Gulfterra Energy Partners from 1994 to 2004; director of Azure Midstream Partners GP, LLC, the general partner of Azure Midstream Partners, LP from 2013 to 2017, including service as member of the audit committee and chairman of the conflicts committee; and director and chairman of the compensation committee and member of the audit committee of SemGroup Corporation from 2011 until it was acquired in December of 2019. Mr. Lytal holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of shareholders) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of J. Kyle Derham and Jide Famuagun, will expire at our first annual meeting of shareholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and Carrie Fox, will expire at our second annual meeting of shareholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of James Lytal, will expire at our third annual meeting of shareholders.

Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder units. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder units may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.

121

Table of Contents

Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

Director Independence

The NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

Executive Officer and Director Compensation

None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will reimburse our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers, directors or their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, executive officers, directors or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.

After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.

We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our

122

Table of Contents

initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our board of directors will have three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE require that the compensation committee and the nominating committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.

Audit Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish an audit committee of the board of directors. Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal will serve on our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal are independent under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. James Lytal will serve as the Chairman of the audit committee.

Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, all the directors on the audit committee must be independent. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that James Lytal qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.

The audit committee is responsible for:

•        meeting with our independent registered public accounting firm regarding, among other issues, audits, and adequacy of our accounting and control systems;

•        monitoring the independence of the independent registered public accounting firm;

•        verifying the rotation of the lead (or coordinating) audit partner having primary responsibility for the audit and the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit as required by law;

•        inquiring and discussing with management our compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

•        pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed;

•        appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm;

•        determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm (including resolution of disagreements between management and the independent registered public accounting firm regarding financial reporting) for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work;

•        establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies;

•        monitoring compliance on a quarterly basis with the terms of this offering and, if any noncompliance is identified, immediately taking all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise causing compliance with the terms of this offering; and

•        reviewing and approving all payments made to our existing shareholders, executive officers or directors and their respective affiliates. Any payments made to members of our audit committee will be reviewed and approved by our board of directors, with the interested director or directors abstaining from such review and approval.

123

Table of Contents

Nominating Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our nominating committee will be Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal, and Carrie Fox will serve as chairman of the nominating committee. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal are independent under the NYSE listing standards.

The nominating committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating committee considers persons identified by its members, management, shareholders, investment bankers and others.

Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees

The guidelines for selecting nominees, which will be specified in a charter to be adopted by us, generally will provide that persons to be nominated:

•        should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service;

•        should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and

•        should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the shareholders.

The nominating committee will consider a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by shareholders and other persons.

Compensation Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee will be Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal, and Jide Famuagun will serve as chairman of the compensation committee.

Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that Jide Famuagun, Carrie Fox and James Lytal are independent under the NYSE listing standards.

We will adopt a compensation committee charter, which will detail the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:

•        reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s and Chief Financial Officer’s and Chief Accounting Officer’s, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s and Chief Financial Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer based on such evaluation;

•        reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other Section 16 officers;

•        reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;

•        implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;

•        assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;

124

Table of Contents

•        approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees;

•        producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and

•        reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.

The charter will also provide that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the NYSE and the SEC.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.

Code of Ethics

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

Conflicts of Interest

Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:

•        duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole;

•        duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose;

•        directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion;

•        duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders;

•        duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and

•        duty to exercise independent judgment.

In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.

As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.

Our sponsor and its affiliates manage numerous investment vehicles, including Rice I, which may compete with us for acquisition opportunities and if pursued by them we may be precluded from such opportunities for our initial business combination. Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities, including fiduciary and contractual duties to Rice I. As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is

125

Table of Contents

suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he or she will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.

In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:

Individual

 

Entity

 

Entity’s Business

 

Affiliation

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV

 

Whiting Petroleum Corporation

 

Exploration and Production

 

Director

   

EQT Corporation

 

Exploration and Production

 

Director

   

Rice Acquisition Corp.

 

Special Purpose Acquisition Company

 

Chief Executive Officer and Director

J. Kyle Derham

 

EQT Corporation

 

Exploration and Production

 

Strategic Advisor

   

Rice Acquisition Corp.

 

Special Purpose Acquisition Company

 

President, Chief Financial Officer and Director

James Wilmot Rogers

 

Rice Acquisition Corp.

 

Special Purpose Acquisition Company

 

Chief Accounting Officer

Jide Famuagun

 

Alpha Capital Partners

 

Private Equity Real Estate

 

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Carrie Fox

 

Cygnet Resources

Driltek, Inc.

Extraction Oil and Gas

 

Alternative Energy Investment

Exploration and Production
Exploration and Production

 

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Chief Financial Officer
Director

James Lytal

 

Global Infrastructure Partners
Archrock, Inc.

 

Infrastructure Investment

Energy Infrastructure

 

Senior Advisor

Director

Our sponsor, officers and directors, as well as Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, may sponsor, form or participate in other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. In particular, affiliates of our sponsor and certain of our officers and directors have formed and are actively engaged in Rice I, a special purpose acquisition company that completed its initial public offering in October 2020 and announced in April 2021 that it plans to consummate a business combination transaction with Aria Energy LLC and Archaea Energy LLC, which will create an industry-leading renewable natural gas platform. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 subject to certain closing conditions. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by the Rice family, Rice Investment Group and its portfolio companies, Rice I and our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company, and we may be unable to provide positive returns to shareholders” for

126

Table of Contents

more information. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.

Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:

•        Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses, on the other hand. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he is entitled to substantial compensation and has substantial time commitments, and our executive officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs.

•        Our sponsor subscribed for founder units prior to the date of this prospectus and will purchase private placement warrants in a transaction that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering.

•        Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder units and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Additionally, our sponsor has agreed that it will not be entitled to rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder units if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. Except as described herein, our sponsor and our directors, advisory board members and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder units until the earliest of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Except as described herein, the private placement warrants will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because each of our executive officers and director nominees will own ordinary shares or warrants directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination.

Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates.

127

Table of Contents

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates, be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on the NYSE, we will also reimburse our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month.

We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder units and public shares in favor of our initial business combination.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, willful neglect, civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We will enter into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We expect to purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.

Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.

Our indemnification obligations may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.

128

Table of Contents

PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of the date of this prospectus, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our Class A ordinary shares included in the units offered by this prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in this offering, by:

•        each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares;

•        each of our named executive officers, directors and director nominees that beneficially owns ordinary shares; and

•        all our executive officers, directors and director nominees as a group.

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our ordinary shares beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

On February 10, 2021, our sponsor received an aggregate of 100 Class A Units of Opco, 7,187,000 Class B Units of Opco, 2,500 Class A ordinary shares and 7,187,100 Class B ordinary shares. In June 2021, our sponsor forfeited 90,000 Class B Units of Opco, and 30,000 Class B Units of Opco were issued to each of our independent director nominees. Our sponsor transferred a corresponding number of shares of our Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees. The following table presents the number of shares and percentage of our ordinary shares owned by our initial shareholders before and after this offering. The post-offering numbers and percentages presented assume that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, that our sponsor forfeits 937,500 founder units on a pro rata basis, and that there are 31,162,100 ordinary shares issued and outstanding after this offering. This table assumes that affiliates of Rice Investment Group do not purchase any units in this offering.

 

Before Offering

 

After Offering

Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1)

 

Number of
Shares 
Beneficially
Owned(2)

 

Approximate
Percentage of
Outstanding
Common Stock

 

Number of
Shares Beneficially Owned
(2)

 

Approximate
Percentage of
Outstanding
Common Stock

Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC (our sponsor)(3)

 

7,099,600

 

98.7

%

 

6,162,100

 

19.8

%

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV(3)

 

7,099,600

 

98.7

%

 

6,162,100

 

19.8

%

J. Kyle Derham(3)

 

7,099,600

 

98.7

%

 

6,162,100

 

19.8

%

James Wilmot Rogers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jide Famuagun

 

30,000

 

*

 

 

30,000

 

*

 

Carrie Fox

 

30,000

 

*

 

 

30,000

 

*

 

James Lytal

 

30,000

 

*

 

 

30,000

 

*

 

All officers, directors and director nominees as a group (six individuals)

 

7,189,600(4)

 

100.0

%

 

6,252,100

 

20.0

%

____________

*        Less than one percent.

(1)      Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our shareholders is 102 East Main Street, Second Story, Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106.

(2)      Interests shown consist of founder units and sponsor units. The Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) comprising such shares will be exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as described in the section entitled “Description of Securities.”

(3)      Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC is the record holder of the shares reported herein. Daniel Joseph Rice, IV and J. Kyle Derham are the managing members of Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC.

(4)      These shares represent 100% of the founder units and sponsor units. Includes up to 937,500 founder units that will be surrendered to us for no consideration by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in order to maintain ownership of 20% of our total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units).

129

Table of Contents

Immediately after this offering, the founders shares held by our initial shareholders will represent 20% of our total outstanding equity (excluding the sponsor units). Because of this ownership block, our initial shareholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions (including our initial business combination). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share capitalization or a share surrender or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder units, on an as-converted basis, at 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the sponsor units).

The holders of the founder units and sponsor units have agreed (i) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (ii) not to redeem any shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase for $11.50 one Class A ordinary share or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary share) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,000,000 in the aggregate or $9,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering.

Our sponsor and our officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.

Transfers of Founder Units and Private Placement Warrants

The founder units, private placement warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to a letter agreement to be entered into by our sponsor, directors, officers and us. This letter agreement will provide that the founder units, and any of our Class A ordinary shares acquired upon exchange of founder units, may not be transferred, assigned or sold until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. The Class B ordinary shares compromising the founder units and sponsor units cannot be transferred without transferring a corresponding number of Opco Units and vice versa.

The private placement warrants and the respective Class A ordinary shares underlying such warrants are not transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The foregoing restrictions are not applicable to transfers (i) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, any members or partners of our sponsor or their affiliates, any affiliates of our sponsor, or any employees of such affiliates; (ii) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of one of the individual’s immediate family, any estate planning vehicle or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (iii) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (iv) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (v) by private sales or transfers made in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the founder units, private placement warrants or Class A ordinary shares, as applicable, were originally purchased; (vi) pro rata distributions from our sponsor to its members, partners, or shareholders pursuant to our sponsor’s operating agreement; (vii) by virtue of our sponsor’s organizational documents upon liquidation or dissolution of our sponsor; (viii) to the Company for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination; (ix) in the event of our liquidation prior to the completion of our initial business combination; or (x) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction which results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (i) through (xi) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement.

130

Table of Contents

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Founder Units

On February 10, 2021, our sponsor received 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco for no consideration and purchased 7,187,500 corresponding Class B ordinary shares, 2,500 of our Class A ordinary shares and 100 Class A Units of Opco and 100 corresponding Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate of $26,000. The number of founder units issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder units would represent 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). In June 2021, our sponsor forfeited 90,000 Class B Units of Opco, and 30,000 Class B Units of Opco were issued to each of our independent director nominees. Our sponsor transferred a corresponding number of shares of our Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees. Up to 937,500 founder units are subject to forfeiture by the sponsor, depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The founder units (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exchange thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.

Private Placement Warrants

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) for a purchase price of $1.00 per whole warrant in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. As such, our sponsor’s interest in this transaction is valued between $9,000,000 and $9,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, depending on the number of private placement warrants purchased. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase for $11.50 either one Class A ordinary share or, so long as they are held by our initial shareholder or their permitted transferees, one Class A Unit of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary share). The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.

Opco LLC Agreement

In connection with this offering, we will enter into the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco (the “Opco LLC Agreement”). A form of the Opco LLC Agreement is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, and the following description of the Opco LLC Agreement is qualified in its entirety by reference thereto.

Conversion of Class B Units of Opco and Exchange Right

Our initial shareholders own all of the outstanding Class B Units of Opco. The Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco in connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, the initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as described below under “— Founder Units Anti-Dilution.”

In addition, following our initial business combination, holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than Rice Acquisition Corp. II) will have the right (an “exchange right”), subject to certain limitations, to exchange Class A Units of Opco (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares) for, at our option, (i) Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, or (ii) a corresponding amount of cash. Our decision to make a cash payment upon an exercise of an exchange right will be made by our independent directors. We will determine whether to issue Class A ordinary shares or pay cash based on facts in existence at the time of the decision, which we expect would include the relative value of the Class A ordinary shares (including trading prices for the Class A ordinary shares at the time), the cash purchase price, the availability of other sources of liquidity (such as an issuance of preference shares) to acquire the Class A Units of Opco and alternative uses for such cash.

131

Table of Contents

Holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than Rice Acquisition Corp. II) will generally be permitted to exercise the exchange right on a quarterly basis, subject to certain de minimis allowances. In addition, additional exchanges may occur in connection with certain specified events, and any exchanges involving 500,000 or more Class A Units of Opco (subject to our discretion to permit exchanges of a lower number of units) may occur at any time upon ten business days’ advanced notice. The exchange rights will be subject to certain limitations and restrictions intended to reduce the administrative burden of exchanges upon us and ensure that Opco will continue to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Following any exchange of Class A Units of Opco (and the cancellation of a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares), Rice Acquisition Corp. II will retain the Class A Units of Opco. As the holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than Rice Acquisition Corp. II) exchange their Class A Units of Opco, our membership interest in Opco will be correspondingly increased, the number of Class A ordinary shares outstanding will be increased, and the number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding will be reduced. Because any such exchanges will be completed on a one-for-one basis (or for a corresponding amount of cash) in the manner described above, an exchange of Class A Units of Opco (and the cancellation of a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares) for Class A ordinary shares or cash is not expected to result in an economic benefit to the exchanging holder that reduces the value of Rice Acquisition Corp. II to other investors.

In connection with our initial business combination, we might choose to issue additional Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) to participants in the business combination, such as sellers of assets or entities or financing sources. We expect that any participants receiving Class A Units of Opco in the business combination will have an exchange right on substantially the same terms as described above.

Founder Units Anti-Dilution

In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts sold in the offering in connection with the initial business combination, the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert may be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding founder units agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that, after all founders shares have been exchanged for Class A ordinary shares, the aggregate number of Class A ordinary shares received by holders in exchange for founders shares would equal 20% of the sum of the total outstanding ordinary shares upon the completion of this offering plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination and excluding the sponsor units). In addition, the number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares will be adjusted through a share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like so that the total number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares corresponds to the total number of Class A Units of Opco outstanding (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) plus the total number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are entitled to convert.

Non-Liquidating Distributions and Allocations of Income and Loss

Subject to the obligation of Opco to make tax distributions and to reimburse Rice Acquisition Corp. II for its corporate and other overhead expenses, Rice Acquisition Corp. II will have the right to determine when non-liquidating distributions will be made to the holders of Opco Units and the amount of any such distributions. We do not anticipate making any such distributions (other than reimbursements of expenses) to holders of Opco Units (including Rice Acquisition Corp. II) prior to our initial business combination, other than redemptions of Class A Units of Opco held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II in connection with a redemption of public shares. If we authorize a non-liquidating distribution, whether before or following our initial business combination, the distribution will be made to holders of Opco Units on a pro rata basis in accordance with their respective percentage ownership of Opco Units.

Opco will allocate its net income or net loss for each year to the holders of its Class A and Class B Units pursuant to the terms of the Opco LLC Agreement. Prior to the initial business combination, net profits and net losses of Opco generally will be allocated to holders of Class A Units of Opco on a pro rata basis in accordance with their respective percentage ownership of Class A Units (except for certain allocations of items of book income and loss and book-tax differences that may be specially allocated).

132

Table of Contents

After our initial business combination, net profits and net losses of Opco generally will be allocated to holders of Opco Units on a pro rata basis in accordance with their respective percentage ownership of Opco Units (except for certain allocations of book income and loss items and book-tax differences that may be specially allocated). After our initial business combination, to the extent cash is available, tax distributions will be made to the holders of Opco Units, on a pro rata basis in accordance with their respective percentage ownership of Opco Units, in an amount sufficient to allow holders to satisfy their actual tax liabilities.

Issuance of Equity

Except as otherwise determined by us, at any time Rice Acquisition Corp. II issues a Class A ordinary share or any other equity security, the net proceeds received by Rice Acquisition Corp. II with respect to such issuance, if any, shall be concurrently invested in Opco, and Opco shall issue to Rice Acquisition Corp. II one Class A Unit or other economically equivalent equity interest. Conversely, if at any time any shares of Rice Acquisition Corp. II’s Class A ordinary shares are redeemed, repurchased, or otherwise acquired by Rice Acquisition Corp. II, including in connection with the exercise of redemption rights by holders of our public shares, Opco shall redeem, repurchase or otherwise acquire an equal number of Opco Units held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II, upon the same terms and for the same price, as our Class A ordinary shares are redeemed, repurchased or otherwise acquired.

Other Transactions With Our Sponsor

As more fully discussed in the section of this prospectus entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us. We may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such entity a class of equity or equity-linked securities.

Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NYSE, we will pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

Other than these monthly fees, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.

Prior to the consummation of this offering, our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. This loan is non-interest bearing, unsecured and is due at the earlier of September 30, 2021 or the closing of this offering. The loan will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the offering proceeds held in the trust account. To date, we have not borrowed any money under the promissory note with our sponsor.

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts

133

Table of Contents

but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.

After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our shareholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a general meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive officer and director compensation.

We will enter into a registration rights agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, the warrants issuable upon exchange of working capital loans (if any) and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder units, which is described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Registration Rights.”

Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions

The audit committee of our board of directors will adopt a charter, providing for the review, approval and/or ratification of “related party transactions,” which are those transactions required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K as promulgated by the SEC, by the audit committee. At its meetings, the audit committee shall be provided with the details of each new, existing, or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, any contractual restrictions that the company has already committed to, the business purpose of the transaction, and the benefits of the transaction to the company and to the relevant related party. Any member of the committee who has an interest in the related party transaction under review by the committee shall abstain from voting on the approval of the related party transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the committee, participate in some or all of the committee’s discussions of the related party transaction. Upon completion of its review of the related party transaction, the committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the related party transaction.

134

Table of Contents

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

We are a Cayman Islands exempted company and our affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act and the common law of the Cayman Islands. Pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, which will be adopted prior to the consummation of this offering, we will be authorized to issue 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares and 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, as well as 1,000,000 preference shares, $0.0001 par value each. The following description summarizes the material terms of our shares as set out more particularly in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.

Units

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 as described in this prospectus. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of the company’s Class A ordinary shares. This means only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder.

The Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising the units are expected to begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless the representatives of the underwriters inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the Class A ordinary shares and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into Class A ordinary shares and warrants. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least four units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.

In no event will the Class A ordinary shares and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants. We will file a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes this audited balance sheet promptly after the completion of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.

Ordinary Shares

Prior to the date of this prospectus, there were 7,187,600 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding, all of which were held of record by our sponsor, so that our initial shareholders will own, on an as converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering and the expiration of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units (assuming our sponsor does not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the sponsor units). Upon the closing of this offering, 31,252,600 of our ordinary shares will be outstanding (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) including:

•        25,002,500 Class A ordinary shares, including shares underlying the units issued as part of this offering and shares included in sponsor units; and

•        6,250,100 Class B ordinary shares held by our initial shareholders.

If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a share capitalization or a compulsory redemption or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our founder units immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder units by our initial shareholders prior to this offering at 20% of our total outstanding equity upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the sponsor units).

135

Table of Contents

Ordinary shareholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by shareholders. Except as described below, holders of Class A ordinary shares and holders of Class B ordinary shares will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders except as required by law. Unless specified in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, or as required by applicable provisions of the Companies Act or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of our ordinary shares that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our shareholders. Approval of certain actions will require a special resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares that are voted, and pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association; such actions include amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approving a statutory merger or consolidation with another company. Our board of directors is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares voted for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. Our shareholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor. Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder units will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder units may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at our general meeting which shall include the affirmative vote of a simple majority of our Class B ordinary shares.

Because our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will authorize the issuance of up to 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, if we were to enter into a business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such a business combination) be required to increase the number of Class A ordinary shares which we will be authorized to issue at the same time as our shareholders vote on the business combination to the extent we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.

Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of shareholders) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings to elect directors. We may not hold an annual meeting of shareholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder units. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder units may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon 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 calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.00 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that any founder units and sponsor units will not be entitled to redemption rights and they will waive any such redemption rights for any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Unlike many blank check companies that hold shareholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of public shares for cash upon completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is

136

Table of Contents

not required by law, if a shareholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, if a shareholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, a shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions (as described in this prospectus), if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public shareholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require that at least five days’ notice will be given of any general meeting.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to Excess Shares, without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Our shareholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such shareholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such shareholders will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And, as a result, such shareholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose such shares would be required to sell their shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder units and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder units and sponsor units, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,562,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all.

Pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), which redemption will completely extinguish public

137

Table of Contents

shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed that any founder units held by them are not entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account, and they will not be entitled to rights to liquidating distributions for any founder units, if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares, other than sponsor units, in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares and the sponsor units if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after a business combination, our shareholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of shares, if any, having preference over the ordinary shares. Our shareholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the ordinary shares, except that we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.

Founder Units

The founder units include Class B ordinary shares and Class B Units of Opco (or the Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units convert in connection with our initial business combination). The Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco in connection with, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, our initial business combination one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. The founder units are exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination, subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as provided herein.

Together, the founder units are similar to our Class A ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, and holders of founder units have the same shareholder rights as public shareholders, except that (i) only holders of the founder units have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to our initial business combination, (ii) the founder units are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below, (iii) pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into with us, they have agreed (a) that any founder units and sponsor units will not be entitled to redemption rights, and they will waive any such redemption rights for any public shares held by them, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (b) that any founder units and sponsor units will not be entitled to redemption rights, and they will waive any such redemption rights for any public shares held by them, in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, (c) that any founder units are not entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account, and they will not be entitled to rights to liquidating distributions for any founder units, if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares and any sponsor units they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such time period and (d) in certain limited circumstances the Class B Units of Opco will have

138

Table of Contents

more limited rights to current or liquidating distributions from us, (iv) the founder units consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares, (v) Class B Units will be exchangeable (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) for Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein, (vi) the Class A ordinary shares into which the founder units are exchangeable are subject to registration rights, and (vii) because the founder units are not held through Rice Acquisition Corp. II, the founder units could be entitled to different after-tax economics on a per unit basis compared to Class A ordinary shares on a per share basis (for example, as a result of Rice Acquisition Corp. II becoming subject to corporate income tax following the business combination or differing tax basis in the founder units as compared to the Class A ordinary shares). If we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. Our initial shareholders have agreed to vote any founder units held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination.

The founder units consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares. The Class A Units into which the Class B Units are converted will be exchangeable (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) for Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis (subject to adjustment for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), and subject to further 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 sold in this offering and related to the closing of the business combination, the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert may be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding founder units agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that, after all founder units have been exchanged for Class A ordinary shares, the aggregate number of Class A ordinary shares received by holders in exchange for founder units would equal 20% of the sum of the total outstanding ordinary shares upon completion of this offering plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination and excluding the sponsor units). In addition, the number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares will be adjusted through a share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like so that the total number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares corresponds to the total number of Class A Units of Opco outstanding (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) plus the total number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are entitled to convert.

Our initial shareholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder units and any Class A ordinary shares acquired upon exchange of founder units until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up. Our sponsor (or its permitted transferees) will forfeit up to 937,500 founder units depending on the exercise of the over-allotment option in order to maintain our initial shareholders’ ownership of 20% of our total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units). The founder units are similar to the ordinary shares included in the units being sold in this offering, other than certain distribution rights. However, the holders have agreed (1) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (2) not to convert any shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.

139

Table of Contents

Register of Members

Under Cayman Islands law, we must keep a register of members and there will be entered therein:

•        the names and addresses of the members, a statement of the shares held by each member, and of the amount paid or agreed to be considered as paid, on the shares of each member and the voting rights of shares;

•        the date on which the name of any person was entered on the register as a member; and

•        the date on which any person ceased to be a member.

Under Cayman Islands law, the register of members of our company is prima facie evidence of the matters set out therein (i.e., the register of members will raise a presumption of fact on the matters referred to above unless rebutted) and a member registered in the register of members will be deemed as a matter of Cayman Islands law to have legal title to the shares as set against its name in the register of members. Upon the closing of this public offering, the register of members will be immediately updated to reflect the issue of shares by us. Once our register of members has been updated, the shareholders recorded in the register of members will be deemed to have legal title to the shares set against their name. However, there are certain limited circumstances where an application may be made to a Cayman Islands court for a determination on whether the register of members reflects the correct legal position. Further, the Cayman Islands court has the power to order that the register of members maintained by a company should be rectified where it considers that the register of members does not reflect the correct legal position. If an application for an order for rectification of the register of members were made in respect of our ordinary shares, then the validity of such shares may be subject to re-examination by a Cayman Islands court.

Preference Shares

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will authorize 1,000,000 preference shares and provide that preference shares may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without shareholder approval, issue preference shares with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the ordinary shares and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preference shares without shareholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preference shares issued and outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any preference shares, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No preference shares are being issued or registered in this offering.

Warrants

Public Shareholders’ Warrants

Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as discussed in the immediately succeeding paragraph. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of Class A ordinary shares. This means only a whole warrant may be exercised at a given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least four units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant. The warrants will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. Upon the exercise of a warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share, we will exercise a corresponding warrant to acquire one Class A Unit of Opco.

We will not be obligated to deliver any Class A ordinary shares pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration, or a valid exemption

140

Table of Contents

from registration is available. No warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue a Class A ordinary share upon exercise of a warrant unless the Class A ordinary share issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the Class A ordinary share underlying such unit.

We have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than twenty business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement; provided that if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonably efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th day after the closing of the initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption, but we will use our commercially reasonably efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the lesser of (i) the quotient obtained by dividing (a) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (as defined below) less the exercise price of the warrants by (b) the fair market value and (ii) 0.361. The “fair market value” as used in this paragraph shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent.

Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00.    Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants for redemption for cash (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

•        in whole and not in part;

•        at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

•        upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder (the “30-day redemption period”); and

•        if, and only if, the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “— Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending three trading days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

We will not redeem the warrants for cash unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period. Any such exercise would not be on a “cashless” basis and would require the exercising warrant holder to pay the exercise

141

Table of Contents

price for each warrant being exercised. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.

If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.

We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise his, her or its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A ordinary shares may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “— Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) as well as the $11.50 (for whole shares) warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.

Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00.    Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

•        in whole and not in part;

•        at $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that during such 30-day period holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of Class A ordinary shares determined by reference to the table below, based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of our Class A ordinary shares (as defined below) except as otherwise described below; provided, further, that if the warrants are not exercised on a cashless basis or otherwise during such 30-day period, we shall redeem such warrants for $0.10 per share;

•        if, and only if, the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per public share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “— Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within the 30-trading day period ending three trading days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and

•        if the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “— Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”), the private placement warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding public warrants, as described above; and

•        if, and only if, there is an effective registration statement covering the issuance of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating thereto available throughout the 30-day period after written notice of redemption is given.

Beginning on the date the notice of redemption is given until the warrants are redeemed or exercised, holders may elect to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. The numbers in the table below represent the number of Class A ordinary shares that a warrant holder will receive upon such cashless exercise in connection with a redemption by us pursuant to this redemption feature, based on the “fair market value” of our Class A ordinary shares on the corresponding redemption date (assuming holders elect to exercise their warrants and such warrants are not redeemed for $0.10 per warrant), determined for these purposes based on volume weighted average price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, and the number of months that the corresponding redemption date precedes the expiration date of the warrants, each as set forth in the table below.

142

Table of Contents

The share prices set forth in the column headings of the table below will be adjusted as of any date on which the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant or the exercise price of a warrant is adjusted as set forth under the heading “— Anti-Dilution Adjustments” below. If the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant is adjusted, the adjusted share prices in the column headings will equal the share prices immediately prior to such adjustment, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of Class A ordinary shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant immediately prior to such adjustment and the denominator of which is the number of Class A ordinary shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant as so adjusted. The number of Class A ordinary shares in the table below shall be adjusted in the same manner and at the same time as the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant.

Redemption Date (period to expiration of warrants)

 

Fair Market Value of Class A Ordinary Shares

$<10.00

 

$11.00

 

$12.00

 

$13.00

 

$14.00

 

$15.00

 

$16.00

 

$17.00

 

$>18.00

60 months

 

0.261

 

0.281

 

0.297

 

0.311

 

0.324

 

0.337

 

0.348

 

0.358

 

0.361

57 months

 

0.257

 

0.277

 

0.294

 

0.310

 

0.324

 

0.337

 

0.348

 

0.358

 

0.361

54 months

 

0.252

 

0.272

 

0.291

 

0.307

 

0.322

 

0.335

 

0.347

 

0.357

 

0.361

51 months

 

0.246

 

0.268

 

0.287

 

0.304

 

0.320

 

0.333

 

0.346

 

0.357

 

0.361

48 months

 

0.241

 

0.263

 

0.283

 

0.301

 

0.317

 

0.332

 

0.344

 

0.356

 

0.361

45 months

 

0.235

 

0.258

 

0.279

 

0.298

 

0.315

 

0.330

 

0.343

 

0.356

 

0.361

42 months

 

0.228

 

0.252

 

0.274

 

0.294

 

0.312

 

0.328

 

0.342

 

0.355

 

0.361

39 months

 

0.221

 

0.246

 

0.269

 

0.290

 

0.309

 

0.325

 

0.340

 

0.354

 

0.361

36 months

 

0.213

 

0.239

 

0.263

 

0.285

 

0.305

 

0.323

 

0.339

 

0.353

 

0.361

33 months

 

0.205

 

0.232

 

0.257

 

0.280

 

0.301

 

0.320

 

0.337

 

0.352

 

0.361

30 months

 

0.196

 

0.224

 

0.250

 

0.274

 

0.297

 

0.316

 

0.335

 

0.351

 

0.361

27 months

 

0.185

 

0.214

 

0.242

 

0.268

 

0.291

 

0.313

 

0.332

 

0.350

 

0.361

24 months

 

0.173

 

0.204

 

0.233

 

0.260

 

0.285

 

0.308

 

0.329

 

0.348

 

0.361

21 months

 

0.161

 

0.193

 

0.223

 

0.252

 

0.279

 

0.304

 

0.326

 

0.347

 

0.361

18 months

 

0.146

 

0.179

 

0.211

 

0.242

 

0.271

 

0.298

 

0.322

 

0.345

 

0.361

15 months

 

0.130

 

0.164

 

0.197

 

0.230

 

0.262

 

0.291

 

0.317

 

0.342

 

0.361

12 months

 

0.111

 

0.146

 

0.181

 

0.216

 

0.250

 

0.282

 

0.312

 

0.339

 

0.361

9 months

 

0.090

 

0.125

 

0.162

 

0.199

 

0.237

 

0.272

 

0.312

 

0.339

 

0.361

6 months

 

0.065

 

0.099

 

0.137

 

0.178

 

0.219

 

0.259

 

0.296

 

0.331

 

0.361

3 months

 

0.034

 

0.065

 

0.104

 

0.150

 

0.197

 

0.243

 

0.286

 

0.326

 

0.361

0 months

 

 

 

0.042

 

0.115

 

0.179

 

0.233

 

0.281

 

0.323

 

0.361

The exact fair market value and redemption date may not be set forth in the table above, in which case, if the fair market value is between two values in the table or the redemption date is between two redemption dates in the table, the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued for each warrant exercised will be determined by a straight-line interpolation between the number of shares set forth for the higher and lower fair market values and the earlier and later redemption dates, as applicable, based on a 365 or 366-day year, as applicable. For example, if the volume weighted average price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the warrants is $11.00 per share, and at such time there are 57 months until the expiration of the warrants, holders may choose to, in connection with this redemption feature, exercise their warrants for 0.277 Class A ordinary shares for each whole warrant. For an example where the exact fair market value and redemption date are not as set forth in the table above, if the volume weighted average price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the warrants is $13.50 per share, and at such time there are 38 months until the expiration of the warrants, holders may choose to, in connection with this redemption feature, exercise their warrants for 0.298 Class A ordinary shares for each whole warrant. In no event will the warrants be exercisable on a cashless basis in connection with this redemption feature for more than 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). Finally, as reflected in the table above, if the warrants are out of the money and about to expire, they cannot be exercised on a cashless basis in connection with a redemption by us pursuant to this redemption feature, since they will not be exercisable for any Class A ordinary shares.

143

Table of Contents

This redemption feature differs from the typical warrant redemption features used in many other blank check offerings, which typically only provide for a redemption of warrants for cash (other than the private placement warrants) when the trading price for the Class A ordinary shares exceeds $18.00 per share for a specified period of time. This redemption feature is structured to allow for all of the outstanding warrants (other than the private placement warrants) to be redeemed when the Class A ordinary shares are trading at or above $10.00 per public share, which may be at a time when the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares is below the exercise price of the warrants. We have established this redemption feature to provide us with the flexibility to redeem the warrants without the warrants having to reach the $18.00 per share threshold set forth above under “— Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00.” Holders choosing to exercise their warrants in connection with a redemption pursuant to this feature will, in effect, receive a number of shares for their warrants based on an option pricing model with a fixed volatility input as of the date of this prospectus. This redemption right provides us with an additional mechanism by which to redeem all of the outstanding warrants (other than the private placement warrants), and therefore have certainty as to our capital structure as the warrants would no longer be outstanding and would have been exercised or redeemed. We will be required to pay the applicable redemption price to warrant holders if we choose to exercise this redemption right and it will allow us to quickly proceed with a redemption of the warrants if we determine it is in our best interest to do so. As such, we would redeem the warrants in this manner when we believe it is in our best interest to update our capital structure to remove the warrants and pay the redemption price to the warrant holders.

As stated above, we can redeem the warrants when the Class A ordinary shares are trading at a price starting at $10.00, which is below the exercise price of $11.50, because it will provide certainty with respect to our capital structure and cash position while providing warrant holders with the opportunity to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis for the applicable number of shares. If we choose to redeem the warrants when the Class A ordinary shares are trading at a price below the exercise price of the warrants, this could result in the warrant holders receiving fewer Class A ordinary shares than they would have received if they had chosen to wait to exercise their warrants for Class A ordinary shares if and when such Class A ordinary shares were trading at a price higher than the exercise price of $11.50.

No fractional Class A ordinary shares will be issued upon exercise. If, upon exercise, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will round down to the nearest whole number of the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the holder.

Redemption Procedures.    A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.

Anti-Dilution Adjustments.    The share prices set forth in the column headings of the table above shall be adjusted as of any date on which the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant is adjusted pursuant to the following three paragraphs. The adjusted share prices in the column headings shall equal the share prices immediately prior to such adjustment, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant immediately prior to such adjustment and the denominator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant as so adjusted. The number of shares in the table above shall be adjusted in the same manner and at the same time as the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant. If the number of outstanding Class A ordinary shares is increased by a capitalization or share dividend paid in Class A ordinary shares to all or substantially all holders of Class A ordinary shares, or by a split-up of Class A ordinary shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such capitalization or share dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding Class A ordinary shares. A rights offering made to all or substantially all holders of ordinary shares entitling holders to purchase Class A ordinary shares at a price less than the “historical fair market value” (as defined below) will be deemed a share dividend of a number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the product of (i) the number of Class A ordinary shares actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A ordinary shares) and (ii) one minus the quotient of (a) the price per Class A ordinary share paid in such rights offering and (b) the historical fair market value. For these purposes, (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A ordinary shares, in determining the price payable for Class A ordinary shares, there will be

144

Table of Contents

taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) “historical fair market value” means the volume weighted average price of Class A ordinary shares as reported during the 10 trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the Class A ordinary shares trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.

In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to all or substantially all of the holders of the Class A ordinary shares on account of such Class A ordinary shares (or other securities into which the warrants are convertible), other than (i) as described above, (ii) any cash dividends or cash distributions which, when combined on a per share basis with all other cash dividends and cash distributions paid on the Class A ordinary shares during the 365-day period ending on the date of declaration of such dividend or distribution does not exceed $0.50 (as adjusted to appropriately reflect any other adjustments and excluding cash dividends or cash distributions that resulted in an adjustment to the exercise price or to the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each warrant) but only with respect to the amount of the aggregate cash dividends or cash distributions equal to or less than $0.50 per share, (iii) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A ordinary shares in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (iv) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, (v) as a result of the repurchase of Class A ordinary shares by us if a proposed initial business combination is presented to our shareholders for approval, or (vi) in connection with the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each Class A ordinary share in respect of such event.

If the number of outstanding Class A ordinary shares is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse share split or reclassification of Class A ordinary shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse share split, reclassification or similar event, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding Class A ordinary shares.

Whenever the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (i) the numerator of which will be the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment and (ii) the denominator of which will be the number of Class A ordinary shares so purchasable immediately thereafter.

In addition, if (i) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder units held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described above under “— Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00” and “— Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price,

145

Table of Contents

and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price described above under “— Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.

In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding Class A ordinary shares (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such Class A ordinary shares), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the Class A ordinary shares immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of Class A ordinary shares or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. However, if such holders were entitled to exercise a right of election as to the kind or amount of securities, cash or other assets receivable upon such consolidation or merger, then the kind and amount of securities, cash or other assets for which each warrant will become exercisable will be deemed to be the weighted average of the kind and amount received per share by such holders in such consolidation or merger that affirmatively make such election, and if a tender, exchange or redemption offer has been made to and accepted by such holders (other than a tender, exchange or redemption offer made by the company in connection with redemption rights held by shareholders of the company as provided for in the company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or as a result of the redemption of Class A ordinary shares by the company if a proposed initial business combination is presented to the shareholders of the company for approval) under circumstances in which, upon completion of such tender or exchange offer, the maker thereof, together with members of any group (within the meaning of Rule 13d-5(b)(1) under the Exchange Act) of which such maker is a part, and together with any affiliate or associate of such maker (within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act) and any members of any such group of which any such affiliate or associate is a part, own beneficially (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act) more than 50% of the issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares, the holder of a warrant will be entitled to receive the highest amount of cash, securities or other property to which such holder would actually have been entitled as a shareholder if such warrant holder had exercised the warrant prior to the expiration of such tender or exchange offer, accepted such offer and all of the Class A ordinary shares held by such holder had been purchased pursuant to such tender or exchange offer, subject to adjustment (from and after the consummation of such tender or exchange offer) as nearly equivalent as possible to the adjustments provided for in the warrant agreement. If less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A ordinary shares in such a transaction is payable in the form of Class A ordinary shares in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the Black-Scholes value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant. The purpose of such exercise price reduction is to provide additional value to holders of the warrants when an extraordinary transaction occurs during the exercise period of the warrants pursuant to which the holders of the warrants otherwise do not receive the full potential value of the warrants.

The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of shareholder or warrant holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision, (ii) amending the provisions relating to cash dividends on ordinary shares as contemplated by and in accordance with the warrant agreement, (iii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the warrant agreement as the parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants or (iv) to make any amendments that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements; provided that the

146

Table of Contents

approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is required to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants and 50% of the registered holders of the private warrants to make any change to the terms of the private warrants. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants.

The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of ordinary shares and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive Class A ordinary shares. After the issuance of Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by shareholders.

No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder.

We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. See “Risk Factors — Our warrant agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.” This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum.

Private Placement Warrants

The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except, among other limited exceptions as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Units and Private Placement Warrants,” to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor), and they will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. Our sponsor or its permitted transferees, have the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis. Except as described below, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering and will only be exercisable for Class A ordinary shares. Upon the exercise of a warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share, Rice Acquisition Corp. II will exercise a corresponding warrant to acquire one Class A Unit of Opco.

If holders of the private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering his, her or its warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (i) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “Sponsor fair market value” over the exercise price of the warrants by (ii) the Sponsor fair market value. For these purposes, the “Sponsor fair market value” shall mean the average reported closing price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor and its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following a business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that restrict insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public

147

Table of Contents

shareholders who could exercise their warrants and sell the Class A ordinary shares received upon such exercise freely in the open market in order to recoup the cost of such exercise, the insiders could be significantly restricted from selling such securities. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.

Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) issuable upon exercise of any of these warrants) until the date that is 30 days after the date we complete our initial business combination, except that, among other limited exceptions as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Units and Private Placement Warrants” made to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor. If our sponsor transfers our private placement warrants to any person other than a permitted transferee, the transferred warrants will become identical to our public warrants, including that they will be subject to redemption in certain circumstances, they generally will not be exercisable on a cashless basis, and they will be exercisable solely for our Class A ordinary shares.

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. Our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of this offering, in which case we will effect a share capitalization or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder units, on an as-converted basis, at 20% of and the total outstanding equity upon the consummation of this offering (except the sponsor units and any shares issuable upon exercise of any warrants). Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent

The transfer agent for our ordinary shares and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its shareholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any claims and losses due to any gross negligence or intentional misconduct of the indemnified person or entity.

Certain Differences in Corporate Law

Cayman Islands companies are governed by the Companies Act. The Companies Act is modeled on English Law but does not follow recent English Law statutory enactments, and differs from laws applicable to United States corporations and their shareholders. Set forth below is a summary of the material differences between the provisions of the Companies Act applicable to us and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders.

Mergers and Similar Arrangements.    In certain circumstances, the Companies Act allows for mergers or consolidations between two Cayman Islands companies, or between a Cayman Islands exempted company and a company incorporated in another jurisdiction (provided that is facilitated by the laws of that other jurisdiction).

148

Table of Contents

Where the merger or consolidation is between two Cayman Islands companies, the directors of each company must approve a written plan of merger or consolidation containing certain prescribed information. That plan or merger or consolidation must then be authorized by either (i) a special resolution (usually a majority of 662/3% in value of the voting shares voted at a general meeting) of the shareholders of each company; or (ii) such other authorization, if any, as may be specified in such constituent company’s articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that an initial business combination can be approved by a simple majority of the members at a general meeting called for the purposes of approving an initial business combination. No shareholder resolution is required for a merger between a parent company (i.e., a company that owns at least 90% of the issued shares of each class in a subsidiary company) and its subsidiary company. The consent of each holder of a fixed or floating security interest of a constituent company must be obtained, unless the court waives such requirement. If the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies is satisfied that the requirements of the Companies Act (which includes certain other formalities) have been complied with, the Registrar of Companies will register the plan of merger or consolidation.

Where the merger or consolidation involves a foreign company, the procedure is similar, save that with respect to the foreign company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the merger or consolidation is permitted or not prohibited by the constitutional documents of the foreign company and by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the foreign company is incorporated, and that those laws and any requirements of those constitutional documents have been or will be complied with; (ii) that no petition or other similar proceeding has been filed and remains outstanding or order made or resolution adopted to wind up or liquidate the foreign company in any jurisdictions; (iii) that no receiver, trustee, administrator or other similar person has been appointed in any jurisdiction and is acting in respect of the foreign company, its affairs or its property or any part thereof; and (iv) that no scheme, order, compromise or other similar arrangement has been entered into or made in any jurisdiction whereby the rights of creditors of the foreign company are and continue to be suspended or restricted.

Where the surviving company is the Cayman Islands exempted company, the directors of the Cayman Islands exempted company are further required to make a declaration to the effect that, having made due enquiry, they are of the opinion that the requirements set out below have been met: (i) that the foreign company is able to pay its debts as they fall due and that the merger or consolidated is bona fide and not intended to defraud unsecured creditors of the foreign company; (ii) that in respect of the transfer of any security interest granted by the foreign company to the surviving or consolidated company (a) consent or approval to the transfer has been obtained, released or waived; (b) the transfer is permitted by and has been approved in accordance with the constitutional documents of the foreign company; and (c) the laws of the jurisdiction of the foreign company with respect to the transfer have been or will be complied with; (iii) that the foreign company will, upon the merger or consolidation becoming effective, cease to be incorporated, registered or exist under the laws of the relevant foreign jurisdiction; and (iv) that there is no other reason why it would be against the public interest to permit the merger or consolidation.

Where the above procedures are adopted, the Companies Act provides for a right of dissenting shareholders to be paid a payment of the fair value of his shares upon their dissenting to the merger or consolidation if they follow a prescribed procedure. In essence, that procedure is as follows: (i) the shareholder must give his written objection to the merger or consolidation to the constituent company before the vote on the merger or consolidation, including a statement that the shareholder proposes to demand payment for his shares if the merger or consolidation is authorized by the vote; (ii) within 20 days following the date on which the merger or consolidation is approved by the shareholders, the constituent company must give written notice to each shareholder who made a written objection; (iii) a shareholder must within 20 days following receipt of such notice from the constituent company, give the constituent company a written notice of his intention to dissent including, among other details, a demand for payment of the fair value of his shares; (iv) within seven days following the date of the expiration of the period set out in paragraph (ii) above or seven days following the date on which the plan of merger or consolidation is filed, whichever is later, the constituent company, the surviving company or the consolidated company must make a written offer to each dissenting shareholder to purchase his shares at a price that the company determines is the fair value and if the company and the shareholder agree the price within 30 days following the date on which the offer was made, the company must pay the shareholder such amount; and (v) if the company and the shareholder fail to agree a price within such 30 day period, within 20 days following the date on which such 30 day period expires, the company (and any dissenting shareholder) must file a petition with the Cayman Islands Grand Court to determine the fair value and such petition must be accompanied by a list of the names and addresses of the

149

Table of Contents

dissenting shareholders with whom agreements as to the fair value of their shares have not been reached by the company. At the hearing of that petition, the court has the power to determine the fair value of the shares together with a fair rate of interest, if any, to be paid by the company upon the amount determined to be the fair value. Any dissenting shareholder whose name appears on the list filed by the company may participate fully in all proceedings until the determination of fair value is reached. These rights of a dissenting shareholder are not available in certain circumstances, for example, to dissenters holding shares of any class in respect of which an open market exists on a recognized stock exchange or recognized interdealer quotation system at the relevant date or where the consideration for such shares to be contributed are shares of any company listed on a national securities exchange or shares of the surviving or consolidated company.

Moreover, Cayman Islands law has separate statutory provisions that facilitate the reconstruction or amalgamation of companies in certain circumstances, schemes of arrangement will generally be more suited for complex mergers or other transactions involving widely held companies, commonly referred to in the Cayman Islands as a “scheme of arrangement” which may be tantamount to a merger. In the event that a merger was sought pursuant to a scheme of arrangement (the procedures for which are more rigorous and take longer to complete than the procedures typically required to consummate a merger in the United States), the arrangement in question must be approved by a majority in number of each class of shareholders and creditors with whom the arrangement is to be made and who must in addition represent three-fourths in value of each such class of shareholders or creditors, as the case may be, that are present and voting either in person or by proxy at an annual meeting, or an extraordinary general meeting summoned for that purpose. The convening of the meetings and subsequently the terms of the arrangement must be sanctioned by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. While a dissenting shareholder would have the right to express to the court the view that the transaction should not be approved, the court can be expected to approve the arrangement if it satisfies itself that:

•        we are not proposing to act illegally or beyond the scope of our corporate authority and the statutory provisions as to majority vote have been complied with;

•        the shareholders have been fairly represented at the meeting in question;

•        the arrangement is such as a businessman would reasonably approve; and

•        the arrangement is not one that would more properly be sanctioned under some other provision of the Companies Act or that would amount to a “fraud on the minority.”

If a scheme of arrangement or takeover offer (as described below) is approved, any dissenting shareholder would have no rights comparable to appraisal rights (providing rights to receive payment in cash for the judicially determined value of the shares), which would otherwise ordinarily be available to dissenting shareholders of United States corporations.

Squeeze-out Provisions.    When a takeover offer is made and accepted by holders of 90% of the shares to whom the offer relates within four months, the offeror may, within a two-month period, require the holders of the remaining shares to transfer such shares on the terms of the offer. An objection can be made to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, but this is unlikely to succeed unless there is evidence of fraud, bad faith, collusion or inequitable treatment of the shareholders.

Further, transactions similar to a merger, reconstruction and/or an amalgamation may in some circumstances be achieved through means other than these statutory provisions, such as a share capital exchange, asset acquisition or control, or through contractual arrangements of an operating business.

Shareholders’ Suits.    Our Cayman Islands counsel is not aware of any reported class action having been brought in a Cayman Islands court. Derivative actions have been brought in the Cayman Islands courts, and the Cayman Islands courts have confirmed the availability for such actions. In most cases, we will be the proper plaintiff in any claim based on a breach of duty owed to us, and a claim against (for example) our officers or directors usually may not be brought by a shareholder. However, based both on Cayman Islands authorities and on English authorities, which would in all likelihood be of persuasive authority and be applied by a court in the Cayman Islands, exceptions to the foregoing principle apply in circumstances in which:

•        a company is acting, or proposing to act, illegally or beyond the scope of its authority;

150

Table of Contents

•        the act complained of, although not beyond the scope of the authority, could be effected if duly authorized by more than the number of votes which have actually been obtained; or

•        those who control the company are perpetrating a “fraud on the minority.”

A shareholder may have a direct right of action against us where the individual rights of that shareholder have been infringed or are about to be infringed.

Enforcement of Civil Liabilities.    The Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States and provides less protection to investors. Additionally, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the Federal courts of the United States.

We have been advised by our Cayman Islands legal counsel that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, and or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

Special Considerations for Exempted Companies.    We are an exempted company with limited liability under the Companies Act. The Companies Act distinguishes between ordinary resident companies and exempted companies. Any company that is registered in the Cayman Islands but conducts business mainly outside of the Cayman Islands may apply to be registered as an exempted company. The requirements for an exempted company are essentially the same as for an ordinary company except for the exemptions and privileges listed below:

•        an exempted company does not have to file an annual return of its shareholders with the Registrar of Companies;

•        an exempted company’s register of members is not open to inspection;

•        an exempted company does not have to hold an annual general meeting;

•        an exempted company may issue shares with no par value;

•        an exempted company may obtain an undertaking against the imposition of any future taxation (such undertakings are usually given for 20 years in the first instance);

•        an exempted company may register by way of continuation in another jurisdiction and be deregistered in the Cayman Islands;

•        an exempted company may register as a limited duration company; and

•        an exempted company may register as a segregated portfolio company.

“Limited liability” means that the liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount unpaid by the shareholder on the shares of the company (except in exceptional circumstances, such as involving fraud, the establishment of an agency relationship or an illegal or improper purpose or other circumstances in which a court may be prepared to pierce or lift the corporate veil).

Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will contain provisions designed to provide certain rights and protections relating to this offering that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be

151

Table of Contents

amended without a special resolution under Cayman Islands law. As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a resolution is deemed to be a special resolution where it has been approved by either (i) the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds (or any higher threshold specified in a company’s articles of association) of a company’s shareholders entitled to vote and so voting at a general meeting for which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special resolution has been given; or (ii) if so authorized by a company’s articles of association, by a unanimous written resolution of all of the company’s shareholders. Other than as described above, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that special resolutions must be approved either by at least two-thirds of our shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company (i.e., the lowest threshold permissible under Cayman Islands law), or by a unanimous written resolution of all of our shareholders.

Our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the sponsor units), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Specifically, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide, among other things, that:

•        If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco that were paid by us or are payable by us, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), 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 our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law;

•        Prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional securities that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on our initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to (1) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 24 months from the closing of this offering or (2) amend the foregoing provisions;

•        Although we do not intend to enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors, our officers, including Rice Investment Group and/or one or more of its portfolio companies, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such a business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view;

•        If a shareholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act;

•        The NYSE rules require that our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% net of the assets held in trust (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discounts held in trust) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination;

152

Table of Contents

•        If our shareholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed 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 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their ordinary shares upon such approval 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 us to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), subject to the limitations described herein; and

•        We will not effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.

In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that under no circumstances will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001.

The Companies Act permits a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands to amend its memorandum and articles of association with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of such company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting or by way of unanimous written resolution. A company’s articles of association may specify that the approval of a higher majority is required but, provided the approval of the required majority is obtained, any Cayman Islands exempted company may amend its memorandum and articles of association regardless of whether its memorandum and articles of association provide otherwise. Accordingly, although we could amend any of the provisions relating to our proposed offering, structure and business plan which are contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we view all of these provisions as binding obligations to our shareholders and neither we, nor our officers or directors, will take any action to amend or waive any of these provisions unless we provide dissenting public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares.

Anti-Money Laundering — Cayman Islands

If any person in the Cayman Islands knows or suspects or has reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting that another person is engaged in criminal conduct or money laundering or is involved with terrorism or terrorist financing and property and the information for that knowledge or suspicion came to their attention in the course of business in the regulated sector, or other trade, profession, business or employment, the person will be required to report such knowledge or suspicion to (i) the Financial Reporting Authority of the Cayman Islands, pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands if the disclosure relates to criminal conduct or money laundering, or (ii) a police officer of the rank of constable or higher, or the Financial Reporting Authority, pursuant to the Terrorism Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, if the disclosure relates to involvement with terrorism or terrorist financing and property. Such a report shall not be treated as a breach of confidence or of any restriction upon the disclosure of information imposed by any enactment or otherwise.

Data Protection — Cayman Islands

We have certain duties under the Data Protection Act, 2017 of the Cayman Islands (the “DPA”) based on internationally accepted principles of data privacy.

Privacy Notice

Introduction

This privacy notice puts our shareholders on notice that through your investment in the Company you will provide us with certain personal information which constitutes personal data within the meaning of the DPA (“personal data”). In the following discussion, the “company” refers to us and our affiliates and/or delegates, except where the context requires otherwise.

153

Table of Contents

Investor Data

We will collect, use, disclose, retain and secure personal data to the extent reasonably required only and within the parameters that could be reasonably expected during the normal course of business. We will only process, disclose, transfer or retain personal data to the extent legitimately required to conduct our activities of on an ongoing basis or to comply with legal and regulatory obligations to which we are subject. We will only transfer personal data in accordance with the requirements of the DPA, and will apply appropriate technical and organizational information security measures designed to protect against unauthorized or unlawful processing of the personal data and against the accidental loss, destruction or damage to the personal data.

In our use of this personal data, we will be characterized as a “data controller” for the purposes of the DPA, while our affiliates and service providers who may receive this personal data from us in the conduct of our activities may either act as our “data processors” for the purposes of the DPA or may process personal information for their own lawful purposes in connection with services provided to us.

We may also obtain personal data from other public sources. Personal data includes, without limitation, the following information relating to a shareholder and/or any individuals connected with a shareholder as an investor: name, residential address, email address, contact details, corporate contact information, signature, nationality, place of birth, date of birth, tax identification, credit history, correspondence records, passport number, bank account details, source of funds details and details relating to the shareholder’s investment activity.

Who this Affects

If you are a natural person, this will affect you directly. If you are a corporate investor (including, for these purposes, legal arrangements such as trusts or exempted limited partnerships) that provides us with personal data on individuals connected to you for any reason in relation your investment in the company, this will be relevant for those individuals and you should transmit the content of this Privacy Notice to such individuals or otherwise advise them of its content.

How the Company May Use a Shareholder’s Personal Data

The company, as the data controller, may collect, store and use personal data for lawful purposes, including, in particular:

(i)     where this is necessary for the performance of our rights and obligations under any purchase agreements;

(ii)    where this is necessary for compliance with a legal and regulatory obligation to which we are subject (such as compliance with anti-money laundering and FATCA/CRS requirements); and/or

(iii)   where this is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests and such interests are not overridden by your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms.

Should we wish to use personal data for other specific purposes (including, if applicable, any purpose that requires your consent), we will contact you.

Why We May Transfer Your Personal Data

In certain circumstances we may be legally obliged to share personal data and other information with respect to your shareholding with the relevant regulatory authorities such as the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority or the Tax Information Authority. They, in turn, may exchange this information with foreign authorities, including tax authorities.

We anticipates disclosing personal data to persons who provide services to us and their respective affiliates (which may include certain entities located outside the United States, the Cayman Islands or the European Economic Area), who will process your personal data on our behalf.

154

Table of Contents

The Data Protection Measures We Take

Any transfer of personal data by us or our duly authorized affiliates and/or delegates outside of the Cayman Islands shall be in accordance with the requirements of the DPL.

We and our duly authorized affiliates and/or delegates shall apply appropriate technical and organizational information security measures designed to protect against unauthorized or unlawful processing of personal data, and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

We shall notify you of any personal data breach that is reasonably likely to result in a risk to your interests, fundamental rights or freedoms or those data subjects to whom the relevant personal data relates.

Certain Anti-takeover Provisions of our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide that our board of directors will be classified into three classes of directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at two or more annual general meetings.

Our authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and preference shares will be available for future issuances without shareholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved Class A ordinary shares and preference shares could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Securities Eligible for Future Sale

Immediately after this offering, we will have 31,252,600 Class A ordinary shares (or 35,940,100 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) issued and outstanding on an as-converted basis. Of these shares, the Class A ordinary shares sold in this offering (25,000,000 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised and 28,750,000 Class A ordinary shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any Class A ordinary shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the outstanding founder units (6,250,000 founder units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised and 7,187,600 founder units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) and all of the outstanding private placement warrants (9,000,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised and 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering, and the Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants are subject to transfer restrictions as set forth elsewhere in this prospectus. These restricted securities will be subject to registration rights as more fully described below under “— Registration Rights.”

Rule 144

Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares or warrants for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the twelve months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.

Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares or warrants for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:

•        1% of the total number of ordinary shares then-outstanding, which will equal 312,526 shares immediately after this offering (or 359,401 shares if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full); or

155

Table of Contents

•        the average weekly reported trading volume of the Class A ordinary shares during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale.

Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.

Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:

•        the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company;

•        the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;

•        the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and material required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding twelve months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Form 8-K reports; and

•        at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company.

As a result, our initial shareholders will be able to sell its founder units and private placement warrants, as applicable, pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.

Registration Rights

The holders of the founder units, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or exchange of the founder units issued upon exercise of the private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and upon exchange of the founder units) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of this offering (in the case of the founder units, only after they become exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lockup period, which occurs (i) in the case of the founder units, as described in the following paragraph, and (ii) in the case of the private placement warrants and the respective Class A ordinary shares underlying such warrants, 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Listing of Securities

We intend to apply to list our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants on the NYSE under the symbols “RONI U,” “RONI” and “RONI WS” respectively. We expect that our units will be listed on the NYSE on or promptly after the effective date of the registration statement. Following the date the Class A ordinary shares and warrants are eligible to trade separately, we anticipate that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed separately and as a unit on the NYSE.

156

Table of Contents

TAXATION

The following summary of certain Cayman Islands and U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to an investment in our units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, which we refer to collectively as our securities, is based upon laws and relevant interpretations thereof in effect as of the date of this prospectus, all of which are subject to change. This summary does not address all possible tax considerations relating to an investment in our Class A ordinary shares and warrants, such as the tax consequences under state, local and other tax laws.

Prospective investors are urged to consult their advisors on the possible tax consequences of investing in our securities under the laws of their country of citizenship, residence or domicile.

Cayman Islands Tax Considerations

The following is a discussion on certain Cayman Islands income tax consequences of an investment in the securities of the Company. The discussion is a general summary of present law, which is subject to prospective and retroactive change. It is not intended as tax advice, does not consider any investor’s particular circumstances, and does not consider tax consequences other than those arising under Cayman Islands law.

Under Existing Cayman Islands Laws

Payments of dividends and capital in respect of our securities will not be subject to taxation in the Cayman Islands and no withholding will be required on the payment of a dividend or capital to any holder of the securities nor will gains derived from the disposal of the securities be subject to Cayman Islands income or corporate tax. The Cayman Islands currently has no income, corporation or capital gains tax and no estate duty, inheritance tax or gift tax.

No stamp duty is payable in respect of the issue of the warrants. An instrument of transfer in respect of a warrant is stampable if executed in or brought into the Cayman Islands.

No stamp duty is payable in respect of the issue of our Class A ordinary shares or on an instrument of transfer in respect of such shares.

The Company has been incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability and, as such, has received an undertaking from the Financial Secretary of the Cayman Islands in the following form:

The Tax Concessions Law
(2018 Revision)
Undertaking as to Tax Concessions

In accordance with the provision of Section 6 of The Tax Concessions Law (2018 Revision), the Financial Secretary undertakes with Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”):

1.      That no law which is hereafter enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations shall apply to the Company or its operations; and

2.      In addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax shall be payable:

2.1    On or in respect of the shares, debentures or other obligations of the Company; or

2.2    by way of the withholding in whole or part, of any relevant payment as defined in the Tax Concessions Law (2018 Revision).

These concessions shall be for a period of twenty years from the date hereof.

157

Table of Contents

Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations

General

The following discussion summarizes certain U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our units (each consisting of one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, which we refer to collectively with our units as our securities) that are purchased in this offering by U.S. Holders (as defined below) and Non-U.S. Holders (as defined below). Because the components of a unit are generally separable at the option of the holder, the holder of a unit generally should be treated, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as the owner of the underlying Class A ordinary share and the one-third of one warrant that are the components of the unit. As a result, and assuming such treatment is appropriate, the discussion below with respect to actual holders of Class A ordinary shares and warrants also should apply to holders of units (as the deemed owners of the underlying Class A ordinary shares and warrants that constitute the units).

This discussion is limited to certain U.S. federal income tax considerations to beneficial owners of our securities who are initial purchasers of a unit pursuant to this offering and hold the unit and each component of the unit as a capital asset (generally, property held for investment) under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). This discussion assumes that the Class A ordinary shares and warrants will trade separately and that any distributions made (or deemed made) by us on our Class A ordinary shares and any consideration received (or deemed received) by a holder in consideration for the sale or other disposition of our securities will be in U.S. dollars. This discussion is a summary only and does not consider all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be relevant to the ownership and disposition of a unit by a prospective investor in light of its particular circumstances, including considerations that may apply to investors subject to special rules, such as:

•        our founders, sponsor, initial shareholders, officers or directors or holders of our Class B ordinary shares or private placement warrants;

•        banks, financial institutions or financial services entities;

•        broker-dealers;

•        taxpayers that are subject to the mark-to-market accounting rules;

•        tax-exempt entities;

•        S-corporations;

•        governments or agencies or instrumentalities thereof;

•        insurance companies;

•        regulated investment companies;

•        real estate investment trusts;

•        controlled foreign corporations;

•        PFICs (as defined below);

•        expatriates or former long-term residents of the United States;

•        persons that actually or constructively own five percent or more of our shares, by vote or value;

•        persons that acquired our securities pursuant to an exercise of employee share options, in connection with employee share incentive plans or otherwise as compensation or in connection with services;

•        persons required to accelerate the recognition of any item of gross income with respect to Class A ordinary shares or warrants as a result of such income being recognized or an applicable financial statement;

•        persons that hold our securities as part of a straddle, constructive sale, hedging, conversion or other integrated or similar transaction; or

•        U.S. Holders (as defined below) whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar.

158

Table of Contents

Moreover, the discussion below is based upon the provisions of the Code, the Treasury regulations promulgated thereunder and administrative and judicial interpretations thereof, all as of the date hereof, and those authorities may be repealed, revoked, modified or subject to differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis, so as to result in U.S. federal income tax consequences different from those discussed below. Furthermore, this discussion does not address any aspect of U.S. federal non-income tax laws, alternative minimum, gift, estate or Medicare contribution tax laws, or state, local or non-U.S. tax laws and does not address, except as discussed herein, any tax reporting obligations of a holder of Class A ordinary shares or warrants.

We have not sought, and will not seek, a ruling from the IRS as to any U.S. federal income tax consequence described herein. The IRS may disagree with the discussion herein, and its determination may be upheld by a court. Moreover, there can be no assurance that future legislation, regulations, administrative rulings or court decisions will not adversely affect the accuracy of the statements in this discussion.

This discussion does not consider the tax treatment of partnerships or other pass-through entities or persons who hold our securities through such entities. If a partnership (or other entity or arrangement classified as a partnership or other pass-through entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes) is the beneficial owner of our securities, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a partner or member in the partnership or other pass-through entity generally will depend on the status of the partner or member, certain determinations made at the partner level and the activities of the partner and the partnership or other pass-through entity. If you are a partner or member of a partnership (or other entity or arrangement classified as a partnership or other pass through entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holding our securities, we urge you to consult your tax advisor.

THIS DISCUSSION IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, IS ONLY A SUMMARY OF CERTAIN UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR SECURITIES. THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX TREATMENT OF THE PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR IN OUR SECURITIES MAY BE AFFECTED BY MATTERS NOT DISCUSSED HEREIN AND DEPENDS IN SOME INSTANCES ON DETERMINATIONS OF FACT AND INTERPRETATIONS OF COMPLEX PROVISIONS OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX LAW FOR WHICH NO CLEAR PRECEDENT OR AUTHORITY MAY BE AVAILABLE. THIS DISCUSSION IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR CAREFUL TAX PLANNING. EACH PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR IN OUR SECURITIES IS URGED TO CONSULT ITS TAX ADVISOR WITH RESPECT TO THE PARTICULAR TAX CONSEQUENCES TO SUCH INVESTOR OF THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR SECURITIES, INCLUDING THE APPLICABILITY AND EFFECT OF ANY UNITED STATES FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, AND NON-U.S. TAX LAWS, AS WELL AS UNDER ANY APPLICABLE TAX TREATY.

Allocation of Purchase Price and Characterization of a Unit

No statutory, administrative or judicial authority directly addresses the treatment of a unit or instruments similar to a unit for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and therefore, that treatment is not entirely clear. The acquisition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as the acquisition of one of our Class A ordinary shares and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant is exercisable to acquire one of our Class A ordinary shares. We intend to treat the acquisition of a unit in the foregoing manner. By purchasing a unit, you agree to adopt such treatment for U.S. federal income and other applicable tax purposes. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, each holder of a unit must allocate the purchase price paid by such holder for such unit between the one Class A ordinary share and the one-fourth of one redeemable warrant based on the relative fair market value of each at the time of issuance. Under U.S. federal income tax law, each investor must make its own determination of such value based on all the relevant facts and circumstances. Therefore, we strongly urge each investor to consult its tax advisor regarding the determination of value for these purposes. The purchase price allocated to each Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant should constitute the shareholder’s initial tax basis in such share or warrant. Any disposition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a disposition of the Class A ordinary share and the one-fourth of one redeemable warrant comprising the unit, and the amount realized on the disposition should be allocated between the Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant based on their respective relative fair market values at the time of disposition (as determined by each such unit holder based on all the relevant facts and circumstances). Neither the separation of the Class A ordinary share and the one-fourth of one redeemable warrant comprising a unit nor the combination of thirds of warrants into a single warrant should be a taxable event for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

159

Table of Contents

The foregoing treatment of the units, the Class A ordinary shares and warrants and a holder’s purchase price allocation are not binding on the IRS or the courts. Because there are no authorities that directly address instruments that are similar to the units, no assurance can be given that the IRS or the courts will agree with the characterization described above or the discussion below. Accordingly, each prospective investor is urged to consult its tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of an investment in a unit (including alternative characterizations of a unit). The balance of this discussion assumes that the characterization of the units described above is respected for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

U.S. Holders

This section applies to you if you are a “U.S. Holder.” A U.S. Holder is a beneficial owner of our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants who or that is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

•        an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;

•        a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that is created or organized (or treated as created or organized) in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia;

•        an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source; or

•        a trust, if (i) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons (as defined in the Code) have authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (ii) it has a valid election in effect under applicable Treasury Regulations to be treated as a U.S. person.

Taxation of Distributions

Subject to the passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) rules discussed below, a U.S. Holder generally will be required to include in gross income as dividends the amount of any distribution of cash or other property paid on our Class A ordinary shares to the extent the distribution is paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles). A cash distribution on such shares generally will be treated as foreign source dividend income for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Such dividends paid by us will be taxable to a corporate U.S. Holder at regular rates and will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction generally allowed to domestic corporations in respect of dividends received from other domestic corporations. Distributions in excess of such earnings and profits generally will be applied against and reduce the U.S. Holder’s basis in its Class A ordinary shares (but not below zero) and, to the extent in excess of such basis, will be treated as gain from the sale or exchange of such Class A ordinary shares (the treatment of which is described under “— Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants” below).

With respect to non-corporate U.S. Holders, under tax laws currently in effect and subject to certain exceptions (including, but not limited to, dividends treated as investment income for purposes of investment interest deduction limitations), dividends generally will be taxed at the lower applicable long-term capital gains rate (see “—Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants” below) only if our Class A ordinary shares are readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States, the Company is not treated as a PFIC at the time the dividend was paid or in the preceding taxable year and certain other requirements are met (including with respect to holding period). It is unclear, however, whether certain redemption rights described in this prospectus may suspend the running of the applicable holding period for this purpose. If the holding period requirements are not satisfied, a non-corporate U.S. Holder may be subject tax on such dividend at regular ordinary income tax rates instead of the preferential rate that applies to qualified dividend income. U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the availability of such lower rate for any dividends paid with respect to our Class A ordinary shares.

Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants

Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, a U.S. Holder generally will recognize capital gain or loss on the sale or other taxable disposition of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants (including a redemption of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants that is treated as a sale of such securities as described below and including on

160

Table of Contents

our dissolution and liquidation if we do not consummate an initial business combination within the required time period). Any such capital gain or loss generally will be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. Holder’s holding period for such Class A ordinary shares or warrants exceeds one year. It is unclear, however, whether certain redemption rights described in this prospectus may suspend the running of the applicable holding period for this purpose.

The amount of gain or loss recognized on a sale or other taxable disposition generally will be equal to the difference between (i) the sum of the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received in such disposition (or, if the Class A ordinary shares or warrants are held as part of units at the time of the disposition, the portion of the amount realized on such disposition that is allocated to the Class A ordinary shares or warrants based upon the then relative fair market values of the Class A ordinary shares and the warrants comprising such units) and (ii) the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A ordinary shares or warrants so disposed of. A U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A ordinary shares or warrants generally will equal the U.S. Holder’s acquisition cost (that is, the portion of the purchase price of a unit allocated to a Class A ordinary share or one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, as described above under “— Allocation of Purchase Price and Characterization of a Unit”) reduced, in the case of a Class A ordinary share, by any prior distributions treated as a return of capital. See “— Exercise, Lapse or Redemption of a Warrant” below for a discussion regarding a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the Class A ordinary share acquired pursuant to the exercise of a warrant. Long-term capital gain realized by a non-corporate U.S. Holder is currently eligible to be taxed at reduced rates of taxation. The deduction of capital losses is subject to certain limitations.

Redemption of Class A Ordinary Shares

Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, in the event that a U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares are redeemed pursuant to the redemption provisions described in this prospectus under “Description of Securities — Ordinary Shares” or if we purchase a U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares in an open market transaction, the treatment of the transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes will depend on whether such redemption or purchase by us qualifies as a sale of the Class A ordinary shares under Section 302 of the Code. If the redemption or purchase by us qualifies as a sale of Class A ordinary shares, the U.S. Holder will be treated as described above under “— Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants”. If the redemption or purchase by us does not qualify as a sale of Class A ordinary shares, the U.S. Holder will be treated as receiving a corporate distribution with the tax consequences described above under “— Taxation of Distributions.” Whether a redemption or purchase by us qualifies for sale treatment will depend largely on the total number of our shares treated as held by the U.S. Holder (including any shares constructively owned by the U.S. Holder as described in the following paragraph, including as a result of owning warrants) relative to all of our shares outstanding both before and after such redemption or purchase by us. A redemption or purchase by us of Class A ordinary shares generally will be treated as a sale of the Class A ordinary shares (rather than as a corporate distribution) if such redemption or purchase by us (i) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the U.S. Holder, (ii) results in a “complete termination” of the U.S. Holder’s interest in us or (iii) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the U.S. Holder. These tests are explained more fully below.

In determining whether any of the foregoing tests are satisfied, a U.S. Holder takes into account not only our shares actually owned by the U.S. Holder, but also our shares that are constructively owned by such holder. A U.S. Holder may constructively own, in addition to shares owned directly, shares owned by certain related individuals and entities in which the U.S. Holder has an interest or that have an interest in such U.S. Holder, as well as any shares the U.S. Holder has a right to acquire by exercise of an option, which would generally include Class A ordinary shares which could be acquired by such U.S. Holder pursuant to the exercise of the warrants. In order to meet the substantially disproportionate test, the percentage of our issued and outstanding voting shares actually and constructively owned by the U.S. Holder immediately following the redemption or purchase by us of Class A ordinary shares must, among other requirements, be less than 80% of the percentage of our issued and outstanding voting shares actually and constructively owned by the U.S. Holder immediately before the redemption or purchase by us. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, the Class A ordinary shares may not be treated as voting shares for this purpose and, consequently, this substantially disproportionate test may not be applicable. There will be a complete termination of a U.S. Holder’s interest if either (i) all of our shares actually and constructively owned by the U.S. Holder are redeemed or (ii) all of our shares actually owned by the U.S. Holder are redeemed, the U.S. Holder is eligible to waive, and effectively waives in accordance with specific rules, the attribution of shares owned by certain family members and the U.S. Holder does not constructively own any of our other shares

161

Table of Contents

(including shares constructively owned by the U.S. Holder as a result of owning warrants) and otherwise complies with specific conditions. Whether the redemption or purchase by us of the Class A ordinary shares is essentially equivalent to a dividend with respect to a U.S. Holder generally will depend on the particular facts and circumstances applicable to the U.S. Holder, but generally the redemption will not be essentially equivalent to a dividend with respect to a U.S. Holder if such redemption results in a “meaningful reduction” of such U.S. Holder’s proportionate interest in us. Whether the redemption will result in a meaningful reduction in a U.S. Holder’s proportionate interest in us will depend on the particular facts and circumstances. However, the IRS has indicated in a published ruling that even a small reduction in the proportionate interest of a small minority shareholder in a publicly held corporation who exercises no control over corporate affairs may constitute such a “meaningful reduction.” U.S. Holders are urged to consult with their tax advisors as to the tax consequences of a redemption or purchase by us of any Class A ordinary shares.

If none of the foregoing tests is satisfied, then the redemption or purchase by us will be treated as a corporate distribution and the tax considerations will be as described under “— Taxation of Distributions” above. After the application of those rules, any remaining tax basis of the U.S. Holder in the redeemed Class A ordinary shares will be added to the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its remaining shares, or, if it has none, to the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrants or possibly in other shares constructively owned by it.

U.S. Holders who actually or constructively own five percent (or, if our Class A ordinary shares are not then publicly traded, one percent) or more of our shares (by vote or value) may be subject to special reporting requirements with respect to a redemption of our Class A ordinary shares, and such holders should consult their own tax advisors with respect to their reporting requirements.

Exercise, Lapse or Redemption of a Warrant

Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below and except as discussed below with respect to the cashless exercise of a warrant, a U.S. Holder generally will not recognize gain or loss upon the acquisition of a Class A ordinary share on the exercise of a warrant for cash. A U.S. Holder’s initial tax basis in a Class A ordinary share received upon exercise of the warrant for cash generally will equal the sum of the U.S. Holder’s initial investment in the warrant (that is, the portion of the U.S. Holder’s purchase price for the units that is allocated to the warrant, as described above under “— Allocation of Purchase Price and Characterization of a Unit”) and the exercise price. It is unclear whether a U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary share received will commence on the date of exercise of the warrant for cash or the day following the date of exercise of the warrant for cash; in either case, the holding period will not include the period during which the U.S. Holder held the warrant. If a warrant is allowed to lapse unexercised, a U.S. Holder generally will recognize a capital loss equal to such holder’s tax basis in the warrant.

The tax consequences of a cashless exercise of a warrant are not clear under current law. Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, a cashless exercise may not be taxable, either because the exercise is not a realization event or because the exercise is treated as a “recapitalization” for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in which case the U.S. Holder should not recognize any gain or loss on the exchange of warrants for Class A ordinary shares. In either situation, a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the Class A ordinary shares received generally should equal the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the warrants. If the cashless exercise was not a realization event, it is unclear whether a U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares received would be treated as commencing on the date of exercise of the warrant or the day following the date of exercise of the warrant. If the cashless exercise were treated as a recapitalization, the holding period of the Class A ordinary shares received would include the holding period of the warrants.

It is also possible that a cashless exercise may be treated in whole or in part as a taxable exchange in which gain or loss would be recognized. In such event, a U.S. Holder may be deemed to have surrendered a number of warrants having an aggregate fair market value equal to the exercise price for the total number of warrants deemed to be exercised. Subject to the PFIC rules discussed below, the U.S. Holder would recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the fair market value of the warrants deemed surrendered and the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in such warrants. In this case, a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the Class A ordinary shares received would equal the sum of the U.S. Holder’s initial investment in the warrants deemed exercised (i.e., the portion of the U.S. Holder’s purchase price for the units that is allocated to the warrant, as described above under “— Allocation of Purchase Price and Characterization of a Unit”) and the exercise price of such warrants.

162

Table of Contents

It is unclear whether a U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares would commence on the date of exercise of the warrant or the day following the date of exercise of the warrant; in either case, the holding period will not include the period during which the U.S. Holder held the warrant.

Due to the absence of authority on the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a cashless exercise, including when a U.S. Holder’s holding period would commence with respect to the Class A ordinary shares received, there can be no assurance which, if any, of the alternative tax consequences and holding periods described above would be adopted by the IRS or a court of law. Accordingly, U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of a cashless exercise.

Subject to the PFIC rules described below, if we redeem warrants for cash pursuant to the redemption provisions described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00” or the section of this prospectus entitled “— Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” or if we purchase warrants in an open market transaction, such redemption or purchase by us generally will be treated as a taxable disposition to the U.S. Holder, taxed as described above under “— Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants.” The U.S. federal income tax consequences of an exercise of a warrant occurring after our giving notice of an intention to redeem the warrant for $0.01 as described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00” or after our giving notice of an intention to redeem the warrant for $0.10 as described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00” are unclear under current law. In the case of a cashless exercise, the exercise may be treated either as if we redeemed such warrant for Class A ordinary shares or as an exercise of the warrant. If the cashless exercise of a warrant for Class A ordinary shares is treated as a redemption, then, such redemption generally should be treated as a tax-deferred recapitalization for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in which case a U.S. Holder should not recognize any gain or loss on such redemption, and accordingly, a U.S. Holder’s basis in the Class A ordinary shares received should equal the U.S. Holder’s basis in the warrants redeemed and the holding period of the Class A ordinary shares received should include the U.S. Holder’s holding period of the warrant. If the cashless exercise of a warrant is treated as the exercise of a warrant, the U.S. federal income tax consequences generally should be similar to as described above in the second and third paragraphs under the heading “— U.S. Holders — Exercise, Lapse or Redemption of a Warrant.” In the case of an exercise of a warrant for cash, the U.S. federal income tax treatment generally should be as described above in the first paragraph under the heading “— U.S. Holders — Exercise, Lapse or Redemption of a Warrant.” Due to the lack of clarity under current law regarding the treatment of an exercise of a warrant after our giving notice of an intention to redeem the warrant, there can be no assurance as to which, if any, of the alternative tax consequences described above would be adopted by the IRS or a court of law. Accordingly, U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of the exercise of a warrant occurring after our giving notice of an intention to redeem the warrant as described above.

Possible Constructive Distributions

The terms of each warrant provide for an adjustment to the number of Class A ordinary shares for which the warrant may be exercised or to the exercise price of the warrant in certain events, as discussed in the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants.” An adjustment which has the effect of preventing dilution generally is not taxable. The U.S. Holders of the warrants would, however, be treated as receiving a constructive distribution from us if, for example, the adjustment increases the U.S. Holder’s proportionate interest in our assets or earnings and profits (e.g., through an increase in the number of Class A ordinary shares that would be obtained upon exercise or, depending on the circumstances, through a decrease to the exercise price, including, for example, the decrease to the exercise price of the warrants where additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities are issued in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share, as described under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) as a result of a distribution of cash or other property to the holders of our Class A ordinary shares which is taxable to the U.S. Holders of such Class A ordinary shares as described under “— Taxation of Distributions” above. Such constructive distribution would be subject to tax as described under that section in the same manner as if the U.S. Holders of the warrants received a cash distribution from us equal to the fair market value of such increased interest. For certain information reporting

163

Table of Contents

purposes, we are required to determine the date and amount of any such constructive distributions. Proposed Treasury regulations, which we may rely on prior to the issuance of final regulations, specify how the date and amount of constructive distributions are determined.

Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules

Adverse U.S. federal income tax rules apply to U.S. Holders that hold shares in a foreign (i.e., non-U.S.) corporation classified as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A foreign corporation will be classified as a PFIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes if, after applying certain look-through rules, either (i) at least 75% of its gross income in a taxable year, including its pro rata share of the gross income of any corporation in which it is considered to own at least 25% of the shares by value, is passive income or (ii) at least 50% of its assets in a taxable year (ordinarily determined based on fair market value and averaged quarterly over the year), including its pro rata share of the assets of any corporation in which it is considered to own at least 25% of the shares by value, are held for the production of, or produce, passive income. A partnership interest held by a foreign corporation will generally be treated as a per se passive asset and the distributive share of any partnership income to the foreign corporation will be treated as passive income, unless the foreign corporation owns at least 25% of the interests in the partnership by value. In such case, the foreign corporation is generally treated as owning its share of the partnership’s assets and deriving its share of the partnership’s income, which will be characterized as passive or active at the partnership level. Passive income generally includes, among other things, dividends, interest, rents and royalties (other than rents or royalties derived from the active conduct of a trade or business) and gains from the disposition of assets giving rise to passive income.

Because we are a blank check company, with no current active operating business, we believe that it is likely that we will meet the PFIC asset and/or income test for our current taxable year, which would generally result in us being treated as a PFIC in such taxable year. However, pursuant to a startup exception, a corporation will not be a PFIC for the first taxable year the corporation has gross income (the “startup year”), if (1) no predecessor of the corporation was a PFIC; (2) the corporation satisfies the IRS that it will not be a PFIC for either of the first two taxable years following the startup year; and (3) the corporation is not in fact a PFIC for either of those years. The applicability of the startup exception to us is uncertain and will not be known until after the close of our current taxable year (and perhaps until after the end of our first two taxable years following our startup year). After the acquisition of a company or assets in a business combination, we may still meet one of the PFIC tests depending on the timing of the acquisition and the amount of our passive income and assets as well as the passive income and assets of the acquired business. If the company that we acquire in a business combination is a PFIC (or we do not complete a business acquisition by the end of the first taxable year after the taxable year of our formation), then we will likely not qualify for the startup exception and will be a PFIC for our current taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year (and, in the case of the startup exception to our current taxable year, perhaps not until after the end of our two taxable years following our startup year). Accordingly, there can be no assurance with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any future taxable year.

Although our PFIC status is determined annually, an initial determination that our company is a PFIC for any taxable year will generally apply for subsequent years to a U.S. Holder who held (or is deemed to have held) Class A ordinary shares or warrants while we were a PFIC, whether or not we meet the test for PFIC status in those subsequent years. If we are determined to be a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants and, in the case of our Class A ordinary shares, the U.S. Holder did not make either a timely mark-to-market election or a qualified electing fund (“QEF”) election for our first taxable year as a PFIC in which the U.S. Holder held (or was deemed to hold) Class A ordinary shares, as described below, such U.S. Holder generally will be subject to special and adverse rules with respect to (i) any gain recognized by the U.S. Holder on the sale or other disposition of its Class A ordinary shares or warrants and (ii) any “excess distribution” made to the U.S. Holder (generally, any distributions to such U.S. Holder during a taxable year of the U.S. Holder that are greater than 125% of the average annual distributions received by such U.S. Holder in respect of the Class A ordinary shares during the three preceding taxable years of such U.S. Holder or, if shorter, such U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares).

164

Table of Contents

Under these rules:

•        the U.S. Holder’s gain or excess distribution will be allocated ratably over the U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A ordinary shares or warrants;

•        the amount allocated to the U.S. Holder’s taxable year in which the U.S. Holder realized the gain or received the excess distribution, or to the period in the U.S. Holder’s holding period before the first day of our first taxable year in which we are a PFIC, will be taxed as ordinary income;

•        the amount allocated to other taxable years (or portions thereof) of the U.S. Holder and included in its holding period will be taxed at the highest tax rate in effect for that year and applicable to the U.S. Holder; and

•        an additional tax equal to the interest charge generally applicable to underpayments of tax will be imposed on the U.S. Holder with respect to the tax attributable to each such other taxable year of the U.S. Holder.

In general, if we are determined to be a PFIC, a U.S. Holder may be able to avoid the PFIC tax consequences described above in respect of our Class A ordinary shares (but not our warrants) by making and maintaining a timely and valid QEF election (if eligible to do so) in the first taxable year in which the U.S. Holder held (or was deemed to hold) Class A ordinary shares in which we are classified as a PFIC. If a U.S. Holder makes a timely QEF election with respect to our Class A ordinary shares, each year such U.S. Holder will be required to include in income its pro rata share of our net capital gains (as long-term capital gain) and other earnings and profits (as ordinary income), on a current basis, in each case whether or not distributed, in the taxable year of the U.S. Holder in which or with which our taxable year ends. A U.S. Holder generally may make a separate election to defer the payment of taxes on undistributed income inclusions under the QEF rules, but if deferred, any such taxes will be subject to an interest charge.

It is not entirely clear how various aspects of the PFIC rules apply to the warrants. However, a U.S. Holder may not make a QEF election with respect to its warrants to acquire our Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if a U.S. Holder sells or otherwise disposes of such warrants (other than upon exercise of such warrants for cash) and we were a PFIC at any time during the U.S. Holder’s holding period of such warrants, any gain recognized generally will be treated as an excess distribution, taxed as described above. If a U.S. Holder that exercises such warrants properly makes and maintains a QEF election with respect to the newly acquired Class A ordinary shares (or has previously made a QEF election with respect to our Class A ordinary shares), the QEF election will apply to the newly acquired Class A ordinary shares. Notwithstanding any such QEF election, the adverse tax consequences relating to PFIC shares, adjusted to take into account the current income inclusions resulting from the QEF election, will continue to apply with respect to such newly acquired Class A ordinary shares (which generally will be deemed to have a holding period for purposes of the PFIC rules that includes the period the U.S. Holder held the warrants), unless the U.S. Holder makes a purging election under the PFIC rules. Under one type of purging election, the U.S. Holder will be deemed to have sold such shares at their fair market value and any gain recognized on such deemed sale will be treated as an excess distribution, as described above. Under another type of purging election, an electing U.S. Holder will be treated as having received as an excess distribution its ratable share of our earnings and profits determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. In order for a U.S. Holder to make the second election, we must also be a “controlled foreign corporation” as defined in the Code, and there are no assurances that we will so qualify. As a result of a purging election, the U.S. Holder will generally have additional basis (to the extent of any gain recognized on the deemed sale) and will have a new holding period in the Class A ordinary shares acquired upon the exercise of the warrants solely for purposes of the PFIC rules. U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors as to the application of the rules governing purging elections to their particular circumstances (including a potential separate “deemed dividend” purging election that may be available if we are a controlled foreign corporation).

The QEF election is made on a shareholder-by-shareholder basis and, once made, will apply to all subsequent taxable years of the U.S. Holder during which it holds Class A ordinary shares, unless we cease to be a PFIC or unless revoked by the U.S. Holder with the consent of the IRS. A U.S. Holder generally makes a QEF election by attaching a completed IRS Form 8621 (Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund), including the information provided in a PFIC Annual Information Statement, to a timely filed U.S. federal income tax return for the tax year to which the election relates. Retroactive QEF

165

Table of Contents

elections generally may be made only by filing a protective statement with such return and if certain other conditions are met or with the consent of the IRS. U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the availability and tax consequences of a retroactive QEF election under their particular circumstances.

In order to comply with the requirements of a QEF election, a U.S. Holder must receive a PFIC annual information statement from us. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the IRS may require, including a PFIC annual information statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a QEF election, but there is no assurance that we will timely provide such required information. There is also no assurance that we will have timely knowledge of our status as a PFIC in the future or of the required information to be provided.

If a U.S. Holder has made a QEF election with respect to our Class A ordinary shares, and the excess distribution rules discussed above do not apply to such shares (because of a timely QEF election for our first taxable year as a PFIC in which the U.S. Holder holds (or is deemed to hold) such shares or a purge of the PFIC taint pursuant to a purging election, as described above), any gain recognized on the sale of our Class A ordinary shares generally will be taxable as capital gain and no additional tax or interest charge will be imposed under the PFIC rules. As discussed above, if we are a PFIC for any taxable year, a U.S. Holder of our Class A ordinary shares that has made a QEF election will be currently taxed on its pro rata share of our earnings and profits, whether or not distributed for such year. A subsequent distribution of such earnings and profits that were previously included in income generally should not be taxable when distributed to such U.S. Holder. The tax basis of a U.S. Holder’s shares in a QEF will be increased by amounts that are included in income, and decreased by amounts distributed but not taxed as dividends, under the above rules. In addition, if we are not a PFIC for any taxable year, such U.S. Holder will not be subject to the QEF inclusion regime with respect to our Class A ordinary shares for such taxable year.

Alternatively, if a U.S. Holder, at the close of its taxable year, owns shares in a PFIC that are treated as “marketable stock” (described below) the U.S. Holder may make a mark-to-market election with respect to such shares for such taxable year. If the U.S. Holder makes a valid mark-to-market election for the first taxable year of the U.S. Holder in which the U.S. Holder holds (or is deemed to hold) Class A ordinary shares in us and for which we are determined to be a PFIC, such U.S. Holder generally will not be subject to the PFIC rules described above in respect of its Class A ordinary shares. Instead, in general, the U.S. Holder will include as ordinary income each year the excess, if any, of the fair market value of its Class A ordinary shares at the end of its taxable year over its adjusted basis in its Class A ordinary shares. These amounts of ordinary income would not be eligible for the favorable tax rates applicable to qualified dividend income or long-term capital gains. The U.S. Holder also will be allowed to recognize an ordinary loss in respect of the excess, if any, of its adjusted basis in its Class A ordinary shares over the fair market value of its Class A ordinary shares at the end of its taxable year (but only to the extent of the net amount of previously included income as a result of the mark-to-market election). The U.S. Holder’s basis in its Class A ordinary shares will be adjusted to reflect any such income or loss amounts, and any further gain recognized on a sale or other taxable disposition of its Class A ordinary shares will be treated as ordinary income. Currently, a mark-to-market election may not be made with respect to warrants.

The mark-to-market election is available only for “marketable stock,” which is generally, stock that is regularly traded on a national securities exchange that is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the NYSE (on which we intend to list the Class A ordinary shares), or on a foreign exchange or market that the IRS determines has rules sufficient to ensure that the market price represents a legitimate and sound fair market value. If made, a mark-to-market election would be effective for the taxable year for which the election was made and for all subsequent taxable years unless the ordinary shares ceased to qualify as “marketable stock” for purposes of the PFIC rules or the IRS consented to the revocation of the election. Moreover, a mark-to-market election made with respect to our Class A ordinary shares would not apply to any lower-tier PFICs in which we hold an interest. U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the availability and tax consequences of a mark-to-market election in respect to our Class A ordinary shares under their particular circumstances.

If we are a PFIC and, at any time, have a direct or indirect interest in a foreign subsidiary that is classified as a PFIC, U.S. Holders generally would be deemed to own a portion of the shares of such lower-tier PFIC, and generally could incur liability for the deferred tax and interest charge described above if we receive a distribution from, or dispose of all or part of our interest in, the lower-tier PFIC or the U.S. Holders otherwise were deemed to have disposed of an interest in the lower-tier PFIC. Upon written request, we will endeavor to cause any lower-tier PFIC to provide to a U.S. Holder the information that may be required to make or maintain a QEF election with respect

166

Table of Contents

to the lower-tier PFIC. There can be no assurance that we will have timely knowledge of the status of any such lower-tier PFIC. In addition, we may not hold a controlling interest in any such lower-tier PFIC and thus there can be no assurance we will be able to cause the lower-tier PFIC to provide such required information. A mark-to-market election generally would not be available with respect to a subsidiary PFIC. U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the tax issues raised by lower-tier PFICs.

A U.S. Holder that owns (or is deemed to own) shares in a PFIC during any taxable year of the U.S. Holder, may have to file an IRS Form 8621 (whether or not a QEF or mark-to-market election is made) and such other information as may be required by the U.S. Treasury Department. Failure to do so, if required, may subject such U.S. Holder to substantial penalties and will extend the statute of limitations until such required information is furnished to the IRS.

The rules dealing with PFICs and with the QEF and mark-to-market elections are very complex and are affected by various factors in addition to those described above. Accordingly, U.S. Holders of our Class A ordinary shares and warrants are urged to consult their tax advisors concerning the application of the PFIC rules to our securities under their particular circumstances.

Tax Reporting

Certain U.S. Holders may be required to file an IRS Form 926 (Return by a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation) to report a transfer of property (including cash) to us. Substantial penalties may be imposed on a U.S. Holder that fails to comply with this reporting requirement and the period of limitations on assessment and collection of U.S. federal income taxes will be extended in the event of a failure to comply. Furthermore, certain U.S. Holders who are individuals and certain entities will be required to report information with respect to such U.S. Holder’s investment in “specified foreign financial assets” on IRS Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets), subject to certain exceptions. Specified foreign financial assets generally include any financial account maintained with a non-U.S. financial institution and should also include the Class A ordinary shares and warrants if they are not held in an account maintained with a U.S. financial institution. Persons who are required to report specified foreign financial assets and fail to do so may be subject to substantial penalties and the period of limitations on assessment and collection of U.S. federal income taxes will generally be extended in the event of a failure to comply. Potential investors are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the foreign financial asset and other reporting obligations and their application to an investment in our Class A ordinary shares and warrants.

Non-U.S. Holders

This section applies to you if you are a “Non-U.S. Holder.” As used herein, the term “Non-U.S. Holder” means a beneficial owner of our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants (other than a partnership or other entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) who or that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

•        a non-resident alien individual (other than certain former citizens and residents of the United States subject to U.S. tax as expatriates);

•        a corporation that is not a U.S. Holder; or

•        an estate or trust that is not a U.S. Holder,

but generally does not include an individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition. If you are such an individual, you are urged to consult your tax advisor regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of the sale or other disposition of our securities.

Dividends (including constructive distributions) paid or deemed paid to a Non-U.S. Holder in respect of our Class A ordinary shares generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax, unless the dividends are effectively connected with the Non-U.S. Holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base that such holder maintains in the United States). In addition, a Non-U.S. Holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain attributable to a sale or other disposition of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants unless such

167

Table of Contents

gain is effectively connected with its conduct of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, is attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base that such holder maintains in the United States).

Dividends (including constructive distributions) and gains that are effectively connected with the Non-U.S. Holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable income tax treaty, are attributable to a permanent establishment or fixed base in the United States) generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at the same regular U.S. federal income tax rates applicable to a comparable U.S. Holder and, in the case of a Non-U.S. Holder that is a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, also may be subject to an additional branch profits tax at a 30% rate or a lower applicable tax treaty rate.

The characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of the redemption or purchase by us of a Non-U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares will generally correspond to the U.S. federal income tax characterization of such a redemption or purchase by us of a U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares, as described under “U.S. Holders — Redemption of Class A Ordinary Shares” above, and the consequences of the redemption or purchase by us to the Non-U.S. Holder will be as described in the paragraphs above under the heading “Non-U.S. Holders” based on such characterization.

The characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of a Non-U.S. Holder’s exercise of a warrant, or the lapse or redemption of a warrant held by a Non-U.S. Holder, generally will correspond to the U.S. characterization described under “— U.S. Holders — Exercise, Lapse or Redemption of a Warrant,” above, although to the extent a cashless exercise or redemption results in a taxable exchange, the consequences would be similar to those described in the preceding paragraphs above for a Non-U.S. Holder’s gain on the sale or other disposition of our securities.

The determination for Non-U.S. Holders of whether a constructive distribution from us has occurred as a result of an adjustment to the number of a Non-U.S. Holder’s Class A ordinary shares for which a warrant may be exercised or to the exercise price of a warrant in certain events, as discussed in the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ Warrants” generally will be the same as the determination for U.S. Holders as described under “— U.S. Holders — Possible Constructive Distributions” above, and the consequences of such adjustment will be as described in the preceding paragraphs above under the heading “Non-U.S. Holders” based on such determination.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

Dividend payments with respect to our Class A ordinary shares and proceeds from the sale, exchange or redemption of our Class A ordinary shares may be subject to information reporting to the IRS and possible United States backup withholding. Backup withholding will not apply, however, to a U.S. Holder who furnishes a correct taxpayer identification number and makes other required certifications, or who is otherwise exempt from backup withholding and establishes such exempt status. A Non-U.S. Holder generally will eliminate the requirement for information reporting and backup withholding by providing certification of its foreign status, under penalties of perjury, on a duly executed applicable IRS Form W-8 or by otherwise establishing an exemption.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Amounts withheld as backup withholding may be credited against a holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, and a holder generally may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules by timely filing the appropriate claim for refund with the IRS and furnishing any required information.

The U.S. federal income tax discussion set forth above is included for general information only and may not be applicable depending upon a holder’s particular situation. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to the tax consequences to them of the ownership and disposition of our Class A ordinary shares and warrants, including the tax consequences under U.S. federal state, and local, estate, non-U.S. and other tax laws and tax treaties and the possible effects of changes in U.S. or other tax laws.

168

Table of Contents

UNDERWRITING

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc. are acting as representatives of the underwriters named below. Under the terms and subject to the conditions contained in an underwriting agreement dated the date of this prospectus, we have agreed to sell to the underwriters named below the following respective numbers of units:

Underwriters

 

Number of
Units

Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

   

Barclays Capital Inc.

   

AmeriVet Securities Inc.

   

Academy Securities Inc.

 

 

Total

 

25,000,000

The underwriting agreement provides that the underwriters are obligated to purchase all the units in this offering if any are purchased, other than those units covered by the over-allotment option described below.

We have granted to the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase on a pro rata basis up to 3,750,000 additional units at the initial public offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The option may be exercised only to cover any over-allotments of units.

The underwriters propose to offer the units initially at the public offering price on the cover page of this prospectus and to selling group members at that price less a selling concession of $             per unit.

The following table shows the underwriting discounts and commissions that we are to pay to the underwriters in connection with this offering. These amounts are shown assuming both no exercise and full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. $0.35 per unit, or $8,750,000 (or $10,062,500 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full), of deferred underwriting commissions will be paid to the underwriters upon the completion of our initial business combination.

 

Paid By
Rice Acquisition Corp. II

   

No Exercise

 

Full Exercise

Per Unit(1)

 

$

0.55

 

$

0.55

Total(1)

 

$

13,750,000

 

$

15,812,500

____________

(1)      Includes $0.35 per unit, or $8,750,000 in the aggregate (or $10,062,500 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein and released to the underwriters only upon the consummation of an initial business combination.

We estimate that our out-of-pocket expenses for this offering will be approximately $2,000,000. We have agreed to pay for the FINRA-related fees and expenses of the underwriters’ legal counsel, not to exceed $25,000.

The underwriters have informed us that the underwriters do not intend to make sales to discretionary accounts.

We, our sponsor and our officers and directors have agreed that we will not offer, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of, directly or indirectly, without the prior written consent of the representatives of the underwriters for a period of 150 days after the date of this prospectus, any units, warrants, ordinary shares or any other securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, ordinary shares; provided, however, that we may (i) issue and sell the private placement warrants; (ii) issue and sell the additional units to cover our underwriters’ over-allotment option (if any); (iii) register with the SEC pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of this offering, the resale of the private placement warrants and the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and the founder units; and (iv) issue securities in connection with our initial business combination. However, the foregoing shall not apply to the forfeiture of any founder units pursuant to their terms or any transfer of founder units to any current or future independent director of the Company (as long as such current or future independent director is subject to the terms of the letter agreement, filed herewith, at the time of such transfer; and as long as, to the extent any Section 16 reporting obligation is triggered as a result of such transfer, any related Section 16 filing includes a practical explanation as to the nature of the transfer). The representatives of the underwriters in their sole discretion may release any of the securities subject to these lock-up agreements at any time without notice.

169

Table of Contents

Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder units until the earliest of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property (except pursuant to limited exceptions as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Units and Private Placement Warrants”). Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our sponsor and our directors and executive officers with respect to any founder units.

The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B ordinary shares) issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except pursuant to limited exceptions as described under “Principal Shareholders — Transfers of Founder Units and Private Placement Warrants”).

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities under the Securities Act, or contribute to payments that the underwriters may be required to make in that respect.

We intend to apply to list our units on the NYSE under the symbol “RONI U”. We expect that our Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed under the symbols “RONI” and “RONI WS,” respectively, once the Class A ordinary shares and warrants begin separate trading. Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our securities. Consequently, the initial public offering price for the units was determined by negotiations between us and the underwriters.

The determination of our per unit offering price was more arbitrary than would typically be the case if we were an operating company. Among the factors considered in determining the initial public offering price were the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies, prior offerings of those companies, our management, our capital structure, and currently prevailing general conditions in equity securities markets, including current market valuations of publicly traded companies considered comparable to our company. We cannot assure you, however, that the price at which the units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants will sell in the public market after this offering will not be lower than the initial public offering price or that an active trading market in our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants will develop and continue after this offering.

The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II).

In connection with this offering, the underwriters may engage in stabilizing transactions, over-allotment transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act.

•        Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum.

•        Over-allotment involves sales by the underwriters of units in excess of the number of units the underwriters are obligated to purchase, which creates a syndicate short position. The short position may be either a covered short position or a naked short position. In a covered short position, the number of units over-allotted by the underwriters is not greater than the number of units that they may purchase in the over-allotment option. In a naked short position, the number of units involved is greater than the number of units in the over-allotment option. The underwriters may close out any covered short position by either exercising their over-allotment option and/or purchasing units in the open market.

170

Table of Contents

•        Syndicate covering transactions involve purchases of the units in the open market after the distribution has been completed in order to cover syndicate short positions. In determining the source of units to close out the short position, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of units available for purchase in the open market as compared to the price at which they may purchase units through the over-allotment option. If the underwriters sell more units than could be covered by the over-allotment option, a naked short position, the position can only be closed out by buying units in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there could be downward pressure on the price of the units in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchase in this offering.

•        Penalty bids permit the representatives to reclaim a selling concession from a syndicate member when the units originally sold by the syndicate member are purchased in a stabilizing or syndicate covering transaction to cover syndicate short positions.

These stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of our units or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the units. As a result, the price of our units may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market. These transactions may be effected on the NYSE or otherwise and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.

We are not under any contractual obligation to engage any of the underwriters to provide any services for us after this offering and have no present intent to do so. However, any of the underwriters may introduce us to potential target businesses or assist us in raising additional capital in the future. If any of the underwriters provide services to us after this offering, we may pay such underwriter fair and reasonable fees that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with any of the underwriters and no fees for such services will be paid to any of the underwriters prior to the date that is 90 days from the date of this prospectus, unless FINRA determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this offering, and we may pay the underwriters of this offering or any entity with which they are affiliated, a finder’s fee or other compensation for services rendered to us in connection with the completion of a business combination. Any fees we may pay the underwriters or their affiliates for services rendered to us after this offering may be contingent on the completion of a business combination and may include non-cash compensation. The underwriters or their affiliates that provide these services to us may have a potential conflict of interest given that the underwriters are entitled to the deferred portion of their underwriting compensation for this offering only if an initial business combination is completed within the specified timeframe.

The underwriters and their affiliates have engaged in, and may in the future engage in, investment banking and other commercial dealings in the ordinary course of business with us or our affiliates. They have received, or may in the future receive, customary fees and commissions for these transactions.

In addition, in the ordinary course of their business activities, the underwriters and their affiliates may make or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities) and financial instruments (including bank loans) for their own account and for the accounts of their customers. Such investments and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments of ours or our affiliates. The underwriters and their affiliates may also make investment recommendations and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such securities or financial instruments and may hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in such securities and instruments.

A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the websites maintained by the underwriters, or selling group members, if any, participating in this offering and the underwriters participating in this offering may distribute prospectuses electronically. The underwriters may allocate a number of units for sale to its online brokerage account holders. Internet distributions will be allocated by the underwriters that will make internet distributions on the same basis as other allocations.

The units are offered for sale in the United States and other jurisdictions where it is lawful to make such offers.

The underwriters have represented and agreed that they have not offered, sold or delivered and will not offer, sell or deliver any of the units directly or indirectly, or distribute this prospectus or any other offering material relating to the units, in or from any jurisdiction except under circumstances that will result in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations thereof and that will not impose any obligations on us except as set forth in the underwriting agreement.

171

Table of Contents

European Economic Area

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Regulation (each, a “Relevant Member State”) an offer to the public of our ordinary shares may not be made in that Relevant Member State, except that an offer to the public in that Relevant Member State of our ordinary shares may be made at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Regulation:

(i)     to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Regulation;

(ii)    to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the representatives of the underwriters for any such offer; or

(iii)   in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Regulation, provided that no such offer of shares of our ordinary shares shall result in a requirement for the publication by us or any underwriters of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to our ordinary shares in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and our ordinary shares to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase our ordinary shares, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State, the expression “Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation EU 2017/1129, and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State.

This European Economic Area selling restriction is in addition to any other selling restrictions set out below.

Notice to Investors in the United Kingdom

The underwriters severally represent, warrant and agree as follows:

(i)     it has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of section 21 of FSMA) to persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling with Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 or in circumstances in which section 21 of FSMA does not apply to the company; and

(ii)    it has complied with, and will comply with all applicable provisions of FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the units in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom.

Notice to Residents of Japan

The underwriters will not offer or sell any of our units directly or indirectly in Japan or to, or for the benefit of any Japanese person or to others, for re-offering or re-sale directly or indirectly in Japan or to any Japanese person, except in each case pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of, and otherwise in compliance with, the Securities and Exchange Law of Japan and any other applicable laws and regulations of Japan. For purposes of this paragraph, “Japanese person” means any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan.

Notice to Residents of Hong Kong

The underwriters and each of their affiliates have not (i) offered or sold, and will not offer or sell, in Hong Kong, by means of any document, our units other than (a) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32 of Hong Kong) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance or (ii) issued or had in its possession for the purposes of issue, and will not issue or have in its possession for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere any advertisement, invitation or document relating to our units which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to our securities

172

Table of Contents

which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance and any rules made under that Ordinance. The contents of this document have not been reviewed by any regulatory authority in Hong Kong. You are advised to exercise caution in relation to the offer. If you are in any doubt about any of the contents of this document, you should obtain independent professional advice.

Notice to Residents of Singapore

This prospectus or any other offering material relating to our units has not been and will not be registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the units will be offered in Singapore pursuant to exemptions under Section 274 and Section 275 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “Securities and Futures Act”). Accordingly our units may not be offered or sold, or be the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, nor may this prospectus or any other offering material relating to our units be circulated or distributed, whether directly or indirectly, to the public or any member of the public in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor or other person specified in Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, (ii) to a sophisticated investor, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the Securities and Futures Act or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the Securities and Futures Act.

Notice to Residents of Germany

Each person who is in possession of this prospectus is aware that no German sales prospectus (Verkaufsprospekt) within the meaning of the Securities Sales Prospectus Act (Wertpapier-Verkaufsprospektgesetz, the “Act”) of the Federal Republic of Germany has been or will be published with respect to our units. In particular, the underwriters have represented that they have not engaged and have agreed that they will not engage in a public offering (offentliches Angebot) within the meaning of the Act with respect to any of our units otherwise then in accordance with the Act and all other applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Notice to Residents of France

The units are being issued and sold outside the Republic of France and that, in connection with their initial distribution, it has not offered or sold and will not offer or sell, directly or indirectly, any units to the public in the Republic of France, and that it has not distributed and will not distribute or cause to be distributed to the public in the Republic of France this prospectus or any other offering material relating to the units, and that such offers, sales and distributions have been and will be made in the Republic of France only to qualified investors (investisseurs qualifiés) in accordance with Article L.411-2 of the Monetary and Financial Code and decrét no. 98-880 dated October 1, 1998.

Notice to Residents of the Netherlands

Our units may not be offered, sold, transferred or delivered in or from the Netherlands as part of their initial distribution or at any time thereafter, directly or indirectly, other than to, individuals or legal entities situated in The Netherlands who or which trade or invest in securities in the conduct of a business or profession (which includes banks, securities intermediaries (including dealers and brokers), insurance companies, pension funds, collective investment institution, central governments, large international and supranational organizations, other institutional investors and other parties, including treasury departments of commercial enterprises, which as an ancillary activity regularly invest in securities; hereinafter, “Professional Investors”); provided that in the offer, prospectus and in any other documents or advertisements in which a forthcoming offering of our units is publicly announced (whether electronically or otherwise) in The Netherlands it is stated that such offer is and will be exclusively made to such Professional Investors. Individual or legal entities who are not Professional Investors may not participate in the offering of our units, and this prospectus or any other offering material relating to our units may not be considered an offer or the prospect of an offer to sell or exchange our units.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the Cayman Islands

No invitation, whether directly or indirectly, may be made to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for our securities.

173

Table of Contents

Notice to Canadian Residents

Resale Restrictions

The distribution of units in Canada is being made only in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia on a private placement basis exempt from the requirement that we prepare and file a prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each province where trades of these securities are made. Any resale of the units in Canada must be made under applicable securities laws which may vary depending on the relevant jurisdiction, and which may require resales to be made under available statutory exemptions or under a discretionary exemption granted by the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authority. Purchasers are advised to seek legal advice prior to any resale of the securities.

Representations of Canadian Purchasers

By purchasing units in Canada and accepting delivery of a purchase confirmation, a purchaser is representing to us and the dealer from whom the purchase confirmation is received that:

•        the purchaser is entitled under applicable provincial securities laws to purchase the units without the benefit of a prospectus qualified under those securities laws as it is an “accredited investor” as defined under National Instrument 45-106 — Prospectus Exemptions;

•        the purchaser is a “permitted client” as defined in National Instrument 31-103 — Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations;

•        where required by law, the purchaser is purchasing as principal and not as agent; and

•        the purchaser has reviewed the text above under Resale Restrictions.

Conflicts of Interest

Canadian purchasers are hereby notified that the representatives of the underwriters are relying on the exemption set out in section 3A.3 or 3A.4, if applicable, of National Instrument 33-105 — Underwriting Conflicts from having to provide certain conflict of interest disclosure in this document.

Statutory Rights of Action

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if the prospectus (including any amendment thereto) such as this document contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser of these securities in Canada should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

Enforcement of Legal Rights

All of our directors and officers as well as the experts named herein may be located outside of Canada and, as a result, it may not be possible for Canadian purchasers to effect service of process within Canada upon us or those persons. All or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of those persons may be located outside of Canada and, as a result, it may not be possible to satisfy a judgment against us or those persons in Canada or to enforce a judgment obtained in Canadian courts against us or those persons outside of Canada.

Taxation and Eligibility for Investment

Canadian purchasers of units should consult their own legal and tax advisors with respect to the tax consequences of an investment in the units in their particular circumstances and about the eligibility of the units for investment by the purchaser under relevant Canadian legislation.

174

Table of Contents

LEGAL MATTERS

Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Houston, Texas, will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this prospectus with respect to units and warrants. Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this prospectus with respect to the ordinary shares and matters of Cayman Islands law. Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., Houston, Texas, advised the underwriters in connection with the offering of the securities.

EXPERTS

The financial statements as of February 26, 2021 and for the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021 appearing in this prospectus have been audited by WithumSmith+Brown, PC, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their report thereon, appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, and are included in reliance upon such report given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act with respect to the securities we are offering by this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information included in the registration statement. For further information about us and our securities, you should refer to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed with the registration statement. Whenever we make reference in this prospectus to any of our contracts, agreements or other documents, the references are materially complete but may not include a description of all aspects of such contracts, agreements or other documents, and you should refer to the exhibits attached to the registration statement for copies of the actual contract, agreement or other document.

Upon completion of this offering, we will be subject to the information requirements of the Exchange Act and will file annual, quarterly and current event reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You can read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the Internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

175

Table of Contents

F-1

Table of Contents

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Shareholder and the Board of Directors of
Rice Acquisition Corp II

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Rice Acquisition Corp II (the “Company”) as of February 26, 2021, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in shareholder’s equity and cash flows for the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of February 26, 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2021.

New York, New York
May 6, 2021

F-2

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
FEBRUARY 26, 2021

Assets:

   

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

Prepaid asset

 

$

10,829

 

Total current assets

 

 

10,829

 

Deferred offering costs associated with proposed public offering

 

 

158,438

 

Total assets

 

$

169,267

 

   

 

 

 

Liabilities and Shareholder’s Equity:

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

Accrued expenses

 

$

167,106

 

Total current liabilities

 

 

167,106

 

Commitments and Contingencies

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Shareholder’s Equity:

 

 

 

 

Preference shares, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding

 

 

 

Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 300,000,000 shares authorized; 2,500 shares issued and outstanding

 

 

 

Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 30,000,000 shares authorized; 7,187,600 shares issued and outstanding(1)

 

 

719

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

 

24,281

 

Accumulated deficit

 

 

(22,922

)

Total Rice Acquisition Corp II equity

 

 

2,078

 

Non-controlling interest in subsidiary

 

 

83

 

Total shareholder’s equity

 

 

2,161

 

Total Liabilities and Shareholder’s Equity

 

$

169,267

 

____________

(1)      This number includes up to 937,500 Class B ordinary shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters (see Note 4).     

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

F-3

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
For the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021

General and administrative expenses

 

$

23,839

 

Net loss

 

 

(23,839

)

Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest in subsidiary

 

 

(917

)

Net loss attributable to Rice Acquisition Corp. II

 

$

(22,922

)

   

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A common stock

 

 

2,500

 

Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A ordinary share

 

$

(9.17

)

Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B ordinary shares(1)

 

 

6,250,100

 

Basic and diluted net loss per share, Class B ordinary share

 

$

0.00

 

____________

(1)      This number excludes an aggregate of up to 937,500 Class B ordinary shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters (see Note 4).

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

F-4

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDER’S EQUITY
For the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021

 

Ordinary Shares

 

Additional
Paid-In
Capital

 

Accumulated
Deficit

 

Non-controlling
Interest in
Subsidiary

 

Total
Shareholder’s
Equity

   

Class A

 

Class B

 
   

Shares

 

Amount

 

Shares

 

Amount

 

Balance – February 2, 2021 (inception)

 

 

$

 

 

$

 

$

 

$

 

 

$

 

 

$

 

Issuance of Class A and
Class B ordinary
shares to Sponsor(1)

 

2,500

 

 

 

7,187,600

 

 

719

 

 

24,281

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25,000

 

Issuance of Units in subsidiary to
Sponsor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,000

 

 

 

1,000

 

Net loss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(22,922

)

 

 

(917

)

 

 

(23,839

)

Balance – February 26, 2021

 

2,500

 

$

 

7,187,600

 

$

719

 

$

24,281

 

$

(22,922

)

 

$

83

 

 

$

2,161

 

____________

(1)      This number includes up to 937,500 Class B ordinary shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters (see Note 4).

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

F-5

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
For the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021

Cash Flows from Operating Activities:

 

 

 

 

Net loss

 

$

(23,839

)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

 

 

 

 

Prepaid assets

 

 

15,171

 

Accrued expenses

 

 

8,668

 

Net cash used in operating activities

 

 

 

Net change in cash

 

 

 

Cash – beginning of the period

 

 

 

Cash – end of the period

 

$

 

   

 

 

 

Supplemental disclosure of noncash financing activities:

 

 

 

 

Deferred offering costs included in accrued expenses

 

$

158,438

 

Prepaid expenses paid by Sponsor in exchange for issuance of Class A and Class B ordinary shares

 

$

26,000

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

F-6

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 1 — Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation

Rice Acquisition Corp. II is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on February 2, 2021. As used herein, “the Company” refers to Rice Acquisition Corp. II and its majority-owned and controlled operating subsidiary, Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (the “OpCo”), unless the context indicates otherwise. The Company was 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 (the “Business Combination”). The Company is an emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.

As of February 26, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation and the proposed initial public offering described below. 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 investments in cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the Proposed Public Offering (as defined below). The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.

The Company’s sponsor is Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”). The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources through a proposed public offering (the “Proposed Public Offering”) of 25,000,000 units (each, a “Unit” and collectively, the “Units”) at $10.00 per Unit (or 28,750,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), which is discussed in Note 3, and the sale of 9,000,000 warrants (or 9,750,000 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) (each, a “Private Placement Warrant” and collectively, the “Private Placement Warrants”), at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to the Sponsor that will close simultaneously with the Proposed Public Offering. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares or one Class A Unit of the OpCo together with a corresponding non-economic Class B ordinary share of the Company.

Following the Proposed Public Offering, the Public Shareholders (as defined below) will hold a direct economic equity ownership interest in the Company in the form of Class A ordinary shares, and an indirect ownership interest in Opco through the Company’s ownership of Class A Units of Opco. By contrast, the Initial Shareholders (as defined below) will own direct economic interests in Opco in the form of Class B Units and a corresponding non-economic voting equity interest in the Company in the form of Class B ordinary shares, as well as a small direct interest through the Sponsor Shares (see Note 4).

The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. 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 (as defined below) (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in Trust) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. However, the Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the 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 of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, management has agreed that an amount equal to at least $10.00 per Unit sold in the Proposed Public Offering, including the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor, will be held in a trust account (“Trust Account”) located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in U.S. “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.

F-7

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 1 — Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation (cont.)

The Company will provide the holders (the “Public Shareholders”) of the Company’s outstanding Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, sold in the Proposed Public Offering (the “Public Shares”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a shareholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Shareholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then held in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $10.00 per Public Share). The per-share amount to be distributed to Public Shareholders who redeem their Public Shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriters (as discussed in Note 5). These Public Shares will be recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” The Company will proceed with a Business Combination if a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. The Company will not redeem the Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. If a shareholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain shareholder approval for business or legal reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. Additionally, each public shareholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. If the Company seeks shareholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Initial Shareholders (as defined below) have agreed to vote their Founder Shares (as defined below in Note 4) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Proposed Public Offering in favor of a Business Combination. In addition, the Initial Shareholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and Public Shares in connection with the completion of a Business Combination.

If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering (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 taxes of the Company or Opco, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding Public Shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II), which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating 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, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to consummate an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering.

Pursuant to the Opco LLC Agreement and a letter agreement that the Sponsor, and the Company’s officers and directors have entered into with the Company, the Sponsor, and the Company’s officers and directors have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any Founder Shares they hold if we fail to consummate an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering (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 an initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame).

F-8

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 1 — Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation (cont.)

The Sponsor, and the Company’s officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with the Company, that they will not propose any amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of Public Shares if the Company does not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, unless the Company provides the Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment 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 taxes or Opco, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II).

The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not consummate an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares and any Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II). In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the residual assets remaining available for distribution (including Trust Account assets) will be only $10.00. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has entered into a letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement (a “Target”), reduce the amount of funds 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 Public Share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or Target that executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) not will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Proposed Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.

The Company does not have sufficient liquidity to meet its anticipated obligations over the next year from the issuance of these consolidated financial statements. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC 205-40, Presentation of Financial Statements — Going Concern,” management has determined that the Company has access to funds from the Sponsor that are sufficient to fund the working capital needs of the Company until the earlier of the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering or one year from the issuance of these consolidated financial statements.

F-9

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 1 — Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation (cont.)

Emerging Growth Company

The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s consolidated financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Principles of Consolidation and Financial Statement Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its majority-owned and controlled operating subsidiary after elimination of all intercompany transactions and balances as of February 26, 2021. The ownership interest of noncontrolling participants in the operating subsidiary is included as a separate component of shareholder’s equity. The noncontrolling participants’ share of the net loss is included as “Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest in subsidiary” on the accompanying consolidated statement of operations.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under FASB ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet primarily due to their short-term nature.

Deferred Offering Costs Associated with the Proposed Public Offering

Deferred offering costs consist of legal, accounting, and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Proposed Public Offering and that will be charged to shareholder’s equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering. Should the Proposed Public Offering prove to be unsuccessful, these deferred costs, as well as additional expenses to be incurred, will be charged to operations.

F-10

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (cont.)

Net Loss Per Ordinary Share

The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” Net loss per ordinary share is computed by dividing net loss attributable to the controlling interest by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period, excluding ordinary shares subject to forfeiture. Weighted average ordinary shares at February 26, 2021 were reduced for the effect of an aggregate of 937,500 Class B ordinary shares that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters (see Note 6). At February 26, 2021, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into ordinary shares and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted loss per ordinary share is the same as basic loss per ordinary share for the period presented.

Income Taxes

FASB ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of February 26, 2021. The Company’s management determined that the Cayman Islands is the Company’s only major tax jurisdiction. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. No amounts were accrued for the payment of interest and penalties for the period from February 2, 2021 (inception) through February 26, 2021. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception. There is currently no taxation imposed on income by the Government of the Cayman Islands. In accordance with Cayman income tax regulations, income taxes are not levied on the Company. Consequently, income taxes are not reflected in the Company’s financial statements. The Company’s management does not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will materially change over the next twelve months.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Company’s management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

Note 3 — Proposed Public Offering

Pursuant to the Proposed Public Offering, the Company intends to offer for sale 25,000,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit (or 28,750,000 units if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full). Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share, and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant (each, a “Public Warrant”). Each Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 6).

Note 4 — Related Party Transactions

Founder Shares and Sponsor Shares

On February 10, 2021, the Sponsor received 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco for no consideration and purchased 7,187,600 of the Company’s Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 (the “Founder Shares”), 2,500 of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares and 100 Class A Units of Opco for aggregate consideration of $26,000. Of the aggregate consideration, Opco received $1,000 for the Class A Units and the Company received $25,000 for the Class A ordinary shares and the Class B ordinary shares. The Company then subscribed for 2,500 Class A Units of Opco for $25,000.

F-11

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 4 — Related Party Transactions (cont.)

The Sponsor has agreed to forfeit up to 937,500 Founder Shares to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriter. The forfeiture will be adjusted to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriter so that the Founder Shares will represent 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Proposed Public Offering. If the Company increases or decreases the size of the offering, the Company will affect a share dividend or share contribution back to capital, as applicable, immediately prior to the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering in such amount as to maintain the Founder Share ownership of the Company’s shareholders prior to the Proposed Public Offering at 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering.

The initial shareholders will agree, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination or (B) subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (x) if the last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.

The Company refers to the 7,187,500 Class B ordinary shares and corresponding number of Class B Units of Opco (or the Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units will convert) collectively as the “Founder Shares”. The Founder Shares consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares, which together will be exchangeable for shares of Rice’s Class A ordinary shares after the time of the initial Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The Company refers to the 2,500 Rice’s Class A ordinary shares and the 100 Class A Units of Opco and a corresponding number of shares of Rice’s non-economic Class B ordinary shares (which together will be exchangeable into Class A ordinary shares after the initial Business Combination on a one-for-one basis) collectively as the “Sponsor Shares”.

The Class B Units of Opco will convert into Class A Units of Opco in connection with the initial Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. The Founder Shares consist of Class B Units of Opco (and any Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units are converted) and a corresponding number of Class B ordinary shares, which together will be exchangeable for Class A ordinary shares after the time of the initial Business Combination on a one-for-one basis (subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), and subject to further 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 sold in the Proposed Public Offering and related to the closing of the Business Combination (other than the forward purchase securities), the number of Class A Units of Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco will convert may be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding Founder Shares agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exchange of all Founder Shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-exchanged basis, 20% of the sum of the total outstanding shares of Rice’s ordinary shares upon completion of the Proposed Public Offering, plus all Class A ordinary shares and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the Business Combination (excluding the forward purchase securities and any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the Business Combination and excluding the Sponsor Shares). In addition, the number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares will be adjusted through a stock split or stock dividend so that the total number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares corresponds to the total number of Class A Units of Opco outstanding (other than those held by Rice) plus the total number of Class A Units Opco into which the Class B Units of Opco are entitled to convert.

F-12

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 4 — Related Party Transactions (cont.)

The Initial Stockholders will agree, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares held by them (and any Class A ordinary shares acquired upon exchange of Founder Shares) until one year after the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination or earlier if, subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (i) the last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination or (ii) the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Private Placement Warrants

The Sponsor will agree to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 Private Placement Warrants (or 9,750,000 Private Placement Warrants if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full), at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant ($9.0 million in the aggregate, or $9.75 million if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. Each whole Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one whole Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants will be added to the proceeds from the Proposed Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. The Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.

The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors will agree, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Private Placement Warrants until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.

Related Party Loans

On February 10, 2021, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Proposed Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). This Note is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of September 30, 2021 or the completion of the Proposed Public Offering. As of February 26, 2021, the Company had no borrowings under the Note.

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company will repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. To date, the Company had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.

Administrative Support Agreement

Commencing on the date that the Company’s securities are first listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company will agree to pay the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to the Company. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.

F-13

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 5 — Commitments and Contingencies

Registration Rights

The holders of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed upon consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. These holders will be entitled to certain demand and “piggyback” registration rights. However, the registration rights agreement provides that the Company will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until the termination of the applicable lock-up period for the securities to be registered. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Underwriting Agreement

The Company will grant the underwriter a 45-day option from the final prospectus relating to the Proposed Public Offering to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Proposed Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions.

The underwriter will be entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per unit, or $5.0 million in the aggregate (or $5.75 million in the aggregate if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full), payable upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per unit, or $8.75 million in the aggregate (or approximately $10.1 million in the aggregate if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

Risks and Uncertainties

Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations, close of the proposed public offering and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these consolidated financial statements. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Note 6 — Shareholder’s Equity

Class A Ordinary Shares — The Company is authorized to issue 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. As of February 26, 2021, there were 2,500 Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding.

Class B Ordinary Shares — The Company is authorized to issue 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. As of February 26, 2021, there were 7,187,600 Class B ordinary shares outstanding, of which up to 937,500 shares are subject to forfeiture to the Company by the Sponsor for no consideration to the extent that the underwriter’s over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part, so that the initial shareholders will collectively own 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares after the Proposed Public Offering.

Ordinary shareholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by shareholders. Holders of the Class A ordinary shares and holders of the Class B ordinary shares will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders, except as required by law.

The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares on the first business day immediately following the consummation of the initial Business Combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Founder Shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an

F-14

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 6 — Shareholder’s Equity (cont.)

as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of the Proposed Public Offering, plus (ii) the sum of the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, excluding 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 any private placement warrants issued to the Sponsor upon conversion of Working Capital Loans. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one to one.

Preference Shares — The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 preference shares, with a par value of $0.0001 per share, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of February 26, 2021, there were no preference shares issued or outstanding.

Class A and Class B Units of Opco — For each Class B ordinary share there is a corresponding Class A or Class B Unit of Opco. In connection with our initial business combination, or in certain circumstances described in the Opco LLC Agreement, at specified times after, the Class B Units of Opco are expected to convert into Class A Units of Opco on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. The Class A Units will be exchangeable (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of our Class B ordinary shares) for cash or into our Class A ordinary shares after the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis. Our Class B ordinary shares comprising the Founder Shares and Sponsor Shares cannot be transferred without transferring a corresponding number of Class A Units or Class B Units of Opco, as applicable, and vice versa. As of February 26, 2021, there were 100 Class A Units of Opco outstanding and 7,187,500 Class B Units of Opco outstanding.

Note 7 — Warrant Liabilities

Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional Public Warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole Public Warrants will trade. The Public Warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination; provided that the Company has an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or the Company permits holders to exercise their Public Warrants on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act). The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of the initial Business Combination, it will use its commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC and have an effective registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of the initial Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption.

The warrants have an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustments, and will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of the initial Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the board and, in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by the Sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the Newly Issued Price.

F-15

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 7 — Warrant Liabilities (cont.)

Redemption of warrants for cash:

Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants for cash (except as described herein with respect to the Private Placement Warrants):

•        in whole and not in part;

•        at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

•        upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption; and

•        if, and only if, the last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

The Company will not redeem the warrants for cash unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If the Company calls the warrants for redemption for cash as described above, the management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.”

Redemption of warrants for Class A common stock:

Commencing 90 days after the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants for Class A ordinary shares (except as described herein with respect to the Private Placement Warrants):

•        in whole and not in part;

•        at a price equal to a number of Class A ordinary shares to be determined by reference to an agreed table based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of Class A ordinary shares;

•        upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption; and

•        if and only if, the last sale price of a Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrantholders.

The “fair market value” of a Class A ordinary share shall mean the average reported last sale price of Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants.

None of the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company so long as they are held by the initial purchasers of the Private Placement Warrants or their permitted transferees.

In no event will the Company be required to net cash settle any warrant. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.

F-16

Table of Contents

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 7 — Warrant Liabilities (cont.)

As of February 26, 2021, there were no warrants issued. The Company will account for the 15,250,000 warrants to be issued in connection with the Proposed Public Offering (including 6,250,000 Public Warrants and 9,000,000 Private Placement Warrants assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised) in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40. Such guidance provides that because the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each warrant must be recorded as a liability.

The accounting treatment of derivative financial instruments requires that the Company record the warrants as derivative liabilities at fair value upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. The Public Warrants will be allocated a portion of the proceeds from the issuance of the Units equal to its fair value. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date. With each such re-measurement, the warrant liability will be adjusted to its current fair value, with the change in fair value recognized in the Company’s statement of operations. The Company will reassess the classification at each balance sheet date. If the classification changes as a result of events during the period, the warrants will be reclassified as of the date of the event that causes the reclassification.

Note 8 — Subsequent Events

The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through May 6, 2021, the date that the consolidated financial statements were issued. Based on this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the consolidated financial statements.

F-17

Table of Contents

  

25,000,000 Units

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

_________________________________________

P R E L I M I N A R Y P R O S P E C T U S

          , 2021

_________________________________________

Book-Running Managers

Citigroup

 

Barclays

Co-Managers

Amerivet Securities

 

Academy Securities

Until              , 2021 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade our ordinary shares, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to its unsold allotments or subscriptions.

    

 

Table of Contents

PART II

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

Item 13. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution.

The estimated expenses payable by us in connection with the offering described in this registration statement (other than the underwriting discount and commissions) will be as follows:

SEC expenses

 

$

40,385

FINRA expenses

 

 

43,625

Accounting fees and expenses

 

 

50,000

Printing and engraving expenses

 

 

40,000

Travel and road show expenses

 

 

20,000

Legal fees and expenses

 

 

350,000

NYSE listing and filing fees

 

 

85,000

Director & Officers liability insurance premiums(1)

 

 

1,000,000

Miscellaneous

 

 

370,990

Total

 

$

2,000,000

____________

(1)      This amount represents the approximate amount of annual director and officer liability insurance premiums the registrant anticipates paying following the completion of its initial public offering and until it completes a business combination.

Item 14. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, willful neglect, civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We will enter into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We expect to purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.

Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Item 15. Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities.

On February 10, 2021, Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, our sponsor, received 7,187,600 Class B Units of Opco for no consideration and purchased 7,187,600 corresponding Class B ordinary shares, 2,500 Class A ordinary shares and 100 Class A Units of Opco and 100 corresponding Class B ordinary shares for an aggregate of $26,000. The number of founder units was determined based on the expectation that the founder units would represent 20% of the total outstanding equity after this offering (excluding the sponsor units). Such securities were issued in connection with our organization pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

II-1

Table of Contents

Our sponsor is an accredited investor for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D. Each of the equity holders in our sponsor is an accredited investor under Rule 501 of Regulation D. The sole business of our sponsor is to act as the company’s sponsor in connection with this offering.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 private placement warrants (or 9,750,000 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($9,000,000 in the aggregate (or $9,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full)), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. This issuance will be made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sales.

Item 16. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.

(a)     Exhibits.    The following exhibits are filed as part of this registration statement:

Exhibit
No.

 

Description

1.1

 

Form of Underwriting Agreement.

3.1*

 

Memorandum and Articles of Association.

3.2

 

Form of Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Registrant.

4.1

 

Specimen Unit Certificate.

4.2

 

Specimen Class A Ordinary Share Certificate.

4.3

 

Specimen Warrant Certificate.

4.4

 

Form of Warrant Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant and Opco.

5.1

 

Opinion of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

5.2

 

Opinion of Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP, Cayman Islands Counsel to the Registrant.

10.1

 

Form of Investment Management Trust Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant and Opco.

10.2

 

Form of Registration Rights Agreement among the Registrant, the Sponsor and the Holders signatory thereto.

10.3

 

Form of Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement between the Registrant, Opco and the Sponsor.

10.4

 

Form of Indemnity Agreement.

10.5

 

Form of Administrative Services Agreement between the Registrant, Opco and the Sponsor.

10.6*

 

Promissory Note, dated as of February 8, 2021, between the Registrant and the Sponsor.

10.7*

 

Securities Subscription Agreement, dated February 8, 2021, between the Registrant and the Sponsor.

10.8

 

Securities Subscription Agreement, dated February 26, 2021, between the Sponsor and Opco.

10.9

 

Form of Letter Agreement among Opco, the Registrant, the Sponsor and each director and executive officer of the Registrant.

10.10

 

Form of Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco.

23.1

 

Consent of WithumSmith+Brown, PC.

23.2

 

Consent of Kirkland & Ellis LLP (included on Exhibit 5.1).

23.3

 

Consent of Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP (included on Exhibit 5.2).

24.1*

 

Power of Attorney (included on signature page to the initial filing of this Registration Statement).

99.1*

 

Consent of J. Kyle Derham.

99.2*

 

Consent of Jide Famuagun.

99.3*

 

Consent of James Lytal.

99.4*

 

Consent of Carrie Fox.

____________

*        Previously filed.

(b)    Financial Statements.    See page F-1 for an index to the financial statements and schedules included in this registration statement.

II-2

Table of Contents

Item 17. Undertakings.

(i)     The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to provide to the underwriters at the closing specified in the underwriting agreements, certificates in such denominations and registered in such names as required by the underwriters to permit prompt delivery to each purchaser.

(ii)    Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

(iii)   The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that:

1.      For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4)or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective.

2.      For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

II-3

Table of Contents

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, on the 3rd day of June, 2021.

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

   

By:

 

/s/ Daniel Joseph Rice, IV

   

Name:

 

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV

   

Title:

 

Chief Executive Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this registration statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Name

 

Position

 

Date

/s/ Daniel Joseph Rice, IV

 

Chief Executive Officer and Director

 

June 3, 2021

Daniel Joseph Rice, IV

 

(Principal Executive Officer)

   

/s/ J. Kyle Derham

 

Chief Financial Officer

 

June 3, 2021

J. Kyle Derham

 

(Principal Financial Officer)

   

/s/ James Wilmot Rogers

 

Chief Accounting Officer

 

June 3, 2021

James Wilmot Rogers

 

(Principal Accounting Officer)

   

II-4

Exhibit 1.1

 

25,000,000 Units

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

 

($10.00 per Unit)

 

UNDERWRITING AGREEMENT

 

[_____], 2021

 

Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc.
As the Representative of the several
Underwriters named in Schedule I attached hereto,


c/o Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
388 Greenwich Street
New York, New York 10013

 

c/o Barclays Capital Inc.

745 Seventh Avenue

New York, New York 10019

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), proposes to sell 25,000,000 units (the “Firm Units”), each unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”), of the Company and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant (the “Public Warrants”). In addition, solely for the purpose of covering over-allotments, the Company proposes to grant to the underwriters named in Schedule I (the “Underwriters”) attached to this agreement (this “Agreement”) an option to purchase from the Company up to 3,750,000 units on the terms set forth in Section 2 of this Agreement (the “Additional Units”). The Firm Units and the Additional Units, if purchased, are hereinafter collectively called the “Units.” This Agreement is to confirm the agreement concerning the purchase of the Units from the Company by the Underwriters.

 

The Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants (as defined below) included in the Units will not trade separately until the 52nd day following the date of the Prospectus (unless Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc. inform the Company of their decision to allow earlier separate trading), subject to (a) the Company’s preparation of an audited balance sheet reflecting the receipt by the Company of the proceeds of the initial public offering contemplated by this Agreement (the “Offering”), (b) the filing of such audited balance sheet with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on a Form 8-K or similar form by the Company that includes such audited balance sheet and (c) the Company having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Each whole Warrant entitles its holder, upon exercise, to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share for $11.50 per share during the period commencing 30 days after the completion of an initial Business Combination (as defined below) and terminating on the five-year anniversary of the date of the completion of such initial Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation; provided, however, that pursuant to the Warrant Agreement (as defined below), a fractional warrant may not be exercised, so that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a holder thereof. As used herein, the term “Business Combination” (as described more fully in the Registration Statement (as defined below)) shall mean a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

 

 

 

 

All references to (a) “Subsidiaries” of the Company shall be understood to refer to subsidiaries of the Company, including Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Opco”) and properties of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries shall be understood to refer to properties of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, including Opco.  All references to “Company Parties” refer to the Company together with Opco.

 

The Company Parties have entered into an Investment Management Trust Agreement, effective as of [_________], 2021, with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (“CST”), as trustee, in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Registration Statement (the “Trust Agreement”), pursuant to which the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants (as defined below) and certain proceeds of the Offering will be deposited and held in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) for the benefit of the Company Parties, the Underwriters and the holders of the Firm Units and the Additional Units, if and when issued.

 

The Company Parties have entered into a Warrant Agreement, effective as of [_________], 2021, with respect to the Warrants with CST, as warrant agent, in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 4.4 to the Registration Statement (the “Warrant Agreement”), pursuant to which CST will act as warrant agent in connection with the issuance, registration, transfer, exchange, redemption and exercise of the Warrants.

 

The Company has entered into a Securities Subscription Agreement, dated as of February 8, 2021, with Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 10.7 to the Registration Statement (the “Securities Subscription Agreement”), pursuant to which the Sponsor received (i) 7,187,600 Class B ordinary shares of the Company (“Class B Ordinary Shares”) (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture, depending on the extent to which the Over-Allotment Option is exercised), of which 90,000 shares of Class B Ordinary Shares and 90,000 Class B Opco Units were forfeited and subsequently issued to independent director nominees of the Company (the “Founder Shares”) and (ii) 2,500 shares of Class A Ordinary Shares (collectively, the “Sponsor Shares”). The Founder Shares are substantially similar to the Class A Ordinary Shares included in the Units except as described in the Prospectus (as defined below).

 

2

 

 

The Company and Opco have entered into a Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights Purchase Agreement, dated as of [_________], 2021, with the Sponsor in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 10.3 to the Registration Statement (the “Warrant Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 warrants (or up to 9,750,000 warrants if the Over-Allotment Option (as defined below) is exercised in full), each such warrant entitling the holder to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share or, in certain circumstances, one Class A Unit of Opco, together with a corresponding number of the Company’s non-economic Class B Ordinary Shares, at an exercise price of $11.50 per share (the “Private Placement Warrants” and, together with the Public Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Private Placement Warrants are substantially similar to the Public Warrants except as described in the Prospectus, Warrant Purchase Agreement and Warrant Agreement.

 

The Company has entered into a Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, dated as of [_________], 2021, with the Sponsor and the other parties thereto, in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Registration Statement (the “Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company has granted certain registration rights in respect of the Founder Shares, Sponsor Shares, the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and any Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon the exchange of Class A Opco Units or the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and upon conversion of the Founder Shares.

 

The Company has entered into an agreement, dated [_________], 2021, with the Sponsor, Opco and each of the Company’s officers, directors and security holders prior to the Offering, in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 10.8 to the Registration Statement (the “Letter Agreement”).

 

The Company and Opco have entered into an Administrative Services Agreement, dated as of [_________], 2021, with the Sponsor, in substantially the form filed as Exhibit 10.5 to the Registration Statement (the “Administrative Services Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company will pay to the Sponsor an aggregate monthly fee of $10,000 for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services.

 

The Company shall have the right to enter into forward purchase agreements (the “Forward Purchase Agreements”) with certain investors (the “Anchor Investors”), following the Applicable Time, pursuant to which Anchor Investors entering into the Forward Purchase Agreements shall have the right to purchase Units of the Company for a purchase price of $10,00 per unit, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of the Business Combination.

 

3

 

 

1. Representations, Warranties and Agreements of the Company Parties. Each Company Party, jointly and severally, represents, warrants and agrees that:

 

(a) A registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-254080) relating to the Units (i) has been prepared by the Company in conformity with the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder; (ii) has been filed with the Commission under the Securities Act; and (iii) has become effective under the Securities Act. Copies of such registration statement and any amendment thereto have been delivered by the Company to you as the representatives of the Underwriters (the “Representatives”). As used in this Agreement:

 

(A) “Applicable Time” means [___] P.M. (New York City time) on [_________], 2021;

 

(B) “Effective Date” means the date and time at which such registration statement, or the most recent post-effective amendment thereto, if any, was declared effective by the Commission in accordance with the rules and regulations under the Securities Act;

 

(C) “Preliminary Prospectus” means any preliminary prospectus relating to the Units included in such registration statement or filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act;

 

(D) “Pricing Disclosure Package” means, as of the Applicable Time, the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, together with the information included in Schedule II hereto;

 

(E) “Prospectus” means the final prospectus relating to the Units, as filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act;

 

(F) “Registration Statement” means such registration statement, as amended as of the Effective Date, including any Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus, all exhibits to such registration statement and including the information deemed by virtue of Rule 430A under the Securities Act to be part of such registration statement as of the Effective Date;

 

(G) “Testing-the-Waters Communication” means any oral or written communication with potential investors undertaken in reliance on Section 5(d) of the Securities Act; and

 

(H) “Written Testing-the-Waters Communication” means any Testing-the-Waters Communication that is a written communication within the meaning of Rule 405 under the Securities Act.

 

Any reference to the “most recent Preliminary Prospectus” shall be deemed to refer to the latest Preliminary Prospectus included in the Registration Statement or filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act prior to or on the date hereof. Any reference herein to the term “Registration Statement” shall be deemed to include any abbreviated registration statement to register additional Units under Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act (the “Rule 462(b) Registration Statement”). The Commission has not issued any order preventing or suspending the use of any Preliminary Prospectus or the Prospectus or suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement, and no proceeding or examination for such purpose has been instituted or threatened by the Commission.

 

(b) From the time of initial confidential submission of the Registration Statement to the Commission (or, if earlier, the first date on which the Company engaged directly or through any Person authorized to act on its behalf in any Testing-the-Waters Communication) through the date hereof, the Company has been and will be an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act (an “Emerging Growth Company”).

 

4

 

 

(c) The Company (i) has not engaged in any Testing-the-Waters Communication other than Testing-the-Waters Communications with the consent of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc. with entities that are qualified institutional buyers within the meaning of Rule 144A under the Securities Act, or with institutions that are accredited investors within the meaning of Rule 501 under the Securities Act and (ii) has not authorized anyone other than the Representatives to engage in Testing-the-Waters Communications. The Company reconfirms that the Representatives have been authorized to act on its behalf in undertaking Testing-the-Waters Communications. The Company has not distributed or approved for distribution any Written Testing-the-Waters Communications other than those listed on Schedule IV hereto.

 

(d) (i) At the time of filing the Registration Statement, (ii) as of the date hereof and (iii) on the applicable Delivery Date (as defined below), the Company was, is and will be an “Ineligible Issuer” (as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act).

 

(e) The Company has prepared and filed, in accordance with Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and the rules and regulations thereunder, a registration statement (as amended, the “Exchange Act Registration Statement”) on Form 8-A (File No. 001-[____]) under the Exchange Act to register, under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, the classes of securities consisting of the Units, the Class A Ordinary Shares and the Warrants. The Exchange Act Registration Statement has become effective as provided in Section 12 of the Exchange Act.

 

(f) The Registration Statement conformed and will conform in all material respects on the Effective Date and on the applicable Delivery Date, and any amendment to the Registration Statement filed after the date hereof will conform in all material respects when filed, to the requirements of the Securities Act and the rules and regulations thereunder. The most recent Preliminary Prospectus conformed, and the Prospectus will conform, in all material respects when filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act and on the applicable Delivery Date to the requirements of the Securities Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

 

(g) The Registration Statement did not, as of the Effective Date, contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading; provided that no representation or warranty is made as to information contained in or omitted from the Registration Statement in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information is specified in Section 8(e).

 

(h) The Prospectus will not, as of its date or as of the applicable Delivery Date, contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided that no representation or warranty is made as to information contained in or omitted from the Prospectus in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information is specified in Section 8(e).

 

5

 

 

(i) The Pricing Disclosure Package did not, as of the Applicable Time, include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided that no representation or warranty is made as to information contained in or omitted from the Pricing Disclosure Package in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information is specified in Section 8(e).

 

(j) The road show materials listed in Schedule III hereto, when taken together with the Pricing Disclosure Package, did not, as of the Applicable Time, include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided that no representation or warranty is made as to information contained in or omitted from such road show materials listed in Schedule III hereto made in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information is specified in Section 8(e).

 

(k) No Written Testing-the-Waters Communication, as of the Applicable Time, when taken together with the Pricing Disclosure Package, contained an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; provided that no representation or warranty is made as to information contained in or omitted from such Written Testing-the-Waters Communication listed on Schedule IV hereto in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Company through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information is specified in Section 8(e); and the Company has filed publicly on EDGAR at least 15 calendar days prior to any “road show” (as defined in Rule 433 under the Securities Act), any confidentially submitted registration statement and registration statement amendments relating to the offer and sale of the Units. Each Written Testing-the-Waters Communications did not, as of the Applicable Time, and at all times through the completion of the public offer and sale of the Units will not, include any information that conflicted, conflicts or will conflict with the information contained in the Registration Statement, the Pricing Disclosure Package or the Prospectus.

 

6

 

 

(l) The Company has not, directly or indirectly, prepared, used or referred to any “Free Writing Prospectus” (as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act).

 

(m) The Company and each of its Subsidiaries have been duly organized, are validly existing and in good standing as a corporation or other business entity under the laws of their respective jurisdiction of organization and are duly qualified to do business and in good standing as a foreign corporation or other business entity in each jurisdiction in which their ownership or lease of property or the conduct of their business requires such qualification, except where the failure to be so qualified or in good standing could not, in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the condition (financial or otherwise), results of operations, shareholders’ equity, properties, business or prospects of the Company and its Subsidiaries taken as a whole (a “Material Adverse Effect”). The Company has all power and authority necessary to own or hold its properties and to conduct the business in which it is engaged. Other than Opco, the Company has no subsidiaries and does not own or control, directly or indirectly, any corporation, association or other entity.

 

(n) The Company has an authorized capitalization as set forth under the heading “Capitalization” in each of the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus as of the date or dates set forth therein, and all of the issued shares of the Company have been duly authorized and validly issued, are fully paid and non-assessable, conform to the description thereof contained in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and were issued in compliance with federal and state securities laws and not in violation of any preemptive right, resale right, right of first refusal or similar right. All of the Company’s options, warrants and other rights to purchase or exchange any securities for shares of the Company have been duly authorized and validly issued, conform to the description thereof contained in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and were issued in compliance with federal and state securities laws.

 

(o) The Units have been duly and validly authorized and, when issued and delivered against payment therefor as provided herein, will be duly and validly issued and free of statutory and contractual preemptive rights, resale rights, rights of first refusal and similar rights.

 

(p) The Class A Ordinary Shares included in the Units have been duly and validly authorized and, when issued and delivered against payment therefor as provided herein will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable and free of statutory and contractual preemptive rights, resale rights, rights of first refusal and similar rights.

 

(q) The Public Warrants, when executed, authenticated, issued and delivered in the manner set forth in the Warrant Agreement against payment for the Units by the Underwriters as provided herein, will be duly executed, authenticated, issued and delivered, and will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

7

 

 

(r) The Private Placement Warrants, when delivered upon the consummation of the Offering, will be duly executed, authenticated and issued, and will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(s) The Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and the Private Placement Warrants have been duly authorized and reserved for issuance upon exercise thereof and, when issued and delivered against payment therefor pursuant to the Warrant Agreement will be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable; the holders of such Class A Ordinary Shares are not and will not be subject to personal liability by reason of being such holders; such Class A Ordinary Shares are not and will not be subject to any preemptive or other similar contractual rights granted by the Company; and all corporate action required to be taken for the authorization, issuance and sale of such Class A Ordinary Shares (other than such execution, countersignature and delivery at the time of issuance) has been duly and validly taken.

 

(t) The Class B Ordinary Shares comprising the Founder Shares have been duly authorized and are validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable.

 

(u) The Class A Opco Units have been duly authorized and are validly issued, fully paid (to the extent of the limited liability company agreement of Opco (“Opco LLC Agreement”)) and non-assessable (except as such non-assessability may be affected by the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (the “Delaware LLC Act”)).

 

(v) The Class B Opco Units have been duly authorized and are validly issued, fully paid (to the extent of the Opco LLC Agreement) and non-assessable (except as such non-assessability may be affected by the Delaware LLC Act).

 

(w) The capital stock of the Company Parties, including the Units, conforms in all material respects to each description thereof, if any, contained in the Registration Statement, the Pricing Disclosure Package and the Prospectus; and the certificates for the Units are in due and proper form.

 

(x) The Company Parties have all requisite corporate power and authority to execute, deliver and perform its obligations under this Agreement, the Trust Agreement, the Warrant Agreement, the Securities Subscription Agreement, the Warrant Purchase Agreements, the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, the Letter Agreement, the Opco LLC Agreement and the Administrative Services Agreement.

 

(y) This Agreement has been duly and validly authorized, executed and delivered by each of the Company Parties, and is a valid and binding agreement of the Company Parties, enforceable against each of the Company Parties in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

8

 

 

(z) The Trust Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by each of the Company Parties, and is a valid and binding agreement of each of the Company Parties, enforceable against each of the Company Parties in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(aa) The Warrant Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company Parties and is a valid and binding agreement of each of the Company Parties, enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(bb) The Securities Subscription Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company and the Sponsor, and is a valid and binding agreement of the Company and the Sponsor, enforceable against the Company and the Sponsor in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(cc) The Warrant Purchase Agreements have been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, and are valid and binding agreements of the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, enforceable against the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(dd) The Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company, the Sponsor and, to the Company’s knowledge, each such executive officer and director, respectively, and is a valid and binding agreement of the Company, the Sponsor and, to the Company’s knowledge, each such executive officer and director, respectively, enforceable against the Company, the Sponsor and, to the Company’s knowledge, each such executive officer director, respectively, in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(ee) The Letter Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, and, to the Company’s knowledge, each executive officer, director and director nominee, respectively, and is a valid and binding agreement of the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, and, to the Company’s knowledge, each such executive officer, director and director nominee, respectively, enforceable against the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, and, to the Company’s knowledge, each such executive officer, director and director nominee, respectively, in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

9

 

 

(ff) The Administrative Services Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, and is a valid and binding agreement of the Company, Opco and the Sponsor, enforceable against the Company, Opco and the Sponsor in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(gg) The Opco LLC Agreement has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by Opco, and is a valid and binding agreement of Opco, enforceable against Opco in accordance with its terms, except as the enforceability thereof may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally from time to time in effect and by equitable principles of general applicability.

 

(hh) The issue and sale of the Units, the execution, delivery and performance by the Company of its obligations under this Agreement, the Trust Agreement, the Warrant Agreement, the Securities Subscription Agreement, the Warrant Purchase Agreements, the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, the Opco LLC Agreement, the Letter Agreement and the Administrative Services Agreement, the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby and the application of the proceeds from the sale of the Units as described under “Use of Proceeds” in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus will not (i) conflict with or result in a breach or violation of any of the terms or provisions of, impose any lien, charge or encumbrance upon any property or assets of any of the Company Parties, or constitute a default under, any indenture, mortgage, deed of trust, loan agreement, license, lease or other agreement or instrument to which a Company Party is a party or by which any of the Company Parties is bound or to which any of the property or assets of any of the Company Parties are subject; (ii) result in any violation of the provisions of the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association or Opco LLC Agreement (or similar organizational documents) of the Company Parties; or (iii) result in any violation of any law, statute or any judgment, order, decree, rule or regulation of any court or governmental agency or body having jurisdiction over any of the Company Parties or any of their properties or assets, except, with respect to clauses (i) and (iii), conflicts or violations that would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(ii) No consent, approval, authorization or order of, or filing, registration or qualification with, any court or governmental agency or body having jurisdiction over any of the Company Parties or any of their properties or assets is required for the issue and sale of the Units, the execution, delivery and performance by the Company of its obligations under this Agreement, the Trust Agreement, the Warrant Agreement, the Securities Subscription Agreement, the Warrant Purchase Agreements, the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, the Letter Agreement, the Opco LLC Agreement and the Administrative Services Agreement, the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby, and the application of the proceeds from the sale of the Units as described under “Use of Proceeds” in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, except for the registration of the Units under the Securities Act and such consents, approvals, authorizations, orders, filings, registrations or qualifications as may be required under the Exchange Act and applicable state or foreign securities laws and/or the bylaws and rules of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) in connection with the purchase and sale of the Units by the Underwriters.

 

10

 

 

(jj) Except as described in the Registration Statement, to the Company’s knowledge, none of the Sponsor, officers, directors or director nominees of the Company is subject to a non-competition agreement or non-solicitation agreement with any employer or prior employer that could materially affect its, his or her ability to be and act in the capacity of shareholder, officer or director of the Company, as applicable.

 

(kk) The historical financial statements (including the related notes and supporting schedules) included in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus comply as to form in all material respects with the requirements of Regulation S-X under the Securities Act and present fairly the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the entities purported to be shown thereby at the dates and for the periods indicated and have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States applied on a consistent basis throughout the periods involved.

 

(ll) WithumSmith+Brown, PC, who have certified certain financial statements of the Company Parties, whose report appears in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and who have delivered the initial letter referred to in Section 7(f) hereof, are independent public accountants as required by the Securities Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

 

(mm) The Company maintains internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, including, but not limited to, internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization, (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of the Company’s financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and to maintain accountability for its assets, (iii) access to the Company’s assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization and (iv) the recorded accountability for the Company’s assets is compared with existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences. As of the date of the most recent balance sheet of each of the Company Parties reviewed or audited by WithumSmith+Brown, PC and the audit committee of the board of directors of the Company (the “Audit Committee”), there were no material weaknesses in the Company’s internal controls.

 

(nn) (i) The Company maintains disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act), (ii) such disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that the information is accumulated and communicated to management of the Company, including its principal executive officers and principal financial officers, as appropriate, and (iii) such disclosure controls and procedures are effective in all material respects to perform the functions for which they were established.

 

11

 

 

(oo) Since the date of the most recent balance sheet of the Company reviewed or audited by WithumSmith+Brown, PC and the Audit Committee, (i) the Company has not been advised of or become aware of (A) any significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal controls that could adversely affect the ability of the Company to record, process, summarize and report financial data, or any material weaknesses in internal controls, or (B) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the internal controls of the Company; and (ii) there have been no significant changes in internal controls or in other factors that could significantly affect internal controls, including any corrective actions with regard to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.

 

(pp) There is and has been no failure on the part of the Company Parties and any of the Company Parties’ directors or officers, in their capacities as such, to comply with any provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules and regulations promulgated in connection therewith.

 

(qq) Since the date of the latest audited financial statements included in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, the Company Parties have not (i) sustained any loss or interference with its business from fire, explosion, flood or other calamity, whether or not covered by insurance, or from any labor dispute or court or governmental action, order or decree (whether domestic or foreign), (ii) issued or granted any securities, (iii) incurred any material liability or obligation, direct or contingent, other than liabilities and obligations that were incurred in the ordinary course of business, (iv) entered into any material transaction not in the ordinary course of business or (v) declared or paid any dividend on its capital stock, and since such date, there has not been any change in the capital stock, long-term debt, total assets or total current liabilities of the Company Parties or any adverse change, or any development involving a prospective adverse change, in or affecting the condition (financial or otherwise), results of operations, shareholders’ equity, properties, management, business or prospects of the Company Parties taken as a whole, in each case except as could not, in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(rr) The Company Parties do not own any property (real or personal, excluding for purposes of this Section 1(qq), the matters covered by Section 1(ss); the property described in the Registration Statement, Pricing Disclosure Package and the Prospectus as being available for use by the Company Parties is available for use thereby under a valid and enforceable agreement in accordance with its terms.

 

(ss) The Company Parties have, and are operating in compliance with, such permits, licenses, patents, franchises, certificates of need and other approvals or authorizations of governmental or regulatory authorities (“Permits”) as are necessary under applicable law to own their properties and conduct their business in the manner described in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, except for any of the foregoing that could not, in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. The Company Parties have fulfilled and performed all of their respective obligations with respect to the Permits, and no event has occurred that allows, or after notice or lapse of time would allow, revocation or termination thereof or results in any other impairment of the rights of the holder or any such Permits, except for any of the foregoing that could not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. The Company Parties have not received notice of any revocation or modification of any such Permits or has any reason to believe that any such Permits will not be renewed in the ordinary course.

 

12

 

 

(tt) The Company Parties own or possess adequate rights to use all material patents, patent applications, trademarks, service marks, trade names, trademark registrations, service mark registrations, copyrights, licenses, know-how, inventions, domain names, software, systems and technology (including trade secrets and other unpatented and/or unpatentable proprietary or confidential information, systems or procedures) necessary for the conduct of their respective businesses and have no reason to believe that the conduct of their respective businesses will conflict with, and have not received any notice of any claim of conflict with, any such rights of others.

 

(uu) There are no legal or governmental proceedings pending to which any of the Company Parties is a party or of which any property or assets of any of the Company Parties is the subject that could, in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect or could, in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect on the performance of this Agreement or the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby; and to any of the Company Parties’ knowledge, no such proceedings are threatened or contemplated by governmental authorities or others.

 

(vv) There are no contracts or other documents required to be described in the Registration Statement or the most recent Preliminary Prospectus or filed as exhibits to the Registration Statement that are not described and filed as required. The statements made in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, insofar as they purport to constitute summaries of the terms of the contracts and other documents described and filed, constitute accurate summaries of the terms of such contracts and documents in all material respects. The Company Parties do not have knowledge that any other party to any such contract or other document has any intention not to render full performance as contemplated by the terms thereof.

 

(ww) Other than directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, the Company Parties do not maintain any insurance covering its operations, personnel and businesses; such directors’ and officers’ liability insurance is in full force and effect on the date hereof and will be in full force and effect at the time of purchase and each additional time of purchase, if any; the Company Parties do not have reason to believe that they will not be able to (i) renew any such insurance as and when such insurance expires or (ii) obtain comparable coverage from similar institutions.

 

(xx) No relationship, direct or indirect, exists between or among the Company, on the one hand, and the directors, officers, shareholders, customers or suppliers of the Company, on the other hand, that is required to be described in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus which is not so described.

 

13

 

 

(yy) No labor disturbance by or dispute with the employees of any of the Company Parties exists or, to the knowledge of the Company, is imminent that could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(zz) Each of the Company Parties (i) is not in violation of its charter or by-laws (or similar organizational documents), (ii) is not in default, and no event has occurred that, with notice or lapse of time or both, would constitute such a default, in the due performance or observance of any term, covenant, condition or other obligation contained in any indenture, mortgage, deed of trust, loan agreement, license or other agreement or instrument to which it is a party or by which it is bound or to which any of its properties or assets is subject, (iii) is not in violation of any law, statute or any order, rule or regulation of any court or governmental agency or body having jurisdiction over it or its property or assets or its own privacy policies or (iv) has not failed to obtain any license, permit, certificate, franchise or other governmental authorization or permit necessary to the ownership of its property or to the conduct of its business, except in the case of clauses (ii), (iii) and (iv), to the extent any such conflict, breach, violation or default could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(aaa) Except as described in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, (i) there are no proceedings that are pending, or known to be contemplated, against any of the Company Parties under any applicable laws, regulations, ordinances, rules, orders, judgments, decrees, permits or other legal requirements of any governmental authority, including without limitation any national, state, regional, or local authority, relating to pollution, the protection of human health or safety (to the extent such health and safety relates to exposure to hazardous or toxic substances or wastes, pollutants or contaminants), the environment, or natural resources, or to use, handling, storage, manufacturing, transportation, treatment, discharge, disposal or release of hazardous or toxic substances or wastes, pollutants or contaminants (“Environmental Laws”) in which a governmental authority is also a party, other than such proceedings regarding which it is reasonably believed no monetary sanctions of $300,000 or more will be imposed, (ii) none of the Company Parties is aware of any non-compliance with Environmental Laws, including any liabilities or other obligations under Environmental Laws or concerning hazardous or toxic substances or wastes, pollutants or contaminants, that could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect on the Company Parties, and (iii) none of the Company Parties anticipate material capital expenditures relating to Environmental Laws.

 

(bbb) Except as would not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, the Company Parties have (i) filed all U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax returns required to be filed by each through the date hereof, subject to permitted extensions, and (ii) have paid all taxes due and payable by each except for any such tax that is currently being contested in good faith.

 

14

 

 

(ccc) The statistical and market-related data included in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and “road show” (as defined in Rule 433 under the Securities Act) and the consolidated financial statements of the Company Parties included in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and “road show” (as defined in Rule 433 under the Securities Act) are based on or derived from sources that the Company believes to be reliable in all material respects.

 

(ddd) None of the Company Parties are, and as of the applicable Delivery Date and, after giving effect to the offer and sale of the Units and the application of the proceeds therefrom as described under “Use of Proceeds” in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus, none of them will be, (i) an “investment company” or a company “controlled” by an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder, or (ii) a “business development company” (as defined in Section 2(a)(48) of the Investment Company Act).

 

(eee) The statements set forth in each of the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus under the captions “Our Structure,” “Description of Securities,” “Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419,” “Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations,” “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions,” “Principal Shareholders” and “Underwriting,” insofar as they purport to summarize the provisions of the laws and documents referred to therein, are accurate summaries in all material respects.

 

(fff) Except as described in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, there are no contracts, agreements or understandings between any Company Party and any person granting such person the right to require any Company Party to file a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to any securities of the Company owned or to be owned by such person or to require any Company Party to include such securities in the securities registered pursuant to the Registration Statement or in any securities being registered pursuant to any other registration statement filed by any Company Party under the Securities Act.

 

(ggg) None of the Company Parties has not sold or issued any securities that would be integrated with the Offering pursuant to the Securities Act, the rules and regulations thereunder or the interpretations thereof by the Commission.

 

(hhh) The Company Parties and their respective affiliates have not taken, directly or indirectly, any action designed to constitute, or that has constituted, or that could reasonably be expected to cause or result in the stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company in connection with the offering of the Units.

 

(iii) The Units have been approved for listing, subject to official notice of issuance and evidence of satisfactory distribution, on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”).

 

15

 

 

(jjj) The Company has not distributed and, prior to the later to occur of any Delivery Date and completion of the distribution of the Units, will not distribute any offering material in connection with the Offering other than any Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus.

 

(kkk) None of the Company Parties is in violation of or has received notice of any violation with respect to any federal or state law relating to discrimination in the hiring, promotion or pay of employees, nor any applicable federal or state wage and hour laws, nor any state law precluding the denial of credit due to the neighborhood in which a property is situated, the violation of any of which could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

 

(lll) None of the Company Parties, any of the Company Parties’ affiliates, any director, officer, nor, to the knowledge of any of the Company Parties, after reasonable inquiry, agent, employee or other person associated with or acting on behalf of any of the Company Parties, has in the course of its actions for, or on behalf of, any of the Company Parties: (i) made any unlawful contribution, gift, or other unlawful expense relating to political activity; (ii) made any direct or indirect bribe, kickback, rebate, payoff, influence payment, or otherwise unlawfully provided anything of value, to any “foreign official” (as defined in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (collectively, the “FCPA”)) or domestic government official; or (iii) violated or is in violation of any provision of the FCPA, the Bribery Act 2010 of the United Kingdom, as amended (the “Bribery Act 2010”), or any other applicable anti-corruption or anti-bribery statute or regulation. The Company and Parties and, to the knowledge of the Company Parties, the Company Parties’ affiliates, have conducted their respective businesses in compliance with the FCPA, Bribery Act 2010 and all other applicable anti-corruption and anti-bribery statutes or regulations, and have instituted and maintain policies and procedures designed to ensure, and which are reasonably expected to ensure, continued compliance therewith.

 

(mmm) The operations of the Company Parties are and have been conducted at all times in compliance with applicable financial recordkeeping and reporting requirements of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, as amended, the money laundering statutes of all jurisdictions, the rules and regulations thereunder and any related or similar rules, regulations or guidelines, that have been issued, administered or enforced by any governmental agency (collectively, the “Money Laundering Laws”) and no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body or any arbitrator or non-governmental authority involving any of the Company Parties with respect to the Money Laundering Laws is pending or, to the knowledge of the Company, threatened.

 

(nnn) The Company Parties, any of the Company Parties’ affiliates, any director, officer, nor, to the knowledge of any of the Company Parties, after reasonable inquiry, agent, employee or affiliate of any of the Company Parties is: (i) currently the subject or the target of any sanctions administered or enforced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, Her Majesty’s Treasury, or other relevant sanctions authority (collectively, “Sanctions”); or (ii) located, organized or resident in a country or territory that is the subject or target of Sanctions (including, without limitation, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Crimea); and the Company will not directly or indirectly use the proceeds of the Offering, or lend, contribute or otherwise make available such proceeds to any subsidiary, joint venture partner or other person or entity, for the purpose of financing or facilitating the activities of any person, or in any country or territory, that at the time of such financing or facilitation and currently is the subject or target of Sanctions or in any other manner that will result in a violation by any person (including any person participating in the transaction whether as an underwriter, advisor, investor or otherwise) of Sanctions. The Company Parties have not knowingly engaged in for the past five years, are not now knowingly engaged in, and will not engage in, any dealings or transactions with any individual or entity, or in any country or territory, that at the time of the dealing or transaction, is or was the subject or target of Sanctions

 

16

 

 

(ooo) The Company Parties acknowledge that, in accordance with the requirements of the USA Patriot Act, the Underwriters are required to obtain, verify and record information that identifies their respective clients, including the Company Parties, which information may include the name and address of their respective clients, as well as other information that will allow the Underwriters to properly identify their respective clients.

 

(ppp) All information contained in the questionnaires (the “Questionnaires”) completed by the Sponsor and, to the knowledge of the Company, the Company’s officers, directors and director nominees and provided to the Underwriters is true and correct and the Company has not become aware of any information that would cause the information disclosed in the Questionnaires completed by the Sponsor or the Company’s officers, directors and director nominees to become inaccurate and incorrect.

 

(qqq) Prior to the date hereof, the Company has not selected any potential Business Combination target and has not, nor, to its knowledge, has anyone on its behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any potential Business Combination target.

 

(rrr) There is and has been no failure on the part of the Company to, or to the knowledge of the Company after reasonable inquiry, any of the Company’s officers or directors, in their capacities as such, to comply with (as and when applicable) and immediately following the Effective Date the Company and, to the knowledge of the Company after reasonable inquiry, the officers or directors of the Company, in their capacities as such, will be in compliance with, the phase-in provisions of the rules and regulations of the NYSE and all other provisions of the NYSE corporate governance requirements set forth in the NYSE Listed Company Manual.

 

(sss) The issuance and sale of the Units as contemplated hereby will not cause any holder of any shares, securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for shares or options, warrants or other rights to purchase shares or any other securities of the Company to have any right to acquire any preferred shares of any Company Party.

 

17

 

 

(ttt) Except pursuant to this Agreement, the Company has not incurred any liability for any finder’s or broker’s fee or agent’s commission in connection with the execution and delivery of this Agreement or the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby or by the Registration Statement.

 

(uuu) To the Company Parties’ information technology assets and equipment, computers, systems, networks, hardware, software, websites, applications, and databases (collectively, “IT Systems”) are adequate for, and the Company Parties have taken all technical and organizational measures necessary to protect information technology and Personal Data (as defined below) used in connection with, the operation of the business of any of the Company Parties as currently conducted, free and clear of all material bugs, errors, defects, Trojan horses, time bombs, malware and other corruptants. The Company Parties have implemented and maintained reasonable controls, policies, procedures, and safeguards to maintain and protect their confidential information and the integrity, continuous operation, redundancy and security of all IT Systems and data (including “personal data” as defined by the EU General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”) (EU 2016 679) and any personal, personally identifiable, household, sensitive, confidential or regulated data (“Personal Data”)) used in connection with their businesses, except to the extent that a failure to do so could not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, and there have been no breaches, violations, outages or unauthorized uses of or accesses to any IT System or Personal Data used in connection with the operation of the Company Parties’ businesses. The Company Parties are presently in material compliance with all applicable laws or statutes and all judgments, orders, rules and regulations of any court or arbitrator or governmental or regulatory authority, internal policies and contractual obligations relating to the privacy and security of IT Systems and Personal Data and to the protection of such IT Systems and Personal Data from unauthorized use, access, misappropriation or modification.

 

(vvv) The Company Parties are, and at all prior times were, in compliance with all applicable data privacy and security laws, statutes, judgements, orders, rules and regulations of any court or arbitrator or any other governmental or regulatory authority and all applicable laws regarding the collection, use, transfer, export, storage, protection, disposal or disclosure by the Company Parties of Personal Data collected from or provided by third parties. (collectively, the “Privacy Laws”). The Company Parties each have in place, comply with, and take appropriate steps reasonably designed to (i) ensure compliance with its privacy policies, all third-party obligations and industry standards regarding Personal Data; and (ii) reasonably protect the security and confidentiality of all Personal Data (collectively, the “Policies”). At all times since inception, the Company has provided notice of its privacy policy on its websites, which provides accurate and sufficient notice of Company's then-current privacy practices relating to its subject matter and such privacy policies do not contain any material omissions of the Company’s then-current privacy practices. None of such disclosures made or contained in the privacy policies have been inaccurate, misleading, deceptive or in violation of any Privacy Laws or Policies in any material respect. To the knowledge of the Company, the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement or any other agreement referred to in this Agreement will not result in a breach of violation of any Privacy Laws or Policies. The Company Parties have not received notice of any actual or potential liability under or relating to, or actual or potential violation of, any of the Privacy Laws and is unaware of any other facts that, individually or in the aggregate, would reasonably indicate non-compliance with any Privacy Laws or Policies. To the Company Parties’ knowledge, there is no action, suit or proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body pending or threatened alleging non-compliance with Privacy Laws or Policies.

 

18

 

 

(www) No forward looking statement (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act) included in any of the Registration Statement, the Pricing Disclosure Package, the Prospectus or any “road show” (as defined in Rule 433 under the Securities Act) has been made or reaffirmed without a reasonable basis or has been disclosed other than in good faith.

 

(xxx) To the Company’s knowledge, there are no affiliations or associations between (i) any member of FINRA and (ii) the Company or any of the Company’s officers, directors or 5% or greater security holders or any beneficial owner of the Company’s unregistered equity securities that were acquired at any time on or after the 180th day immediately preceding the date the Registration Statement was initially filed with the Commission, except as disclosed in the Registration Statement (excluding the exhibits thereto), the Pricing Disclosure Package and the Prospectus.

 

(yyy) The Company has no debt securities or preferred shares that are rated by any “nationally recognized statistical rating organization” (as that term is defined by the Commission in Section 3(a)(62) of the Exchange Act).

 

(zzz) None of the Company Parties are party to any contract, agreement or understanding with any person (other than this Agreement) that would give rise to a valid claim against any of them or the Underwriters for a brokerage commission, finder’s fee or like payment in connection with the offering and sale of the units

 

Any certificate signed by any officer of the Company and delivered to the Representatives or counsel for the Underwriters in connection with the Offering shall be deemed to be a representation and warranty by the Company, as to matters covered thereby, to each Underwriter.

 

2. Purchase of the Units by the Underwriters. On the basis of the representations, warranties and covenants contained in, and subject to the terms and conditions of, this Agreement, the Company agrees to sell 25,000,000 Firm Units to the several Underwriters, and each of the Underwriters, severally and not jointly, agrees to purchase the number of Firm Units set forth opposite that Underwriter’s name in Schedule I hereto. The respective purchase obligations of the Underwriters with respect to the Firm Units shall be rounded among the Underwriters to avoid fractional units, as the Representatives may determine.

 

19

 

 

In addition, the Company grants to the Underwriters the option (the “Over-Allotment Option”) to purchase up to 3,750,000 Additional Units. Such Over-Allotment Option is exercisable in the event that the Underwriters sell more units than the number Firm Units in the Offering and as set forth in Section 4 hereof. Each Underwriter agrees, severally and not jointly, to purchase the number of Additional Units (subject to such adjustments to eliminate fractional shares as the Representatives may determine) that bears the same proportion to the total number of Additional Units to be sold on such Delivery Date as the number of Firm Units set forth in Schedule I hereto opposite the name of such Underwriter bears to the total number of Firm Units.

 

The purchase price payable by the Underwriters for both the Firm Units and any Additional Units is $9.80 per Unit (the “Purchase Price”); provided, that any Firm Units or Additional Units sold by the Underwriters to Rice Investment Group (the “RIG Units”) shall be sold at a purchase price of $10.00 per RIG Unit, and such RIG Units shall be allocated among the Underwriters by multiplying the number of RIG Units by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of Firm Units set forth opposite the name of such Underwriter in Schedule I hereto and the denominator of which is the total number of Firm Units (subject to adjustment by the Representatives to eliminate fractions).

 

The Company is not obligated to deliver any of the Firm Units or Additional Units to be delivered on the applicable Delivery Date, except upon payment for all such Units to be purchased on such Delivery Date as provided herein.

 

In addition to the discount from the public offering price represented by the Purchase Price set forth above, the Company hereby agrees to pay to the Underwriters a deferred discount of $0.35 per Unit (including both Firm Units and Additional Units, but not including the RIG Units) purchased hereunder (the “Deferred Discount”), subject to Section 5(mm) herein. The Underwriters hereby agree that if no Business Combination is consummated within the time period provided in the Trust Agreement and the funds held under the Trust Agreement are distributed to the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares included in the Units sold pursuant to this Agreement (the “Public Shareholders”), (a) the Underwriters will forfeit any rights or claims to the Deferred Discount and (b) the trustee under the Trust Agreement is authorized to distribute the Deferred Discount to the Public Shareholders on a pro rata basis.

 

3. Offering of Units by the Underwriters. Upon authorization by the Representatives of the release of the Firm Units, the several Underwriters propose to offer the Firm Units for sale upon the terms and conditions to be set forth in the Prospectus.

 

4. Delivery of and Payment for the Units. Delivery of and payment for the Firm Units (including the Deferred Discount) shall be made at 10:00 A.M., New York City time, on the third full business day following the date of this Agreement or at such other date or place as shall be determined by agreement between the Representatives and the Company. This date and time are sometimes referred to as the “Initial Delivery Date.” Delivery of the Firm Units shall be made to the Representatives for the account of each Underwriter against payment by the several Underwriters through the Representatives and of the aggregate purchase price of the Firm Units being sold by the Company to or upon the order of the Company of the purchase price by wire transfer in immediately available funds to the accounts specified by the Company. Time shall be of the essence, and delivery at the time and place specified pursuant to this Agreement is a further condition of the obligation of each Underwriter hereunder. The Company shall deliver the Firm Units through the facilities of DTC unless the Representatives shall otherwise instruct.

 

20

 

 

The Over-Allotment Option will expire 45 days after the date of this Agreement and may be exercised in whole or from time to time in part by written notice being given to the Company by the Representatives; provided that if such date falls on a day that is not a business day, the Over-Allotment Option will expire on the next succeeding business day. Such notice shall set forth the aggregate number of Additional Units as to which the Over-Allotment Option is being exercised, the names in which the Additional Units are to be registered, the denominations in which the Additional Units are to be issued and the date and time, as determined by the Representatives, when the Additional Units are to be delivered; provided, however, that this date and time shall not be earlier than the Initial Delivery Date nor earlier than the second business day after the date on which the Over-Allotment Option shall have been exercised nor later than the fifth business day after the date on which the Over-Allotment Option shall have been exercised. Each date and time the Additional Units are delivered is sometimes referred to as an “Additional Unit Delivery Date,” and the Initial Delivery Date and any Additional Unit Delivery Date are sometimes each referred to as a “Delivery Date.”

 

Delivery of the Additional Units by the Company and payment for the Additional Units (including the Deferred Discount) by the several Underwriters through the Representatives shall be made at 10:00 A.M., New York City time, on the date specified in the corresponding notice described in the preceding paragraph or at such other date or place as shall be determined by agreement between the Representatives and the Company. On each Additional Unit Delivery Date, the Company shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, the Additional Units, to the Representatives for the account of each Underwriter, against payment by the several Underwriters through the Representatives and of the respective aggregate purchase prices of the Additional Units being sold by the Company to or upon the order of the Company of the purchase price by wire transfer in immediately available funds to the accounts specified by the Company. Time shall be of the essence, and delivery at the time and place specified pursuant to this Agreement is a further condition of the obligation of each Underwriter hereunder. The Company shall deliver the Additional Units through the facilities of DTC unless the Representatives shall otherwise instruct.

 

5. Further Agreements of the Company and the Underwriters. The Company agrees:

 

(a) To prepare the Prospectus in a form approved by the Representatives and to file such Prospectus pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act not later than the Commission’s close of business on the second business day following the execution and delivery of this Agreement; to make no further amendment or any supplement to the Registration Statement or the Prospectus prior to the last Delivery Date except as provided herein; to advise the Representatives, promptly after it receives notice thereof, of the time when any amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement, the Exchange Act Registration Statement or the Prospectus has been filed and to furnish the Representatives with copies thereof; to advise the Representatives, promptly after it receives notice thereof, of the issuance by the Commission of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of the Prospectus, of the suspension of the qualification of the Units for offering or sale in any jurisdiction, of the initiation or threatening of any proceeding or examination for any such purpose, or any notice from the Commission objecting to the use of the form of Registration Statement or any post-effective amendment thereto, or of any request by the Commission for the amending or supplementing of the Registration Statement, the Exchange Act Registration Statement or the Prospectus or for additional information; and, in the event of the issuance of any stop order or of any order preventing or suspending the use of the Prospectus or suspending any such qualification, to use promptly its best efforts to obtain its withdrawal.

 

21

 

 

(b) To furnish promptly to the Representatives and to counsel for the Underwriters a signed copy of the Registration Statement as originally filed with the Commission, and each amendment thereto filed with the Commission, including all consents and exhibits filed therewith.

 

(c) To deliver promptly to the Representatives such number of the following documents as the Representatives shall reasonably request: (i) conformed copies of the Registration Statement as originally filed with the Commission and each amendment thereto (in each case excluding exhibits other than this Agreement and the computation of per share earnings) and (ii) each Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus and any amended or supplemented Prospectus; and, if the delivery of a prospectus is required at any time after the date hereof in connection with the Offering or any other securities relating thereto and if at such time any events shall have occurred as a result of which the Prospectus as then amended or supplemented would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made when such Prospectus is delivered, not misleading, or, if for any other reason it shall be necessary to amend or supplement the Prospectus in order to comply with the Securities Act, to notify the Representatives and, upon its request, to file such document and to prepare and furnish without charge to each Underwriter and to any dealer in securities as many copies as the Representatives may from time to time reasonably request of an amended or supplemented Prospectus that will correct such statement or omission or effect such compliance.

 

(d) To file promptly with the Commission any amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement or the Prospectus that may, in the judgment of the Company or the Representatives, be required by the Securities Act or requested by the Commission.

 

(e) Prior to filing with the Commission any amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, to furnish a copy thereof to the Representatives and counsel for the Underwriters and obtain the consent of the Representatives to the filing.

 

(f) Not to make any offer relating to the Units that constitutes or would constitute a Free Writing Prospectus or a portion thereof required to be filed by the Company with the Commission or retained by the Company under Rule 433 of the Securities Act.

 

(g) As soon as practicable after the Effective Date (it being understood that the Company shall have until at least 410 days or, if the fourth quarter following the fiscal quarter that includes the Effective Date is the last fiscal quarter of the Company’s fiscal year, 455 days after the end of the Company’s current fiscal quarter), to make generally available to the Company’s security holders and to deliver to the Representatives an earnings statement of the Company (which need not be audited) complying with Section 11(a) of the Securities Act and the rules and regulations thereunder (including, at the option of the Company, Rule 158).

 

22

 

 

(h) Promptly from time to time to take such action as the Representatives may reasonably request to qualify the Units for offering and sale under the securities or Blue Sky laws of Canada and such other jurisdictions as the Representatives may request and to comply with such laws so as to permit the continuance of sales and dealings therein in such jurisdictions for as long as may be necessary to complete the distribution of the Units; provided, that in connection therewith the Company shall not be required to (i) qualify as a foreign corporation in any jurisdiction in which it would not otherwise be required to so qualify, (ii) file a general consent to service of process in any such jurisdiction or (iii) subject itself to taxation in any jurisdiction in which it would not otherwise be subject.

 

(i) Beginning on the date hereof and ending on, and including, the date that is 150 days after the date of the Prospectus (the “Lock-Up Period”), without the prior written consent of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., not to (x) (i) issue, sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate, pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of or agree to dispose of, directly or indirectly, or establish or increase a put equivalent position or liquidate or decrease a call equivalent position within the meaning of Section 16 of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations of the Commission promulgated thereunder, with respect to, any Unit, Class A Ordinary Share, Class B Ordinary Share, Warrant or any other securities of the Company that are substantially similar to the foregoing, or any securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for, or any warrants or other rights to purchase, the foregoing, (ii) file, confidentially submit or cause to become effective a registration statement under the Securities Act relating to the offer and sale of any Unit or any other securities of the Company that are substantially similar to the Units, or any securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for, or any warrants or other rights to purchase, the foregoing, (iii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of Units, Class A Ordinary Shares, Class B Ordinary Shares, Warrants or any other securities of the Company that are substantially similar to the foregoing, or any securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for, or any warrants or other rights to purchase, the foregoing, whether any such transaction is to be settled by delivery of such security or such other securities, in cash or otherwise or (iv) publicly announce an intention to effect any transaction specified in clause (i), (ii) or (iii), except, in each case, that the Company may (A) issue and sell the Private Placement Warrants, (B) issue and sell the Additional Units on exercise of the Over-Allotment Option, (C) register with the Commission pursuant to the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, in accordance with the terms of the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, the resale of the Founder Shares and the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any Class A Ordinary Shares issued or issuable upon the exercise of any such Private Placement Warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the Founder Shares) and (D) issue securities in connection with a Business Combination or (y) release the Sponsor or any officer, director or director nominee from the 150-day lock-up contained in the Letter Agreement or amend such lock-up provision.

 

23

 

 

(j) At least one business day prior to the time of purchase, if the Sponsor shall have caused the purchase price for the Private Placement Warrants to be wired to the Company, the Company shall direct the trustee under the Trust Agreement to deposit such funds into the Trust Account and to hold such funds in escrow therein.

 

(k) To apply the net proceeds from the sale of the Units and the Private Placement Warrants received by it substantially in accordance with the description as set forth in the Prospectus under the caption “Use of Proceeds.”

 

(l) To file with the Commission such information on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K as may be required by Rule 463 under the Securities Act.

 

(m) If the Company elects to rely upon Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, the Company shall file a Rule 462(b) Registration Statement with the Commission in compliance with Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act by 10:00 P.M., Washington, D.C. time, on the date of this Agreement, and the Company shall at the time of filing pay the Commission the filing fee for the Rule 462(b) Registration Statement.

 

(n) The Company will promptly notify the Representatives if the Company ceases to be an Emerging Growth Company at any time prior to the later of (i) the time when a prospectus relating to the offering or sale of the Units or any other securities relating thereto is not required by the Securities Act to be delivered (whether physically or through compliance with Rule 172 under the Securities Act or any similar rule) and (ii) completion of the Lock-Up Period.

 

(o) If at any time following the distribution of any Written Testing-the-Waters Communication there occurred or occurs an event or development as a result of which such Written Testing-the-Waters Communication included or would include an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted or would omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances existing at that subsequent time, not misleading, the Company will promptly notify the Representatives and will promptly amend or supplement, at its own expense, such Written Testing-the-Waters Communication to eliminate or correct such untrue statement or omission. The Company will promptly notify the Representatives of (A) any distribution by the Company of Written Testing-the-Waters Communications and (B) any request by the Commission for information concerning the Written Testing-the-Waters Communications.

 

(p) The Company and its affiliates will not take, directly or indirectly, any action designed to or that has constituted or that reasonably would be expected to cause or result in the stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company in connection with the Offering.

 

24

 

 

(q) The Company will do and perform all things required or necessary to be done and performed under this Agreement by it prior to each Delivery Date, and to satisfy all conditions precedent to the Underwriters’ obligations hereunder to purchase the Units.

 

(r) For a period commencing on the Effective Date and ending at least five years from the date of the consummation of the Business Combination or until such earlier time at which the Liquidation occurs, the Company will use its best efforts to maintain the registration of the Units, Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants under the provisions of the Exchange Act, except, in the case of the Units, after the completion of a Business Combination; the Company will not deregister the Units, Class A Ordinary Shares or Warrants under the Exchange Act (except, in the case of the Units, after the completion of a Business Combination) without the prior written consent of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc.; “Liquidation” means the distributions of the Trust Account to the Public Shareholders in connection with the redemption of Class A Ordinary Shares held by the Public Shareholders pursuant to the terms of the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, as may be amended, if the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination.

 

(s) The Company shall, on the date hereof, retain its independent registered public accounting firm to audit the balance sheet of the Company as of the time of purchase (the “Audited Balance Sheet”) reflecting the receipt by the Company of the proceeds of the Offering at the time of purchase; as soon as the Audited Balance Sheet becomes available, the Company shall promptly, but not later than four business days after the time of purchase, file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Commission, which Report shall contain the Company’s Audited Balance Sheet; additionally, upon the Company’s receipt of the proceeds from the exercise of all or any portion of the Over-Allotment Option, the Company shall promptly, but not later than four business days after the receipt of such proceeds, file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Commission, which report shall disclose the Company’s sale of the Additional Units and its receipt of the proceeds therefrom.

 

(t) For a period commencing on the Effective Date and ending at least five years from the date of the consummation of the Business Combination or until such earlier time at which the Liquidation occurs or the Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants cease to be publicly traded, the Company, at its expense, shall cause its regularly engaged independent registered public accounting firm to review (but not audit) the Company’s financial statements for each of the first three fiscal quarters of the year prior to the announcement of quarterly financial information, the filing of the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and the mailing, if any, of quarterly financial information to shareholders.

 

(u) For a period commencing on the Effective Date and ending at least five years from the date of the consummation of the Business Combination or until such earlier time at which the Liquidation occurs, the Company shall, to the extent such information or documents are not otherwise publicly available, upon written request from any Representative, furnish to the Representatives copies of such financial statements and other periodic and special reports as the Company from time to time furnishes generally to holders of any class of securities, and promptly furnish to the Representatives: (i) a copy of such registration statements, financial statements and periodic and special reports as the Company shall be required to file with the Commission and from time to time furnishes generally to holders of any such class of its securities; and (ii) such additional documents and information with respect to the Company and the affairs of any future subsidiaries of the Company as any Underwriter may from time to time reasonably request, all subject to the execution of a satisfactory confidentiality agreement.

 

25

 

 

(v) For a period commencing on the Effective Date and ending at least five years from the date of the consummation of the Business Combination or until such earlier time at which the Liquidation occurs or the Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants cease to be publicly traded, the Company shall retain a warrant agent.

 

(w) In no event will the amounts payable by the Company Parties for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services exceed $10,000 per month in the aggregate until the earlier of the date of the consummation of the Business Combination or the Liquidation occurs.

 

(x) The Company will not consummate a Business Combination with any entity that is affiliated with the Sponsor or any of the Company’s officers or directors unless it obtains an opinion from a qualified independent accounting firm or an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA that such Business Combination is fair to the Company’s shareholders from a financial point of view; other than as set forth in this subsection, the Company Parties shall not pay the Sponsor or its affiliates or any of the Company’s executive officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates any fees or compensation for services rendered to the Company Parties prior to, or in connection with, the consummation of a Business Combination; provided, however, that such officers, directors and affiliates (i) may receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them related to identifying, investigating and consummating a Business Combination to the extent that such expenses do not exceed the amount of available proceeds not deposited in the Trust Account; (ii) may be repaid for loans as described in the Registration Statement; and (iii) may be paid $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services pursuant to the Administrative Services Agreement.

 

(y) For a period of 60 days following the Effective Date, in the event any person or entity (regardless of any FINRA affiliation or association) is engaged to assist the Company in its search for a merger candidate or to provide any other merger and acquisition services, or has provided or will provide any investment banking, financial, advisory and/or consulting services to the Company related to the Offering, the Company agrees that it shall promptly provide to FINRA (via a FINRA submission), the Representatives and counsel for the Underwriters a notification prior to entering into the agreement or transaction relating to a potential Business Combination containing: (i) the identity of the person or entity providing any such services; (ii) complete details of all such services and copies of all agreements governing such services prior to entering into the agreement or transaction; and (iii) justification as to why the value received by any person or entity for such services is not underwriting compensation for the Offering; the Company also agrees that proper disclosure of such arrangement or potential arrangement will be made in the tender offer materials or proxy statement, as applicable, which the Company may file in connection with the Business Combination for purposes of offering redemption of shares held by its shareholders or for soliciting shareholder approval, as applicable.

 

26

 

 

(z) The Company shall advise FINRA, the Representatives and counsel for the Underwriters if the Company is aware that any 10% or greater shareholder of the Company becomes an affiliate or associated person of a member of FINRA participating in the distribution of the Company’s securities.

 

(aa) The Company shall cause the proceeds of the Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants required to be held in the Trust Account to be invested only in United States 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 as set forth in the Trust Agreement and disclosed in the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus; the Company will otherwise conduct its business in a manner so that it will not become subject to the Investment Company Act; furthermore, once the Company consummates a Business Combination, it will not be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.

 

(bb) During the period prior to the Company’s initial Business Combination or the Liquidation, the Company may instruct the trustee under the Trust Agreement to release from the Trust Account, solely from interest income earned on the funds held in the Trust Account, the amounts necessary to pay taxes; otherwise, all funds held in the Trust Account (including any interest income earned on the amounts held in the Trust Account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable)) will remain in the Trust Account until the earlier of the consummation of the Company’s initial Business Combination or the Liquidation; provided, however, that in the event of the Liquidation, up to $100,000 of interest income may be released to the Company if the proceeds of the Offering held outside of the Trust Account are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing the Company’s plan of dissolution.

 

(cc) The Company will reserve and keep available the maximum number of its authorized but unissued securities that are issuable upon the exercise of any of the Warrants outstanding from time to time.

 

(dd) Prior to the consummation of a Business Combination or the Liquidation, the Company Parties shall not issue any Class A Ordinary Shares, Warrants or any options or other securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Class A Ordinary Shares, or any preferred shares, in each case, that participate in any manner in the Trust Account or that vote as a class with the Class A Ordinary Shares on a Business Combination, except as described in the Prospectus.

 

27

 

 

(ee) The Company’s independent directors will review on a quarterly basis all payments made to the Sponsor, to the Company’s officers or directors, or to the Company’s or any of such other persons’ respective affiliates.

 

(ff) The Company agrees that it will use commercially reasonable efforts to prevent the Company from becoming subject to Rule 419 under the Securities Act prior to the consummation of any Business Combination, including, but not limited to, using its best efforts to prevent any of the Company’s outstanding securities from being deemed to be a “penny stock” as defined in Rule 3a-51-1 under the Exchange Act during such period.

 

(gg) To the extent required by Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act, the Company will maintain “disclosure controls and procedures” (as defined under Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act) and a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances that (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization, (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary in order to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP and to maintain accountability for assets, (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization and (iv) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences.

 

(hh) As soon as legally required to do so, the Company and its directors and officers, in their capacities as such, shall take all actions necessary to comply with any provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, including Section 402 related to loans and Sections 302 and 906 related to certifications, and to comply with the rules and regulations of the NYSE;

 

(ii) The Company shall not take any action or omit to take any action that would cause the Company to be in breach or violation of its Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, as may be amended.

 

(jj) The Company will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than its independent auditors), prospective target businesses, lenders or other entities with which it does business enter into agreements waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account for the benefit of the Public Shareholders.

 

28

 

 

(kk) The Company may consummate the initial Business Combination and conduct redemptions of Class A Ordinary Shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by the Company) for cash upon consummation of such Business Combination without a shareholder vote pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E under the Exchange Act, including the filing of tender offer documents with the Commission; such tender offer documents will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial Business Combination and the redemption rights as is required under the Commission’s proxy rules and will provide each shareholder of the Company and unitholder of Opco (other than the Company) with the opportunity prior to the consummation of the initial Business Combination to redeem the Class A Ordinary Shares held by such shareholder and Class A Units held by such unitholder for an amount of cash per share equal to (i) the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, representing (A) the net proceeds held in the Trust Account from the Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants and (B) any interest income earned on the funds held in the Trust Account not previously released to pay taxes, divided by (ii) the total number of Class A Ordinary Shares sold as part of the Units in the Offering and held by the Sponsor (the “Public Shares”) and the total number of Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by the Company) then outstanding; if, however, the Company elects not to file such tender offer documents, a shareholder vote is required by law in connection with the initial Business Combination, or the Company decides to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will submit such Business Combination to the Company’s shareholders for their approval (“Business Combination Vote”); with respect to the initial Business Combination Vote, if any, the Sponsor and each of the Company’s directors and officers party to the Letter Agreement has agreed to vote all of their respective Founder Shares and any other Class A Ordinary Shares purchased during or after the Offering in favor of the Company’s initial Business Combination; if the Company seeks shareholder approval of the initial Business Combination, the Company will offer to each Public Shareholder holding Class A Ordinary Shares and each holder of Class A Units of Opco (other than the Company) the right to have its Class A Ordinary Shares and Class A Units of Opco redeemed in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules of the Commission at a per share redemption price (the “Redemption Price”) equal to (i) the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, representing (A) the net proceeds held in the Trust Account from the Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants and (B) any interest income earned on the funds held in the Trust Account not previously released to pay taxes, divided by (ii) the total number of Public Shares and Class A Opco Units (other than those held by the Company) then outstanding; if the Company seeks shareholder approval of the initial Business Combination, the Company may proceed with such Business Combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares voted by the shareholders at a duly-held shareholders meeting are voted to approve such Business Combination; if, after seeking and receiving such shareholder approval, the Company elects to so proceed, it will redeem Class A Ordinary Shares and Class A Units (other than those held by the Company), at the Redemption Price, from those Public Shareholders and Class A unitholders who affirmatively requested such redemption; only Public Shareholders and holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than the Company) holding Class A Ordinary Shares and holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than the Company) who properly exercise their redemption rights, in accordance with the applicable tender offer or proxy materials related to such Business Combination, shall be entitled to receive distributions from the Trust Account in connection with an initial Business Combination, and the Company shall pay no distributions with respect to any other holders of shares of the Company in connection therewith; in the event that the Company does not effect a Business Combination by 24 months from the closing of the Offering, 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 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 not previously released to the Company to pay taxes, and less up to $100,000 of such net interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares and Class A Opco Units (other than those held by the Company), which redemption will completely extinguish the Public Shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, 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, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law; only Public Shareholders holding Class A Ordinary Shares included in the Units and holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than the Company) shall be entitled to receive such redemption amounts and the Company shall pay no such redemption amounts or any distributions in liquidation with respect to any other shares of the Company; the Company will not propose any amendment to its Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of the outstanding Public Shares if the Company has not consummated a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Offering, as described in the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, unless the Company offers the right to redeem the Public Shares and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by the Company) in connection with such amendment.

 

29

 

 

(ll) In the event that the Company desires or is required by an applicable law or regulation to cause an announcement (“Business Combination Announcement”) to be placed in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times or any other news or media publication or outlet or to be made via a public filing with the Commission announcing the consummation of the Business Combination that indicates that the Underwriters were the underwriters in the Offering, the Company shall supply the Representatives with a draft of the Business Combination Announcement and provide the Representatives with a reasonable advance opportunity to comment thereon, subject to the agreement of the Underwriters to keep confidential such draft announcement in accordance with each such Underwriter’s standard policies regarding confidential information.

 

(mm) Upon the consummation of the initial Business Combination, the Company will pay to the Underwriters the Deferred Discount pro rata based on the number of Firm Units set forth opposite the name of each Underwriter on Schedule I attached hereto; payment of the Deferred Discount will be made out of the proceeds of the Offering held in the Trust Account; the Underwriters shall have no claim to payment of any interest earned on the portion of the proceeds held in the Trust Account representing the Deferred Discount; if the Company fails to consummate its initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Offering, the Deferred Discount will not be paid to the Underwriters and will, instead, be included in the Liquidation distribution of the proceeds held in the Trust Account made to the Public Shareholders and holders of Class A Units (other than the Company); in connection with any such Liquidation, the Underwriters forfeit any rights or claims to the Deferred Discount.

 

(nn) For so long as the Company is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13(g) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, to maintain a transfer agent and, if necessary under the jurisdiction of incorporation of the Company, a registrar for the Class A Ordinary Shares.

 

30

 

 

(oo) Intentionally Omitted.

 

(pp) To use commercially reasonable efforts to effect and, for a period commencing on the Effective Date and ending at least five years from the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination or until such earlier time at which the Liquidation occurs or the Class A Ordinary Shares and Public Warrants cease to be publicly traded, maintain the listing of the Units, Class A Ordinary Shares and Public Warrants on the NYSE.

 

(qq) It is not necessary under the laws of the Cayman Islands (i) to enable the Underwriters to enforce their rights under this Agreement provided that they are not otherwise engaged in business in the Cayman Islands, or (ii) solely by reason of the execution, delivery or consummation of this Agreement, for any of the Underwriters to be qualified or entitled to carry out business in the Cayman Islands.

 

(rr) Although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the courts of the State of New York, a judgment will be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction, imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given, is final, is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands.

 

(ss) Except as described in the Registration Statement, each of the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus, under current laws and regulations of the Cayman Islands, all dividends and other distributions declared and payable on the Securities may be paid by the Company to the holder thereof in United States dollars and all such payments made to holders thereof or therein who are non-residents of the Cayman Islands will not be subject to income, withholding or other taxes under laws and regulations of the Cayman Islands or any political subdivision or taxing authority thereof or therein and will otherwise be free and clear of any other tax, duty, withholding or deduction in the Cayman Islands or any taxing authority thereof or therein and without the necessity of obtaining any governmental authorization in the Cayman Islands or any taxing authority thereof or therein.

 

31

 

 

6. Expenses. The Company (and Opco, where applicable) agrees, whether or not the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are consummated or this Agreement is terminated, to pay all expenses, costs, fees and taxes incident to and in connection with (a) the authorization, issuance, sale and delivery of the Units, including any stamp duties or other taxes payable in connection with the original issuance of the Units, and the preparation and printing of certificates for the Units; (b) the preparation, printing and filing of the Exchange Act Registration Statement and under the Securities Act of the Registration Statement (including any exhibits thereto), any Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, any Written Testing-the-Waters Communication and any amendment or supplement thereto; (c) the distribution of the Registration Statement (including any exhibits thereto), any Preliminary Prospectus, the Prospectus, any “road show” presentations, any Written Testing-the-Waters Communication and any amendment or supplement thereto, all as provided in this Agreement; (d) the production and distribution of this Agreement, any supplemental agreement among Underwriters and any other related documents in connection with the offering, purchase, sale and delivery of the Units; (e) any required review by FINRA of the terms of sale of the Units (including related fees and expenses of counsel to the Underwriters in an amount that is not greater than $25,000); (f) the listing of the Units on the NYSE; (g) the qualification of the Units under the securities laws of the several jurisdictions as provided in Section 5(h)) and the preparation, printing and distribution of a Blue Sky Memorandum (including related fees and expenses of counsel to the Underwriters); (h) the preparation, printing and distribution of one or more versions of the Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus for distribution in Canada, including in the form of a Canadian “wrapper” (including related fees and expenses of Canadian counsel to the Underwriters); (i) the preparation and printing of the investor presentations or any “road show” or any Testing-the-Waters Communication, undertaken in connection with the marketing of the Units, including, without limitation, expenses associated with any electronic road show, travel and lodging expenses of the representatives and officers of the Company and the cost of any aircraft chartered in connection with the road show; and (j) all other costs and expenses incident to the performance of the obligations of the Company under this Agreement; provided that, except as provided in this Section 6 and in Section 11, the Underwriters shall pay their own costs and expenses, including the costs and expenses of their counsel, any transfer taxes on the Units which they may sell and the expenses of advertising any offering of the Units made by the Underwriters.

 

7. Conditions of Underwriters’ Obligations. The respective obligations of the Underwriters hereunder are subject to the accuracy, when made and on each Delivery Date, of the representations and warranties of the Company contained herein, to the performance by the Company of its obligations hereunder, and to each of the following additional terms and conditions:

 

(a) The Prospectus shall have been timely filed with the Commission in accordance with Section 5(a). No stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement or preventing or suspending the use of the Prospectus shall have been issued and no proceeding or examination for such purpose shall have been initiated or threatened by the Commission; and any request of the Commission for inclusion of additional information in the Registration Statement or the Prospectus or otherwise shall have been complied with. If the Company has elected to rely upon Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, the Rule 462(b) Registration Statement shall have become effective by 10:00 P.M., Washington, D.C. time, on the date of this Agreement. The Exchange Act Registration Statement shall have been filed and shall have become effective under the Exchange Act.

 

32

 

 

(b) No Underwriter shall have discovered and disclosed to the Company on or prior to such Delivery Date that the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or the Pricing Disclosure Package, or any amendment or supplement thereto, contains an untrue statement of a fact which, in the opinion of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., counsel for the Underwriters, is material or omits to state a fact which, in the opinion of such counsel, is material and is required to be stated therein or is necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.

 

(c) All corporate proceedings and other legal matters incident to the authorization, form and validity of this Agreement, the Units, the Registration Statement and the Prospectus, and all other legal matters relating to this Agreement and the transactions contemplated hereby shall be reasonably satisfactory in all material respects to counsel for the Underwriters, and the Company shall have furnished to such counsel all documents and information that they may reasonably request to enable them to pass upon such matters.

 

(d) Kirkland & Ellis LLP shall have furnished to the Representatives its written opinion, as counsel to the Company, addressed to the Underwriters and dated such Delivery Date, in form and substance satisfactory to the Representatives.

 

(e) The Company shall have requested and caused Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP, Cayman Islands counsel for the Company, to have furnished to the Representatives its opinions dated the Closing Date and any settlement date, as applicable, and addressed to the Representatives, in a form reasonably acceptable to the Representatives.

 

(f) The Representatives shall have received from Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., counsel for the Underwriters, such opinion or opinions, dated such Delivery Date, with respect to the issuance and sale of the Units and the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the Pricing Disclosure Package and other related matters as the Representatives may reasonably require, and the Company shall have furnished to such counsel such documents as they reasonably request for the purpose of enabling them to pass upon such matters.

 

(g) At the time of execution of this Agreement, the Representatives shall have received from WithumSmith+Brown, PC a letter, in form and substance satisfactory to the Representatives, addressed to the Underwriters and dated the date hereof (i) confirming that they are independent public accountants within the meaning of the Securities Act and are in compliance with the applicable requirements relating to the qualification of accountants under Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X of the Commission and (ii) stating, as of the date hereof (or, with respect to matters involving changes or developments since the respective dates as of which specified financial information is given in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, as of a date not more than three days prior to the date hereof), the conclusions and findings of such firm with respect to the financial information and other matters ordinarily covered by accountants’ “comfort letters” to underwriters in connection with registered public offerings.

 

33

 

 

(h) With respect to the letter of WithumSmith+Brown, PC referred to in the preceding paragraph and delivered to the Representatives concurrently with the execution of this Agreement (the “initial letter”), the Company shall have furnished to the Representatives a letter (the “bring-down letter”) of such accountants, addressed to the Underwriters and dated such Delivery Date (i) confirming that they are independent public accountants within the meaning of the Securities Act and are in compliance with the applicable requirements relating to the qualification of accountants under Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X of the Commission, (ii) stating, as of the date of the bring-down letter (or, with respect to matters involving changes or developments since the respective dates as of which specified financial information is given in the Prospectus, as of a date not more than three days prior to the date of the bring-down letter), the conclusions and findings of such firm with respect to the financial information and other matters covered by the initial letter and (iii) confirming in all material respects the conclusions and findings set forth in the initial letter.

 

(i) The Company shall have furnished to the Representatives a certificate, dated such Delivery Date, of its Chief Executive Officer and its Chief Financial Officer as to such matters as the Representatives may reasonably request, including, without limitation, a statement:

 

(i) That the representations, warranties and agreements of the Company in Section 1 are true and correct on and as of such Delivery Date, and the Company has complied with all its agreements contained herein and satisfied all the conditions on its part to be performed or satisfied hereunder at or prior to such Delivery Date;

 

(ii) That no stop order suspending the effectiveness of the Registration Statement has been issued; and no proceedings or examination for that purpose have been instituted or, to the knowledge of such officers, threatened;

 

(iii) That they have examined the Registration Statement, the Prospectus and the Pricing Disclosure Package, and, in their opinion, (A) (1) the Registration Statement, as of the Effective Date, (2) the Prospectus, as of its date and on the applicable Delivery Date and (3) the Pricing Disclosure Package, as of the Applicable Time, did not and do not contain any untrue statement of a material fact and did not and do not omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein (except in the case of the Registration Statement, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made) not misleading, and (B) since the Effective Date, no event has occurred that should have been set forth in a supplement or amendment to the Registration Statement or the Prospectus that has not been so set forth; and

 

34

 

 

(iv) To the effect of Section 7(i) (provided that no representation with respect to the judgment of the Representatives need be made).

 

(j) (i) none of the Company Parties has sustained, since the date of the latest audited financial statements included in the most recent Preliminary Prospectus, any loss or interference with its business from fire, explosion, flood or other calamity, whether or not covered by insurance, or from any labor dispute or court or governmental action, order or decree, or (ii) since such date there shall not have been any change in the capital stock, long-term debt, total assets or total current liabilities of any of the Company Parties or any change, or any development involving a prospective change, in or affecting the condition (financial or otherwise), results of operations, shareholders’ equity, properties, management, business or prospects of the Company Parties taken as a whole, the effect of which, in any such case described in clause (i) or (ii), is, individually or in the aggregate, in the judgment of the Representatives, so material and adverse as to make it impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the public offering or the delivery of the Units being delivered on such Delivery Date on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the Prospectus.

 

(k) Subsequent to the execution and delivery of this Agreement there shall not have occurred any of the following: (i) (A) trading in securities generally on any securities exchange that has registered with the Commission under Section 6 of the Exchange Act (including the NYSE, The Nasdaq Global Select Market, The Nasdaq Global Market or The Nasdaq Capital Market), or (B) trading in any securities of the Company on any exchange or in the over-the-counter market, shall have been suspended or materially limited or the settlement of such trading generally shall have been materially disrupted or minimum prices shall have been established on any such exchange or such market by the Commission, by such exchange or by any other regulatory body or governmental authority having jurisdiction, (ii) a general moratorium on commercial banking activities shall have been declared by federal or state authorities, (iii) the United States shall have become engaged in hostilities, there shall have been an escalation in hostilities involving the United States or there shall have been a declaration of a national emergency or war by the United States or (iv) there shall have occurred such a material adverse change in general economic, political or financial conditions, including, without limitation, as a result of terrorist activities after the date hereof (or the effect of international conditions on the financial markets in the United States shall be such) or any other calamity or crisis either within or outside the United States, as to make it, in the judgment of the Representatives, impracticable or inadvisable to proceed with the public offering or delivery of the Units being delivered on such Delivery Date on the terms and in the manner contemplated in the Prospectus.

 

(l) The NYSE shall have approved the Units for listing subject only to official notice of issuance and evidence of satisfactory distribution.

 

(m) The Company (and Opco, where applicable) shall have furnished to the Representatives at the time of purchase executed copies of the Trust Agreement, the Warrant Agreement, the Securities Subscription Agreement, the Warrant Purchase Agreements, the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, the Administrative Services Agreement and the Letter Agreement.

 

35

 

 

(n) FINRA shall not have raised any objection with respect to the fairness or reasonableness of the underwriting, or other arrangements of the transactions, contemplated hereby.

 

(o) On or prior to each Delivery Date, the Company shall have furnished to the Underwriters such further certificates and documents as the Representatives may reasonably request.

 

All opinions, letters, evidence and certificates mentioned above or elsewhere in this Agreement shall be deemed to be in compliance with the provisions hereof only if they are in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to counsel for the Underwriters.

 

8. Indemnification and Contribution.

 

(a) The Company Parties hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless each Underwriter, its affiliates, directors, officers and employees and each person, if any, who controls any Underwriter within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act, from and against any loss, claim, damage or liability, joint or several, or any action in respect thereof (including, but not limited to, any loss, claim, damage, liability or action relating to purchases and sales of Units), to which that Underwriter, affiliate, director, officer, employee or controlling person may become subject, under the Securities Act or otherwise, insofar as such loss, claim, damage, liability or action arises out of, or is based upon, (i) any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in (A) any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or in any amendment or supplement thereto, (B) any “Issuer Information” (as defined in Rule 433 under the Securities Act) of the Company, which Issuer Information is required to be, or is, filed with the Commission, (C) any materials or information provided to investors by, or with the approval of, the Company Parties in connection with the marketing of the Offering, including any “road show” and any Testing-the-Waters Communication (“Marketing Materials”), or (D) any Blue Sky application or other document prepared or executed by any of the Company Parties (or based upon any written information furnished by any of the Company Parties for use therein) specifically for the purpose of qualifying any or all of the Units under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction (any such application, document or information being hereinafter called a “Blue Sky Application”) or (ii) the omission or alleged omission to state in any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus, any Issuer Information which is required to be, or is, filed with the Commission, any Marketing Materials or any Blue Sky Application, any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, and shall reimburse each Underwriter and each such affiliate, director, officer, employee or controlling person promptly upon demand for any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by that Underwriter, affiliate, director, officer, employee or controlling person in connection with investigating or defending or preparing to defend against any such loss, claim, damage, liability or action as such expenses are incurred; provided, however, that the Company Parties shall not be liable in any such case to the extent that any such loss, claim, damage, liability or action arises out of, or is based upon, any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus, any Issuer Information which is required to be, or is, filed with the Commission, any Marketing Materials or any Blue Sky Application, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information concerning such Underwriter furnished to the Company Parties through the Representatives by or on behalf of any Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information consists solely of the information specified in Section 8(e). The foregoing indemnity agreement is in addition to any liability which the Company Parties may otherwise have to any Underwriter or to any affiliate, director, officer, employee or controlling person of that Underwriter.

 

36

 

 

(b) Each Underwriter, severally and not jointly, shall indemnify and hold harmless the Company Parties, its directors (including any person who, with his or her consent, is named in the Registration Statement as about to become a director of any of the Company Parties), officers and employees, and each person, if any, who controls the Company within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act, from and against any loss, claim, damage or liability, joint or several, or any action in respect thereof, to which any of the Company Parties or any such director, officer, employee or controlling person may become subject, under the Securities Act or otherwise, insofar as such loss, claim, damage, liability or action arises out of, or is based upon, (i) any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or in any Marketing Materials or Blue Sky Application or (ii) the omission or alleged omission to state in any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or in any Marketing Materials or Blue Sky Application, any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, but in each case only to the extent that the untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission was made in reliance upon and in conformity with written information concerning such Underwriter furnished to any of the Company Parties through the Representatives by or on behalf of that Underwriter specifically for inclusion therein, which information is limited to the information set forth in Section 8(e). The foregoing indemnity agreement is in addition to any liability that any Underwriter may otherwise have to any of the Company Parties or any such director, officer, employee or controlling person.

 

(c) Promptly after receipt by an indemnified party under this Section 8 of notice of any claim or the commencement of any action, the indemnified party shall, if a claim in respect thereof is to be made against the indemnifying party under this Section 8, notify the indemnifying party in writing of the claim or the commencement of that action; provided, however, that the failure to notify the indemnifying party shall not relieve it from any liability which it may have under this Section 8 except to the extent it has been materially prejudiced (through the forfeiture of substantive rights and defenses) by such failure and, provided, further, that the failure to notify the indemnifying party shall not relieve it from any liability which it may have to an indemnified party otherwise than under this Section 8. If any such claim or action shall be brought against an indemnified party, and it shall notify the indemnifying party thereof, the indemnifying party shall be entitled to participate therein and, to the extent that it wishes, jointly with any other similarly notified indemnifying party, to assume the defense thereof with counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party. After notice from the indemnifying party to the indemnified party of its election to assume the defense of such claim or action, the indemnifying party shall not be liable to the indemnified party under this Section 8 for any legal or other expenses subsequently incurred by the indemnified party in connection with the defense thereof other than reasonable costs of investigation; provided, however, that the indemnified party shall have the right to employ counsel to represent jointly the indemnified party and those other indemnified parties and their respective directors, officers, employees and controlling persons who may be subject to liability arising out of any claim in respect of which indemnity may be sought under this Section 8 if (i) the indemnified party and the indemnifying party shall have so mutually agreed; (ii) the indemnifying party has failed within a reasonable time to retain counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party; (iii) the indemnified party and its directors, officers, employees and controlling persons shall have reasonably concluded that there may be legal defenses available to them that are different from or in addition to those available to the indemnifying party; or (iv) the named parties in any such proceeding (including any impleaded parties) include both the indemnified parties or their respective directors, officers, employees or controlling persons, on the one hand, and the indemnifying party, on the other hand, and representation of both sets of parties by the same counsel would be inappropriate due to actual or potential differing interests between them, and in any such event the fees and expenses of such separate counsel shall be paid by the indemnifying party. No indemnifying party shall (x) without the prior written consent of the indemnified parties (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld), settle or compromise or consent to the entry of any judgment with respect to any pending or threatened claim, action, suit or proceeding in respect of which indemnification or contribution may be sought hereunder (whether or not the indemnified parties are actual or potential parties to such claim or action) unless such settlement, compromise or consent includes an unconditional release of each indemnified party from all liability arising out of such claim, action, suit or proceeding and does not include a statement as to, or an admission of fault, culpability or a failure to act by or on behalf of any indemnified party, or (y) be liable for any settlement of any such action effected without its written consent (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld), but if settled with the consent of the indemnifying party or if there be a final judgment for the plaintiff in any such action, the indemnifying party agrees to indemnify and hold harmless any indemnified party from and against any loss or liability by reason of such settlement or judgment. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, if at any time an indemnified party shall have requested an indemnifying party to reimburse the indemnified party for fees and expenses of counsel as contemplated by Section 8(a) hereof, the indemnifying party agrees that it shall be liable for any settlement of any proceeding effected without its written consent if (i) such settlement is entered into more than 30 days after receipt by such indemnifying party of the aforesaid request and (ii) such indemnifying party shall not have reimbursed the indemnified party in accordance with such request or disputed in good faith the indemnified party’s entitlement to such reimbursement prior to the date of such settlement.

 

37

 

 

(d) If the indemnification provided for in this Section 8 shall for any reason be unavailable to or insufficient to hold harmless an indemnified party under Section 8(a) or 8(b) in respect of any loss, claim, damage or liability, or any action in respect thereof, referred to therein, then each indemnifying party shall, in lieu of indemnifying such indemnified party, contribute to the amount paid or payable by such indemnified party as a result of such loss, claim, damage or liability, or action in respect thereof, (i) in such proportion as shall be appropriate to reflect the relative benefits received by any of the Company Parties, on the one hand, and the Underwriters, on the other, from the Offering, or (ii) if the allocation provided by clause (i) above is not permitted by applicable law, in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect not only the relative benefits referred to in clause (i) above but also the relative fault of any of the Company Parties, on the one hand, and the Underwriters, on the other, with respect to the statements or omissions that resulted in such loss, claim, damage or liability, or action in respect thereof, as well as any other relevant equitable considerations. The relative benefits received by any of the Company Parties, on the one hand, and the Underwriters, on the other, with respect to such offering shall be deemed to be in the same proportion as the total net proceeds from the Offering (before deducting expenses) received by any of the Company Parties, as set forth in the table on the cover page of the Prospectus, on the one hand, and the total underwriting discounts and commissions received by the Underwriters with respect to the Units purchased under this Agreement, as set forth in the table on the cover page of the Prospectus, on the other hand. The relative fault shall be determined by reference to whether the untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact or omission or alleged omission to state a material fact relates to information supplied by the Company or the Underwriters, the intent of the parties and their relative knowledge, access to information and opportunity to correct or prevent such statement or omission. Each of the Company Parties and the Underwriters agree that it would not be just and equitable if contributions pursuant to this Section 8(d) were to be determined by pro rata allocation (even if the Underwriters were treated as one entity for such purpose) or by any other method of allocation that does not take into account the equitable considerations referred to herein. The amount paid or payable by an indemnified party as a result of the loss, claim, damage or liability, or action in respect thereof, referred to above in this Section 8(d) shall be deemed to include, for purposes of this Section 8(d), any legal or other expenses reasonably incurred by such indemnified party in connection with investigating or defending any such action or claim. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 8(d), in no event shall an Underwriter be required to contribute any amount in excess of the amount by which the total underwriting discounts and commissions received by such Underwriter with respect to the Offering exceeds the amount of any damages that such Underwriter has otherwise been required to pay by reason of such untrue or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission. No person guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation (within the meaning of Section 11(f) of the Securities Act) shall be entitled to contribution from any person who was not guilty of such fraudulent misrepresentation. The Underwriters’ obligations to contribute as provided in this Section 8(d) are several in proportion to their respective underwriting obligations and not joint.

 

(e) The Underwriters severally confirm and each of the Company Parties acknowledges and agrees that the statements regarding delivery of Units by the Underwriters set forth on the cover page of, and the concession and reallowance figures and the first paragraph relating to stabilization by the Underwriters appearing under the caption “Underwriting” in, the most recent Preliminary Prospectus and the Prospectus are correct and constitute the only information concerning such Underwriters furnished in writing to the Company by or on behalf of the Underwriters specifically for inclusion in any Preliminary Prospectus, the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or in any Marketing Materials.

 

38

 

 

9. Defaulting Underwriters.

 

(a) If, on any Delivery Date, any Underwriter defaults in its obligations to purchase the Units that it has agreed to purchase under this Agreement, the remaining non-defaulting Underwriters may in their discretion arrange for the purchase of such Units by the non-defaulting Underwriters or other persons satisfactory to the Company on the terms contained in this Agreement. If, within 36 hours after any such default by any Underwriter, the non-defaulting Underwriters do not arrange for the purchase of such Units, then the Company shall be entitled to a further period of 36 hours within which to procure other persons satisfactory to the non-defaulting Underwriters to purchase such Units on such terms. In the event that within the respective prescribed periods, the non-defaulting Underwriters notify the Company that they have so arranged for the purchase of such Units, or the Company notifies the non-defaulting Underwriters that it has so arranged for the purchase of such Units, either the non-defaulting Underwriters or the Company may postpone such Delivery Date for up to seven full business days in order to effect any changes that in the opinion of counsel for the Company or counsel for the Underwriters may be necessary in the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or in any other document or arrangement, and the Company agrees to promptly prepare any amendment or supplement to the Registration Statement, the Prospectus or in any such other document or arrangement that effects any such changes. As used in this Agreement, the term “Underwriter,” unless the context requires otherwise, includes any party not listed in Schedule I hereto that, pursuant to this Section 9, purchases Units that a defaulting Underwriter agreed but failed to purchase.

 

(b) If, after giving effect to any arrangements for the purchase of the Units of a defaulting Underwriter or Underwriters by the non-defaulting Underwriters and the Company as provided in Section 9(a), the total number of Units that remains unpurchased does not exceed one-eleventh of the total number of Units, then the Company shall have the right to require each non-defaulting Underwriter to purchase the total number of Units that such Underwriter agreed to purchase hereunder plus such Underwriter’s pro rata share (based on the total number of Units that such Underwriter agreed to purchase hereunder) of the Units of such defaulting Underwriter or Underwriters for which such arrangements have not been made; provided that the non-defaulting Underwriters shall not be obligated to purchase more than 110% of the total number of Units that it agreed to purchase on such Delivery Date pursuant to the terms of Section 2.

 

(c) If, after giving effect to any arrangements for the purchase of the Units of a defaulting Underwriter or Underwriters by the non-defaulting Underwriters and the Company as provided in Section 9(a), the total number of Units that remains unpurchased exceeds one-eleventh of the total number of Units, or if the Company shall not exercise the right described in Section 9(b), then this Agreement shall terminate without liability on the part of the non-defaulting Underwriters. Any termination of this Agreement pursuant to this Section 9 shall be without liability on the part of the Company, except that the Company will continue to be liable for the payment of expenses as set forth in Sections 6 and 11 and except that the provisions of Section 8 shall not terminate and shall remain in effect.

 

39

 

 

(d) Nothing contained herein shall relieve a defaulting Underwriter of any liability it may have to the Company or any non-defaulting Underwriter for damages caused by its default.

 

10. Termination. The obligations of the Underwriters hereunder may be terminated by the Representatives by notice given to and received by the Company prior to delivery of and payment for the Firm Units if, prior to that time, any of the events described in Sections 7(i) and 7(j) shall have occurred or if the Underwriters shall decline to purchase the Units for any reason permitted under this Agreement.

 

11. Reimbursement of Underwriters’ Expenses. If (a) the Company shall fail to tender the Units for delivery to the Underwriters for any reason, or (b) the Underwriters shall decline to purchase the Units for any reason permitted under this Agreement, the Company will reimburse the Underwriters for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses (including fees and disbursements of counsel for the Underwriters) incurred by the Underwriters in connection with this Agreement and the proposed purchase of the Units, and upon demand the Company shall pay the full amount thereof to the Representatives. If this Agreement is terminated pursuant to Section 9 by reason of the default of one or more Underwriters, the Company shall not be obligated to reimburse any defaulting Underwriter on account of those expenses.

 

12. Research Analyst Independence. The Company acknowledges that the Underwriters’ research analysts and research departments are required to be independent from their respective investment banking divisions and are subject to certain regulations and internal policies, and that such Underwriters’ research analysts may hold views and make statements or investment recommendations and/or publish research reports with respect to the Company and/or the Offering that differ from the views of their respective investment banking divisions. The Company hereby waives and releases, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any claims that the Company may have against the Underwriters with respect to any conflict of interest that may arise from the fact that the views expressed by their independent research analysts and research departments may be different from or inconsistent with the views or advice communicated to the Company by such Underwriters’ investment banking divisions. The Company acknowledges that each of the Underwriters is a full service securities firm and as such from time to time, subject to applicable securities laws, may effect transactions for its own account or the account of its customers and hold long or short positions in debt or equity securities of the companies that may be the subject of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

 

13. No Fiduciary Duty. The Company acknowledges and agrees that in connection with the Offering, sale of the Units or any other services the Underwriters may be deemed to be providing hereunder, notwithstanding any preexisting relationship, advisory or otherwise, between the parties or any oral representations or assurances previously or subsequently made by the Underwriters: (a) no fiduciary or agency relationship between the Company and any other person, on the one hand, and the Underwriters, on the other, exists; (b) the Underwriters are not acting as advisors, expert or otherwise, to the Company, including, without limitation, with respect to the determination of the public offering price of the Units, and such relationship between the Company, on the one hand, and the Underwriters, on the other, is entirely and solely commercial, based on arms-length negotiations; (c) any duties and obligations that the Underwriters may have to the Company shall be limited to those duties and obligations specifically stated herein; and (d) the Underwriters and their respective affiliates may have interests that differ from those of the Company. The Company hereby waives any claims that the Company may have against the Underwriters with respect to any breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the Offering.

 

40

 

 

14. Notices, etc. All statements, requests, notices and agreements hereunder shall be in writing, and:

 

(a) if to the Underwriters, shall be delivered or sent by mail or facsimile transmission to Citigroup Global Markets Inc., 388 Greenwich Street, New York, New York, 10013, Attention: General Counsel (fax no.: (646) 291-1469) and Barclays Capital Inc., 745 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10019, Attention: Syndicate Registration (Fax: (646) 834-8133); and

 

(b) if to the Company Parties, shall be delivered or sent by mail or email transmission to the address of the Company set forth in the Registration Statement, Attention: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV (Email: danny@teamrice.com).

 

Any such statements, requests, notices or agreements shall take effect at the time of receipt thereof. The Company shall be entitled to act and rely upon any request, consent, notice or agreement given or made on behalf of the Underwriters by the Representatives. A party may change its address for the purpose of receiving all statements, requests, notices and agreements by delivery of written notice of such address change in accordance with the provisions of this Section 14.

 

15. Persons Entitled to Benefit of Agreement. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the Underwriters, the Company and their respective successors. This Agreement and the terms and provisions hereof are for the sole benefit of only those persons, except that (a) the representations, warranties, indemnities and agreements of the Company contained in this Agreement shall also be deemed to be for the benefit of the directors, officers and employees of the Underwriters and each person or persons, if any, who control any Underwriter within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act, and (b) the indemnity agreement of the Underwriters contained in Section 8(b) of this Agreement shall be deemed to be for the benefit of the directors of the Company, the officers of the Company who have signed the Registration Statement and any person controlling the Company within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act. Nothing in this Agreement is intended or shall be construed to give any person, other than the persons referred to in this Section 15, any legal or equitable right, remedy or claim under or in respect of this Agreement or any provision contained herein.

 

16. Survival. The respective indemnities, representations, warranties and agreements of the Company and the Underwriters contained in this Agreement or made by or on behalf of them, respectively, pursuant to this Agreement, shall survive the delivery of and payment for the Units and shall remain in full force and effect, regardless of any investigation made by or on behalf of any of them or any person controlling any of them.

 

41

 

 

17. Definition of the Terms “Business Day” and “Affiliate”. For purposes of this Agreement, (a) “business day” means each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday that is not a day on which banking institutions in New York are generally authorized or obligated by law or executive order to close, and (b) “affiliate” has the meanings set forth in Rule 405 under the Securities Act.

 

18. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York without regard to conflict of laws principles that would result in the application of any other law than the laws of the State of New York (other than Section 5-1401 of the General Obligations Law).

 

19. Jurisdiction. Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of or based upon this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby must be instituted in any State or U.S. federal court in the City of New York and County of New York (the “Specified Courts”), and each party irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction (except for proceedings instituted in regard to the enforcement of a judgment of any such Specified Court, as to which such jurisdiction is non-exclusive) of the Specified Courts in any suit, action or proceeding. The parties irrevocably and unconditionally waive any objection to the laying of venue of any suit, action or other proceeding in the Specified Courts and irrevocably and unconditionally waive and agree not to plead or claim in any such Specified Court that any such suit, action or other proceeding brought in any such Specified Court has been brought in an inconvenient forum.

 

20. Waiver of Jury Trial. The Company and the Underwriters hereby irrevocably waive, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all right to trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby.

 

21. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts and, if executed in more than one counterpart, the executed counterparts shall each be deemed to be an original but all such counterparts shall together constitute one and the same instrument.

 

22. Headings. The headings herein are inserted for convenience of reference only and are not intended to be part of, or to affect the meaning or interpretation of, this Agreement.

 

42

 

 

23. Recognition of the U.S. Special Resolution Regimes.

 

(a) In the event that any Underwriter that is a Covered Entity (as defined below) becomes subject to a proceeding under a U.S. Special Resolution Regime (as defined below), the transfer from such Underwriter of this Agreement, and any interest and obligation in or under this Agreement, will be effective to the same extent as the transfer would be effective under the U.S. Special Resolution Regime if this Agreement, and any such interest and obligation, were governed by the laws of the United States or a state of the United States.

 

(b) In the event that any Underwriter that is a Covered Entity (as defined below) or a BHC Act Affiliate (as defined below) of such Underwriter becomes subject to a proceeding under a U.S. Special Resolution Regime, Default Rights (as defined below) under this Agreement that may be exercised against such Underwriter are permitted to be exercised to no greater extent than such Default Rights could be exercised under the U.S. Special Resolution Regime if this Agreement were governed by the laws of the United States or a state of the United States.

 

For purposes of this Section 22, the following terms shall have the following meaning: (2) “BHC Act Affiliate” has the meaning assigned to the term “affiliate” in, and shall be interpreted in accordance with, 12 U.S.C. § 1841(k); (x) “Covered Entity” means any of the following: (i) a “covered entity” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 252.82(b); (ii) a “covered bank” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 47.3(b); or (iii) a “covered FSI” as that term is defined in, and interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. § 382.2(b); (y) “Default Right” has the meaning assigned to that term in, and shall be interpreted in accordance with, 12 C.F.R. §§ 252.81, 47.2 or 382.1, as applicable; and (z) “U.S. Special Resolution Regime” means each of (i) the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder and (ii) Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder.

 

If the foregoing correctly sets forth the agreement between the Company and the Underwriters, please indicate your acceptance in the space provided for that purpose below.

 

[Signature Page Follows]

 

43

 

 

  Very truly yours,
       
  COMPANY PARTIES:
       
  Rice Acquisition Corp. II
       
  By:  
    Name:  
    Title:  
       
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
       
  By:  
    Name:  
    Title:  

 

Accepted:  
     
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.  
Barclays Capital Inc.  
     
For themselves and as Representatives  
of the several Underwriters named  
in Schedule I hereto  
     
By Citigroup Global Markets Inc.  
     
By:    
Name:    
Title: Authorized Representative  
     
By Barclays Capital Inc.  
     
By:    
Name:     
Title: Authorized Representative  

 

Signature Page to Underwriting Agreement

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE I

 

Underwriters   Number of Firm Units  
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.     [____]  
Barclays Capital Inc.     [____]  
AmeriVet Securities, Inc.     [____]  
Academy Securities Inc.     [____]  
Total     25,000,000  

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE II

 

PRICING INFORMATION

 

1. Public offering price per unit: $10.00

 

2. Number of units offered: 25,000,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE III

 

ROAD SHOW MATERIALS

 

Insert list of certain “road show” materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE IV

 

WRITTEN TESTING-THE-WATERS COMMUNICATIONS

 

Insert list of all Written Testing-the-Waters Communication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 3.2

 

THE COMPANIES ACT (As Revised)

OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

COMPANY LIMITED BY SHARES

 

AMENDED AND RESTATED

MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION

 

OF

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

(adopted by special resolution dated [ ] and effective on [ ])

 

 

 

 

THE COMPANIES ACT (As Revised)

OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

COMPANY LIMITED BY SHARES

 

AMENDED AND RESTATED

MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION

OF

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

(adopted by special resolution dated [ ] and effective on [ ])

 

1 The name of the Company is Rice Acquisition Corp. II.

 

2 The Registered Office of the Company shall be at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands, or at such other place within the Cayman Islands as the Directors may decide.

 

3 The objects for which the Company is established are unrestricted and the Company shall have full power and authority to carry out any object not prohibited by the laws of the Cayman Islands.

 

4 The liability of each Member is limited to the amount unpaid on such Member’s shares.

 

5 The share capital of the Company is US$33,100 divided into 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each, 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each and 1,000,000 preference shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each.

 

6 The Company has power to register by way of continuation as a body corporate limited by shares under the laws of any jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands and to be deregistered in the Cayman Islands.

 

7 Capitalised terms that are not defined in this Amended and Restated Memorandum of Association bear the respective meanings given to them in the Amended and Restated Articles of Association of the Company.

 

2

 

 

THE COMPANIES ACT (As Revised)

OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

COMPANY LIMITED BY SHARES

 

AMENDED AND RESTATED

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION

OF

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

(adopted by special resolution dated [ ] and effective on [ ])

 

1 Interpretation

 

1.1 In the Articles Table A in the First Schedule to the Statute does not apply and, unless there is something in the subject or context inconsistent therewith:

 

“Affiliate”   in respect of a person, means any other person that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, such person, and (a) in the case of a natural person, shall include, without limitation, such person’s spouse, parents, children, siblings, mother-in-law and father-in-law and brothers and sisters-in-law, whether by blood, marriage or adoption or anyone residing in such person’s home, a trust for the benefit of any of the foregoing, a company, partnership or any natural person or entity wholly or jointly owned by any of the foregoing and (b) in the case of an entity, shall include a partnership, a corporation or any natural person or entity which directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, such entity.
     
“Applicable Law”   means, with respect to any person, all provisions of laws, statutes, ordinances, rules, regulations, permits, certificates, judgments, decisions, decrees or orders of any governmental authority applicable to such person.
     
“Articles”   means these amended and restated articles of association of the Company.
     
“Audit Committee”   means the audit committee of the board of directors of the Company established pursuant to the Articles, or any successor committee.
     
“Auditor”   means the person for the time being performing the duties of auditor of the Company (if any).

 

3

 

 

“Business Combination”   means a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganisation or similar business combination involving the Company, with one or more businesses or entities (the “target business”), which Business Combination: (a) as long as the securities of the Company are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80 per cent of the assets held in the Trust Account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in the Trust Account) at the time of the signing of the definitive agreement to enter into such Business Combination; and (b) must not be solely effectuated with another blank cheque company or a similar company with nominal operations.
     
“business day”   means any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday or a day on which banking institutions or trust companies are authorised or obligated by law to close in New York City.
     
“Call Right”   has the meaning given to that term in the LLC Agreement.
     
“Clearing House”   means a clearing house recognised by the laws of the jurisdiction in which the Shares (or depositary receipts therefor) are listed or quoted on a stock exchange or interdealer quotation system in such jurisdiction.
     
“Class A Share”   means a Class A ordinary share of a par value of US$0.0001 in the share capital of the Company.
     
“Class A Unit”   has the meaning given to that term in the LLC Agreement.
     
“Class B Share”   means a Class B ordinary share of a par value of US$0.0001 in the share capital of the Company.
     
“Class B Unit”   has the meaning given to that term in the LLC Agreement.
     
“Company”   means the above named company.
     
“Company’s Website”   means the website of the Company and/or its web-address or domain name (if any).
     
“Compensation Committee”   means the compensation committee of the board of directors of the Company established pursuant to the Articles, or any successor committee.

 

4

 

 

“Designated Stock Exchange”   means any United States national securities exchange on which the securities of the Company are listed for trading, including the New York Stock Exchange.
     
“Directors”   means the directors for the time being of the Company.
     
“Dividend”   means any dividend (whether interim or final) resolved to be paid on Shares pursuant to the Articles.
     
“Electronic Communication”   means a communication sent by electronic means, including electronic posting to the Company’s Website, transmission to any number, address or internet website (including the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission) or other electronic delivery methods as otherwise decided and approved by the Directors.
     
“Electronic Record”   has the same meaning as in the Electronic Transactions Act.
     
“Electronic Transactions Act”   means the Electronic Transactions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands.
     
“Equity-linked Securities”   means any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for Class A Shares issued in a financing transaction in connection with a Business Combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt.
     
“Exchange Act”   means the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or any similar U.S. federal statute and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission thereunder, all as the same shall be in effect at the time.
     
“Founders”   means all Members immediately prior to the consummation of the IPO.
     
“Independent Director”   has the same meaning as in the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange or in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act, as the case may be.
     
“IPO”   means the Company’s initial public offering of securities.
     
“LLC Agreement”   means the amended and restated limited liability company agreement of Opco dated [  ] as amended from time to time.
     
“Member”   has the same meaning as in the Statute.
     
“Memorandum”   means the amended and restated memorandum of association of the Company.

 

5

 

 

“Nominating Committee”   means the nominating committee of the board of directors of the Company established pursuant to the Articles, or any successor committee.
     
“Opco”   means Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company.
     
“Officer”   means a person appointed to hold an office in the Company.
     
“Ordinary Resolution”   means a resolution passed by a simple majority of the Members as, being entitled to do so, vote in person or, where proxies are allowed, by proxy at a general meeting, and includes a unanimous written resolution. In computing the majority when a poll is demanded regard shall be had to the number of votes to which each Member is entitled by the Articles.
     
“Over-Allotment Option”   means the option of the Underwriters to purchase up to an additional 15 per cent of the firm units (as described in the Articles) issued in the IPO at a price equal to US$10 per unit, less underwriting discounts and commissions.
     
“Preference Share”   means a preference share of a par value of US$0.0001 in the share capital of the Company.
     
“Public Share”   means a Class A Share issued as part of the units (as described in the Articles) issued in the IPO.
     
“Redemption Notice”   means a notice in a form approved by the Company by which a holder of Public Shares is entitled to require the Company to redeem its Public Shares, subject to any conditions contained therein.
     
“Redemption Right”   has the meaning given to that term in the LLC Agreement.
     
“Register of Members”   means the register of Members maintained in accordance with the Statute and includes (except where otherwise stated) any branch or duplicate register of Members.
     
“Registered Office”   means the registered office for the time being of the Company.
     
“Representative”   means a representative of the Underwriters.
     
“Seal”   means the common seal of the Company and includes every duplicate seal.
     
“Securities and Exchange Commission”   means the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

6

 

 

“Share”   means a Class A Share, a Class B Share or a Preference Share and includes a fraction of a share in the Company.
     
“Special Resolution”   subject to Article 29.4, has the same meaning as in the Statute, and includes a unanimous written resolution.
     
“Sponsor”   means Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and its successors or assigns.
     
“Statute”   means the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands.
     
“Tax Filing Authorised Person”   means such person as any Director shall designate from time to time, acting severally.
     
“Treasury Share”   means a Share held in the name of the Company as a treasury share in accordance with the Statute.
     
“Trust Account”   means the trust account established by the Company and Opco upon the consummation of the IPO and into which a certain amount of the net proceeds of the IPO, together with a certain amount of the proceeds of a private placement of warrants simultaneously with the closing date of the IPO, will be deposited.
     
“Underwriter”   means an underwriter of the IPO from time to time and any successor underwriter.

 

1.2 In the Articles:

 

(a) words importing the singular number include the plural number and vice versa;

 

(b) words importing the masculine gender include the feminine gender;

 

(c) words importing persons include corporations as well as any other legal or natural person;

 

(d) “written” and “in writing” include all modes of representing or reproducing words in visible form, including in the form of an Electronic Record;

 

(e) “shall” shall be construed as imperative and “may” shall be construed as permissive;

 

(f) references to provisions of any law or regulation shall be construed as references to those provisions as amended, modified, re-enacted or replaced;

 

(g) any phrase introduced by the terms “including”, “include”, “in particular” or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words preceding those terms;

 

7

 

 

(h) the term “and/or” is used herein to mean both “and” as well as “or.” The use of “and/or” in certain contexts in no respects qualifies or modifies the use of the terms “and” or “or” in others. The term “or” shall not be interpreted to be exclusive and the term “and” shall not be interpreted to require the conjunctive (in each case, unless the context otherwise requires);

 

(i) headings are inserted for reference only and shall be ignored in construing the Articles;

 

(j) any requirements as to delivery under the Articles include delivery in the form of an Electronic Record;

 

(k) any requirements as to execution or signature under the Articles including the execution of the Articles themselves can be satisfied in the form of an electronic signature as defined in the Electronic Transactions Act;

 

(l) sections 8 and 19(3) of the Electronic Transactions Act shall not apply;

 

(m) the term “clear days” in relation to the period of a notice means that period excluding the day when the notice is received or deemed to be received and the day for which it is given or on which it is to take effect; and

 

(n) the term “holder” in relation to a Share means a person whose name is entered in the Register of Members as the holder of such Share.

 

2 Commencement of Business

 

2.1 The business of the Company may be commenced as soon after incorporation of the Company as the Directors shall see fit.

 

2.2 The Directors may pay, out of the capital or any other monies of the Company, all expenses incurred in or about the formation and establishment of the Company, including the expenses of registration.

 

3 Issue of Shares and other Securities

 

3.1 Subject to Article 3.2, Article 3.3, the provisions, if any, in the Memorandum (and to any direction that may be given by the Company in general meeting) and, where applicable, the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law, and without prejudice to any rights attached to any existing Shares, the Directors may allot, issue, grant options over or otherwise dispose of Shares (including fractions of a Share) with or without preferred, deferred or other rights or restrictions, whether in regard to Dividends or other distributions, voting, return of capital or otherwise and to such persons, at such times and on such other terms as they think proper, and may also (subject to the Statute and the Articles) vary such rights.

 

8

 

 

3.2 The Directors shall issue Class A Shares on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the LLC Agreement upon the redemption of Class A Units pursuant to the Redemption Right or Call Right. The Company shall at all times reserve and keep available out of its authorised but unissued share capital Class A Shares, solely for the purpose of issuance upon the redemption or exchange of the outstanding Class A Units for Class A Shares pursuant to the LLC Agreement, such number of shares of Class A Shares that shall be issuable upon any such redemption or exchange pursuant to the LLC Agreement; provided that nothing contained herein shall be construed to preclude the Company from satisfying its obligations in respect of any such redemption or exchange of Class A Units pursuant to the LLC Agreement by delivering to Opco or the holder of Class A Units, as applicable, in lieu of newly issued Class A Shares cash in the amount permitted by and provided in the LLC Agreement or Class A Shares which are held in the treasury of the Company. All Class A Shares that may be issued upon any such exchange shall, upon issuance in accordance with the LLC Agreement, be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. In connection with any such exchange or redemption of Class A Units pursuant to the LLC Agreement, an equal number of shares of Class B Shares shall be forfeited by the holder of such Class A Units and cancelled.

 

3.3 To the extent the number of Class A Units into which the Class B Units will convert pursuant to the LLC Agreement is adjusted (whether through an adjustment to the conversion ratio of such Class B Units or to the number of Class B Units outstanding), the outstanding Class B Shares will be adjusted through a share split or equivalent so that the total number of outstanding Class B Shares corresponds to the total number of Class A Units outstanding (other than those held by the Company and any of its wholly owned subsidiaries) plus the total number of Class A Units into which the Class B Units are entitled to convert pursuant to the LLC Agreement.

 

3.4 The Company may issue rights, options, warrants or convertible securities or securities of similar nature conferring the right upon the holders thereof to subscribe for, purchase or receive any class of Shares or other securities in the Company on such terms as the Directors may from time to time determine.

 

3.5 The Company may issue units of securities in the Company, which may be comprised of whole or fractional Shares, rights, options, warrants or convertible securities or securities of similar nature conferring the right upon the holders thereof to subscribe for, purchase or receive any class of Shares or other securities in the Company, upon such terms as the Directors may from time to time determine. The securities comprising any such units which are issued pursuant to the IPO can only be traded separately from one another on the 52nd day following the date of the prospectus relating to the IPO unless the Representative(s) determines that an earlier date is acceptable, subject to the Company having filed a current report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Prior to such date, the units can be traded, but the securities comprising such units cannot be traded separately from one another.

 

3.6 The Company shall not issue Shares to bearer.

 

4 Register of Members

 

4.1 The Company shall maintain or cause to be maintained the Register of Members in accordance with the Statute, provided that for so long as the securities of the Company are listed for trading on the Designated Stock Exchange, title to such securities may be evidenced and transferred in accordance with the laws applicable to and the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange.

 

9

 

 

4.2 The Directors may determine that the Company shall maintain one or more branch registers of Members in accordance with the Statute. The Directors may also determine which register of Members shall constitute the principal register and which shall constitute the branch register or registers, and to vary such determination from time to time.

 

5 Closing Register of Members or Fixing Record Date

 

5.1 For the purpose of determining Members entitled to notice of, or to vote at any meeting of Members or any adjournment thereof, or Members entitled to receive payment of any Dividend or other distribution, or in order to make a determination of Members for any other purpose, the Directors may, after notice has been given by advertisement in an appointed newspaper or any other newspaper or by any other means in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law, provide that the Register of Members shall be closed for transfers for a stated period which shall not in any case exceed forty days.

 

5.2 In lieu of, or apart from, closing the Register of Members, the Directors may fix in advance or arrears a date as the record date for any such determination of Members entitled to notice of, or to vote at any meeting of the Members or any adjournment thereof, or for the purpose of determining the Members entitled to receive payment of any Dividend or other distribution, or in order to make a determination of Members for any other purpose.

 

5.3 If the Register of Members is not so closed and no record date is fixed for the determination of Members entitled to notice of, or to vote at, a meeting of Members or Members entitled to receive payment of a Dividend or other distribution, the date on which notice of the meeting is sent or the date on which the resolution of the Directors resolving to pay such Dividend or other distribution is passed, as the case may be, shall be the record date for such determination of Members. When a determination of Members entitled to vote at any meeting of Members has been made as provided in this Article, such determination shall apply to any adjournment thereof.

 

6 Certificates for Shares

 

6.1 A Member shall only be entitled to a share certificate if the Directors resolve that share certificates shall be issued. Share certificates representing Shares, if any, shall be in such form as the Directors may determine. Share certificates shall be signed by one or more Directors or other person authorised by the Directors. The Directors may authorise certificates to be issued with the authorised signature(s) affixed by mechanical process. All certificates for Shares shall be consecutively numbered or otherwise identified and shall specify the Shares to which they relate. All certificates surrendered to the Company for transfer shall be cancelled and, subject to the Articles, no new certificate shall be issued until the former certificate representing a like number of relevant Shares shall have been surrendered and cancelled.

 

10

 

 

6.2 The Company shall not be bound to issue more than one certificate for Shares held jointly by more than one person and delivery of a certificate to one joint holder shall be a sufficient delivery to all of them.

 

6.3 If a share certificate is defaced, worn out, lost or destroyed, it may be renewed on such terms (if any) as to evidence and indemnity and on the payment of such expenses reasonably incurred by the Company in investigating evidence, as the Directors may prescribe, and (in the case of defacement or wearing out) upon delivery of the old certificate.

 

6.4 Every share certificate sent in accordance with the Articles will be sent at the risk of the Member or other person entitled to the certificate. The Company will not be responsible for any share certificate lost or delayed in the course of delivery.

 

6.5 Share certificates shall be issued within the relevant time limit as prescribed by the Statute, if applicable, or as the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law may from time to time determine, whichever is shorter, after the allotment or, except in the case of a Share transfer which the Company is for the time being entitled to refuse to register and does not register, after lodgement of a Share transfer with the Company.

 

7 Transfer of Shares

 

7.1 Subject to the terms of the Articles, any Member may transfer all or any of his Shares by an instrument of transfer provided that such transfer complies with the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law. If the Shares in question were issued in conjunction with rights, options, warrants or units issued pursuant to the Articles on terms that one cannot be transferred without the other, the Directors shall refuse to register the transfer of any such Share without evidence satisfactory to them of the like transfer of such right, option, warrant or unit.

 

7.2 The instrument of transfer of any Share shall be in writing in the usual or common form or in a form prescribed by the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law or in any other form approved by the Directors and shall be executed by or on behalf of the transferor (and if the Directors so require, signed by or on behalf of the transferee) and may be under hand or, if the transferor or transferee is a Clearing House or its nominee(s), by hand or by machine imprinted signature or by such other manner of execution as the Directors may approve from time to time. The transferor shall be deemed to remain the holder of a Share until the name of the transferee is entered in the Register of Members.

 

11

 

 

8 Redemption, Repurchase and Surrender of Shares

 

8.1 Subject to the provisions of the Statute, and, where applicable, the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law, the Company may issue Shares that are to be redeemed or are liable to be redeemed at the option of the Member or the Company. The redemption of such Shares, except Public Shares, shall be effected in such manner and upon such other terms as the Company may, by Special Resolution, determine before the issue of such Shares. With respect to redeeming or repurchasing the Shares:

 

(a) Members who hold Public Shares are entitled to request the redemption of such Shares in the circumstances described in the Business Combination Article hereof;

 

(b) Class B Shares held by the Sponsor shall be surrendered by the Sponsor for no consideration on a pro-rata basis to the extent that the Over-Allotment Option is not exercised in full so that the Founders will own 20 per cent of the Company’s issued Shares after the IPO (exclusive of any securities purchased in a private placement simultaneously with the IPO); and

 

(c) Public Shares shall be repurchased by way of tender offer in the circumstances set out in the Business Combination Article hereof.

 

8.2 Subject to the provisions of the Statute, and, where applicable, the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law, the Company may purchase its own Shares (including any redeemable Shares) in such manner and on such other terms as the Directors may agree with the relevant Member. For the avoidance of doubt, redemptions, repurchases and surrenders of Shares in the circumstances described in the Article above shall not require further approval of the Members.

 

8.3 The Company may make a payment in respect of the redemption or purchase of its own Shares in any manner permitted by the Statute, including out of capital.

 

8.4 The Directors may accept the surrender for no consideration of any fully paid Share.

 

9 Treasury Shares

 

9.1 The Directors may, prior to the purchase, redemption or surrender of any Share, determine that such Share shall be held as a Treasury Share.

 

9.2 The Directors may determine to cancel a Treasury Share or transfer a Treasury Share on such terms as they think proper (including, without limitation, for nil consideration).

 

10 Variation of Rights of Shares

 

10.1 Subject to Article 3.1, if at any time the share capital of the Company is divided into different classes of Shares, all or any of the rights attached to any class (unless otherwise provided by the terms of issue of the Shares of that class) may, whether or not the Company is being wound up, be varied without the consent of the holders of the issued Shares of that class where such variation is considered by the Directors not to have a material adverse effect upon such rights; otherwise, any such variation shall be made only with the consent in writing of the holders of not less than two thirds of the issued Shares of that class, or with the approval of a resolution passed by a majority of not less than two thirds of the votes cast at a separate meeting of the holders of the Shares of that class. For the avoidance of doubt, the Directors reserve the right, notwithstanding that any such variation may not have a material adverse effect, to obtain consent from the holders of Shares of the relevant class. To any such meeting all the provisions of the Articles relating to general meetings shall apply mutatis mutandis, except that the necessary quorum shall be one person holding or representing by proxy at least one-third of the issued Shares of the class and that any holder of Shares of the class present in person or by proxy may demand a poll.

 

12

 

 

10.2 For the purposes of a separate class meeting, the Directors may treat two or more or all the classes of Shares as forming one class of Shares if the Directors consider that such class of Shares would be affected in the same way by the proposals under consideration, but in any other case shall treat them as separate classes of Shares.

 

10.3 The rights conferred upon the holders of the Shares of any class issued with preferred or other rights shall not, unless otherwise expressly provided by the terms of issue of the Shares of that class, be deemed to be varied by the creation or issue of further Shares ranking pari passu therewith or Shares issued with preferred or other rights.

 

11 Commission on Sale of Shares

 

The Company may, in so far as the Statute permits, pay a commission to any person in consideration of his subscribing or agreeing to subscribe (whether absolutely or conditionally) or procuring or agreeing to procure subscriptions (whether absolutely or conditionally) for any Shares. Such commissions may be satisfied by the payment of cash and/or the issue of fully or partly paid-up Shares. The Company may also on any issue of Shares pay such brokerage as may be lawful.

 

12 Non Recognition of Trusts

 

The Company shall not be bound by or compelled to recognise in any way (even when notified) any equitable, contingent, future or partial interest in any Share, or (except only as is otherwise provided by the Articles or the Statute) any other rights in respect of any Share other than an absolute right to the entirety thereof in the holder.

 

13 Lien on Shares

 

13.1 The Company shall have a first and paramount lien on all Shares (whether fully paid-up or not) registered in the name of a Member (whether solely or jointly with others) for all debts, liabilities or engagements to or with the Company (whether presently payable or not) by such Member or his estate, either alone or jointly with any other person, whether a Member or not, but the Directors may at any time declare any Share to be wholly or in part exempt from the provisions of this Article. The registration of a transfer of any such Share shall operate as a waiver of the Company’s lien thereon. The Company’s lien on a Share shall also extend to any amount payable in respect of that Share.

 

13.2 The Company may sell, in such manner as the Directors think fit, any Shares on which the Company has a lien, if a sum in respect of which the lien exists is presently payable, and is not paid within fourteen clear days after notice has been received or deemed to have been received by the holder of the Shares, or to the person entitled to it in consequence of the death or bankruptcy of the holder, demanding payment and stating that if the notice is not complied with the Shares may be sold.

 

13

 

 

13.3 To give effect to any such sale the Directors may authorise any person to execute an instrument of transfer of the Shares sold to, or in accordance with the directions of, the purchaser. The purchaser or his nominee shall be registered as the holder of the Shares comprised in any such transfer, and he shall not be bound to see to the application of the purchase money, nor shall his title to the Shares be affected by any irregularity or invalidity in the sale or the exercise of the Company’s power of sale under the Articles.

 

13.4 The net proceeds of such sale after payment of costs, shall be applied in payment of such part of the amount in respect of which the lien exists as is presently payable and any balance shall (subject to a like lien for sums not presently payable as existed upon the Shares before the sale) be paid to the person entitled to the Shares at the date of the sale.

 

14 Call on Shares

 

14.1 Subject to the terms of the allotment and issue of any Shares, the Directors may make calls upon the Members in respect of any monies unpaid on their Shares (whether in respect of par value or premium), and each Member shall (subject to receiving at least fourteen clear days’ notice specifying the time or times of payment) pay to the Company at the time or times so specified the amount called on the Shares. A call may be revoked or postponed, in whole or in part, as the Directors may determine. A call may be required to be paid by instalments. A person upon whom a call is made shall remain liable for calls made upon him notwithstanding the subsequent transfer of the Shares in respect of which the call was made.

 

14.2 A call shall be deemed to have been made at the time when the resolution of the Directors authorising such call was passed.

 

14.3 The joint holders of a Share shall be jointly and severally liable to pay all calls in respect thereof.

 

14.4 If a call remains unpaid after it has become due and payable, the person from whom it is due shall pay interest on the amount unpaid from the day it became due and payable until it is paid at such rate as the Directors may determine (and in addition all expenses that have been incurred by the Company by reason of such non-payment), but the Directors may waive payment of the interest or expenses wholly or in part.

 

14.5 An amount payable in respect of a Share on issue or allotment or at any fixed date, whether on account of the par value of the Share or premium or otherwise, shall be deemed to be a call and if it is not paid all the provisions of the Articles shall apply as if that amount had become due and payable by virtue of a call.

 

14.6 The Directors may issue Shares with different terms as to the amount and times of payment of calls, or the interest to be paid.

 

14.7 The Directors may, if they think fit, receive an amount from any Member willing to advance all or any part of the monies uncalled and unpaid upon any Shares held by him, and may (until the amount would otherwise become payable) pay interest at such rate as may be agreed upon between the Directors and the Member paying such amount in advance.

 

14

 

 

14.8 No such amount paid in advance of calls shall entitle the Member paying such amount to any portion of a Dividend or other distribution payable in respect of any period prior to the date upon which such amount would, but for such payment, become payable.

 

15 Forfeiture of Shares

 

15.1 If a call or instalment of a call remains unpaid after it has become due and payable the Directors may give to the person from whom it is due not less than fourteen clear days’ notice requiring payment of the amount unpaid together with any interest which may have accrued and any expenses incurred by the Company by reason of such non-payment. The notice shall specify where payment is to be made and shall state that if the notice is not complied with the Shares in respect of which the call was made will be liable to be forfeited.

 

15.2 If the notice is not complied with, any Share in respect of which it was given may, before the payment required by the notice has been made, be forfeited by a resolution of the Directors. Such forfeiture shall include all Dividends, other distributions or other monies payable in respect of the forfeited Share and not paid before the forfeiture.

 

15.3 A forfeited Share may be sold, re-allotted or otherwise disposed of on such terms and in such manner as the Directors think fit and at any time before a sale, re-allotment or disposition the forfeiture may be cancelled on such terms as the Directors think fit. Where for the purposes of its disposal a forfeited Share is to be transferred to any person the Directors may authorise some person to execute an instrument of transfer of the Share in favour of that person.

 

15.4 A person any of whose Shares have been forfeited shall cease to be a Member in respect of them and shall surrender to the Company for cancellation the certificate for the Shares forfeited and shall remain liable to pay to the Company all monies which at the date of forfeiture were payable by him to the Company in respect of those Shares together with interest at such rate as the Directors may determine, but his liability shall cease if and when the Company shall have received payment in full of all monies due and payable by him in respect of those Shares.

 

15.5 A certificate in writing under the hand of one Director or Officer that a Share has been forfeited on a specified date shall be conclusive evidence of the facts stated in it as against all persons claiming to be entitled to the Share. The certificate shall (subject to the execution of an instrument of transfer) constitute a good title to the Share and the person to whom the Share is sold or otherwise disposed of shall not be bound to see to the application of the purchase money, if any, nor shall his title to the Share be affected by any irregularity or invalidity in the proceedings in reference to the forfeiture, sale or disposal of the Share.

 

15.6 The provisions of the Articles as to forfeiture shall apply in the case of non payment of any sum which, by the terms of issue of a Share, becomes payable at a fixed time, whether on account of the par value of the Share or by way of premium as if it had been payable by virtue of a call duly made and notified.

 

15

 

 

16 Transmission of Shares

 

16.1 If a Member dies, the survivor or survivors (where he was a joint holder), or his legal personal representatives (where he was a sole holder), shall be the only persons recognised by the Company as having any title to his Shares. The estate of a deceased Member is not thereby released from any liability in respect of any Share, for which he was a joint or sole holder.

 

16.2 Any person becoming entitled to a Share in consequence of the death or bankruptcy or liquidation or dissolution of a Member (or in any other way than by transfer) may, upon such evidence being produced as may be required by the Directors, elect, by a notice in writing sent by him to the Company, either to become the holder of such Share or to have some person nominated by him registered as the holder of such Share. If he elects to have another person registered as the holder of such Share he shall sign an instrument of transfer of that Share to that person. The Directors shall, in either case, have the same right to decline or suspend registration as they would have had in the case of a transfer of the Share by the relevant Member before his death or bankruptcy or liquidation or dissolution, as the case may be.

 

16.3 A person becoming entitled to a Share by reason of the death or bankruptcy or liquidation or dissolution of a Member (or in any other case than by transfer) shall be entitled to the same Dividends, other distributions and other advantages to which he would be entitled if he were the holder of such Share. However, he shall not, before becoming a Member in respect of a Share, be entitled in respect of it to exercise any right conferred by membership in relation to general meetings of the Company and the Directors may at any time give notice requiring any such person to elect either to be registered himself or to have some person nominated by him be registered as the holder of the Share (but the Directors shall, in either case, have the same right to decline or suspend registration as they would have had in the case of a transfer of the Share by the relevant Member before his death or bankruptcy or liquidation or dissolution or any other case than by transfer, as the case may be). If the notice is not complied with within ninety days of being received or deemed to be received (as determined pursuant to the Articles), the Directors may thereafter withhold payment of all Dividends, other distributions, bonuses or other monies payable in respect of the Share until the requirements of the notice have been complied with.

 

17 Class B Ordinary Shares

 

17.1 The Class A Shares and Class B Shares shall vote together as a single class on all matters (subject to the Variation of Rights of Shares Article and the Appointment and Removal of Directors Article hereof).

 

18 Amendments of Memorandum and Articles of Association and Alteration of Capital

 

18.1 The Company may by Ordinary Resolution:

 

(a) increase its share capital by such sum as the Ordinary Resolution shall prescribe and with such rights, priorities and privileges annexed thereto, as the Company in general meeting may determine;

 

16

 

 

(b) consolidate and divide all or any of its share capital into Shares of larger amount than its existing Shares;

 

(c) convert all or any of its paid-up Shares into stock, and reconvert that stock into paid-up Shares of any denomination;

 

(d) by subdivision of its existing Shares or any of them divide the whole or any part of its share capital into Shares of smaller amount than is fixed by the Memorandum or into Shares without par value; and

 

(e) cancel any Shares that at the date of the passing of the Ordinary Resolution have not been taken or agreed to be taken by any person and diminish the amount of its share capital by the amount of the Shares so cancelled.

 

18.2 All new Shares created in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Article shall be subject to the same provisions of the Articles with reference to the payment of calls, liens, transfer, transmission, forfeiture and otherwise as the Shares in the original share capital.

 

18.3 Subject to the provisions of the Statute, the provisions of the Articles as regards the matters to be dealt with by Ordinary Resolution and Article 29.4, the Company may by Special Resolution:

 

(a) change its name;

 

(b) alter or add to the Articles;

 

(c) alter or add to the Memorandum with respect to any objects, powers or other matters specified therein; and

 

(d) reduce its share capital or any capital redemption reserve fund.

 

19 Offices and Places of Business

 

Subject to the provisions of the Statute, the Company may by resolution of the Directors change the location of its Registered Office. The Company may, in addition to its Registered Office, maintain such other offices or places of business as the Directors determine.

 

20 General Meetings

 

20.1 All general meetings other than annual general meetings shall be called extraordinary general meetings.

 

20.2 The Company may, but shall not (unless required by the Statute) be obliged to, in each year hold a general meeting as its annual general meeting, and shall specify the meeting as such in the notices calling it. Any annual general meeting shall be held at such time and place as the Directors shall appoint. At these meetings the report of the Directors (if any) shall be presented.

 

17

 

 

20.3 The Directors, the chief executive officer or the chairman of the board of Directors may call general meetings, and, for the avoidance of doubt, Members shall not have the ability to call general meetings.

 

20.4 Members seeking to bring business before the annual general meeting or to nominate candidates for appointment as Directors at the annual general meeting must deliver notice to the principal executive offices of the Company not less than 120 calendar days before the date of the Company’s proxy statement released to Members in connection with the previous year’s annual general meeting or, if the Company did not hold an annual general meeting the previous year, or if the date of the current year’s annual general meeting has been changed by more than 30 days from the date of the previous year’s annual general meeting, then the deadline shall be set by the board of Directors with such deadline being a reasonable time before the Company begins to print and send its related proxy materials.

 

21 Notice of General Meetings

 

21.1 At least five clear days’ notice shall be given of any general meeting. Every notice shall specify the place, the day and the hour of the meeting and the general nature of the business to be conducted at the general meeting and shall be given in the manner hereinafter mentioned or in such other manner if any as may be prescribed by the Company, provided that a general meeting of the Company shall, whether or not the notice specified in this Article has been given and whether or not the provisions of the Articles regarding general meetings have been complied with, be deemed to have been duly convened if it is so agreed:

 

(a) in the case of an annual general meeting, by all of the Members entitled to attend and vote thereat; and

 

(b) in the case of an extraordinary general meeting, by a majority in number of the Members having a right to attend and vote at the meeting, together holding not less than ninety-five per cent in par value of the Shares giving that right.

 

21.2 The accidental omission to give notice of a general meeting to, or the non receipt of notice of a general meeting by, any person entitled to receive such notice shall not invalidate the proceedings of that general meeting.

 

22 Proceedings at General Meetings

 

22.1 No business shall be transacted at any general meeting unless a quorum is present. The holders of one-third of the Shares being individuals present in person or by proxy or if a corporation or other non-natural person by its duly authorised representative or proxy shall be a quorum.

 

22.2 A person may participate at a general meeting by conference telephone or other communications equipment by means of which all the persons participating in the meeting can communicate with each other. Participation by a person in a general meeting in this manner is treated as presence in person at that meeting.

 

18

 

 

22.3 A resolution (including a Special Resolution) in writing (in one or more counterparts) signed by or on behalf of all of the Members for the time being entitled to receive notice of and to attend and vote at general meetings (or, being corporations or other non-natural persons, signed by their duly authorised representatives) shall be as valid and effective as if the resolution had been passed at a general meeting of the Company duly convened and held.

 

22.4 Any matter requiring the consent or approval of the holders of Class B Shares may be satisfied by a written consent signed by holders of Class B Shares representing the requisite threshold of holders of Class B Shares.

 

22.5 If a quorum is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting to commence, the meeting shall stand adjourned to the same day in the next week at the same time and/or place or to such other day, time and/or place as the Directors may determine, and if at the adjourned meeting a quorum is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting to commence, the Members present shall be a quorum.

 

22.6 The Directors may, at any time prior to the time appointed for the meeting to commence, appoint any person to act as chairman of a general meeting of the Company or, if the Directors do not make any such appointment, the chairman, if any, of the board of Directors shall preside as chairman at such general meeting. If there is no such chairman, or if he shall not be present within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for the meeting to commence, or is unwilling to act, the Directors present shall elect one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.

 

22.7 If no Director is willing to act as chairman or if no Director is present within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for the meeting to commence, the Members present shall choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.

 

22.8 The chairman may, with the consent of a meeting at which a quorum is present (and shall if so directed by the meeting) adjourn the meeting from time to time and from place to place, but no business shall be transacted at any adjourned meeting other than the business left unfinished at the meeting from which the adjournment took place.

 

22.9 When a general meeting is adjourned for thirty days or more, notice of the adjourned meeting shall be given as in the case of an original meeting. Otherwise it shall not be necessary to give any such notice of an adjourned meeting.

 

22.10 If, prior to a Business Combination, a notice is issued in respect of a general meeting and the Directors, in their absolute discretion, consider that it is impractical or undesirable for any reason to hold that general meeting at the place, the day and the hour specified in the notice calling such general meeting, the Directors may postpone the general meeting to another place, day and/or hour provided that notice of the place, the day and the hour of the rearranged general meeting is promptly given to all Members. No business shall be transacted at any postponed meeting other than the business specified in the notice of the original meeting.

 

22.11 When a general meeting is postponed for thirty days or more, notice of the postponed meeting shall be given as in the case of an original meeting. Otherwise it shall not be necessary to give any such notice of a postponed meeting. All proxy forms submitted for the original general meeting shall remain valid for the postponed meeting. The Directors may postpone a general meeting which has already been postponed.

 

19

 

 

22.12 A resolution put to the vote of the meeting shall be decided on a poll.

 

22.13 A poll shall be taken as the chairman directs, and the result of the poll shall be deemed to be the resolution of the general meeting at which the poll was demanded.

 

22.14 A poll demanded on the election of a chairman or on a question of adjournment shall be taken forthwith. A poll demanded on any other question shall be taken at such date, time and place as the chairman of the general meeting directs, and any business other than that upon which a poll has been demanded or is contingent thereon may proceed pending the taking of the poll.

 

22.15 In the case of an equality of votes the chairman shall be entitled to a second or casting vote.

 

23 Votes of Members

 

23.1 Subject to any rights or restrictions attached to any Shares, including as set out at Article 29.4, every Member present in any such manner shall have one vote for every Share of which he is the holder.

 

23.2 In the case of joint holders the vote of the senior holder who tenders a vote, whether in person or by proxy (or, in the case of a corporation or other non-natural person, by its duly authorised representative or proxy), shall be accepted to the exclusion of the votes of the other joint holders, and seniority shall be determined by the order in which the names of the holders stand in the Register of Members.

 

23.3 A Member of unsound mind, or in respect of whom an order has been made by any court, having jurisdiction in lunacy, may vote by his committee, receiver, curator bonis, or other person on such Member’s behalf appointed by that court, and any such committee, receiver, curator bonis or other person may vote by proxy.

 

23.4 No person shall be entitled to vote at any general meeting unless he is registered as a Member on the record date for such meeting nor unless all calls or other monies then payable by him in respect of Shares have been paid.

 

23.5 No objection shall be raised as to the qualification of any voter except at the general meeting or adjourned general meeting at which the vote objected to is given or tendered and every vote not disallowed at the meeting shall be valid. Any objection made in due time in accordance with this Article shall be referred to the chairman whose decision shall be final and conclusive.

 

23.6 Votes may be cast either personally or by proxy (or in the case of a corporation or other non-natural person by its duly authorised representative or proxy). A Member may appoint more than one proxy or the same proxy under one or more instruments to attend and vote at a meeting. Where a Member appoints more than one proxy the instrument of proxy shall specify the number of Shares in respect of which each proxy is entitled to exercise the related votes.

 

20

 

 

23.7 A Member holding more than one Share need not cast the votes in respect of his Shares in the same way on any resolution and therefore may vote a Share or some or all such Shares either for or against a resolution and/or abstain from voting a Share or some or all of the Shares and, subject to the terms of the instrument appointing him, a proxy appointed under one or more instruments may vote a Share or some or all of the Shares in respect of which he is appointed either for or against a resolution and/or abstain from voting a Share or some or all of the Shares in respect of which he is appointed.

 

24 Proxies

 

24.1 The instrument appointing a proxy shall be in writing and shall be executed under the hand of the appointor or of his attorney duly authorised in writing, or, if the appointor is a corporation or other non natural person, under the hand of its duly authorised representative. A proxy need not be a Member.

 

24.2 The Directors may, in the notice convening any meeting or adjourned meeting, or in an instrument of proxy sent out by the Company, specify the manner by which the instrument appointing a proxy shall be deposited and the place and the time (being not later than the time appointed for the commencement of the meeting or adjourned meeting to which the proxy relates) at which the instrument appointing a proxy shall be deposited. In the absence of any such direction from the Directors in the notice convening any meeting or adjourned meeting or in an instrument of proxy sent out by the Company, the instrument appointing a proxy shall be deposited physically at the Registered Office not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for the meeting or adjourned meeting to commence at which the person named in the instrument proposes to vote.

 

24.3 The chairman may in any event at his discretion declare that an instrument of proxy shall be deemed to have been duly deposited. An instrument of proxy that is not deposited in the manner permitted, or which has not been declared to have been duly deposited by the chairman, shall be invalid.

 

24.4 The instrument appointing a proxy may be in any usual or common form (or such other form as the Directors may approve) and may be expressed to be for a particular meeting or any adjournment thereof or generally until revoked. An instrument appointing a proxy shall be deemed to include the power to demand or join or concur in demanding a poll.

 

24.5 Votes given in accordance with the terms of an instrument of proxy shall be valid notwithstanding the previous death or insanity of the principal or revocation of the proxy or of the authority under which the proxy was executed, or the transfer of the Share in respect of which the proxy is given unless notice in writing of such death, insanity, revocation or transfer was received by the Company at the Registered Office before the commencement of the general meeting, or adjourned meeting at which it is sought to use the proxy.

 

25 Corporate Members

 

25.1 Any corporation or other non-natural person which is a Member may in accordance with its constitutional documents, or in the absence of such provision by resolution of its directors or other governing body, authorise such person as it thinks fit to act as its representative at any meeting of the Company or of any class of Members, and the person so authorised shall be entitled to exercise the same powers on behalf of the corporation which he represents as the corporation could exercise if it were an individual Member.

 

21

 

 

25.2 If a Clearing House (or its nominee(s)), being a corporation, is a Member, it may authorise such persons as it sees fit to act as its representative at any meeting of the Company or at any meeting of any class of Members provided that the authorisation shall specify the number and class of Shares in respect of which each such representative is so authorised. Each person so authorised under the provisions of this Article shall be deemed to have been duly authorised without further evidence of the facts and be entitled to exercise the same rights and powers on behalf of the Clearing House (or its nominee(s)) as if such person was the registered holder of such Shares held by the Clearing House (or its nominee(s)).

 

26 Shares that May Not be Voted

 

Shares in the Company that are beneficially owned by the Company shall not be voted, directly or indirectly, at any meeting and shall not be counted in determining the total number of outstanding Shares at any given time.

 

27 Directors

 

27.1 There shall be a board of Directors consisting of not less than one person provided however that the Company may by Ordinary Resolution increase or reduce the limits in the number of Directors.

 

27.2 The Directors shall be divided into three classes: Class I, Class II and Class III. The number of Directors in each class shall be as nearly equal as possible. Upon the adoption of the Articles, the existing Directors shall by resolution classify themselves as Class I, Class II or Class III Directors. The Class I Directors shall stand appointed for a term expiring at the Company’s first annual general meeting, the Class II Directors shall stand appointed for a term expiring at the Company’s second annual general meeting and the Class III Directors shall stand appointed for a term expiring at the Company’s third annual general meeting. Commencing at the Company’s first annual general meeting, and at each annual general meeting thereafter, Directors appointed to succeed those Directors whose terms expire shall be appointed for a term of office to expire at the third succeeding annual general meeting after their appointment. Except as the Statute or other Applicable Law may otherwise require, in the interim between annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings called for the appointment of Directors and/or the removal of one or more Directors and the filling of any vacancy in that connection, additional Directors and any vacancies in the board of Directors, including unfilled vacancies resulting from the removal of Directors for cause, may be filled by the vote of a majority of the remaining Directors then in office, although less than a quorum (as defined in the Articles), or by the sole remaining Director. All Directors shall hold office until the expiration of their respective terms of office and until their successors shall have been appointed and qualified. A Director appointed to fill a vacancy resulting from the death, resignation or removal of a Director shall serve for the remainder of the full term of the Director whose death, resignation or removal shall have created such vacancy and until his successor shall have been appointed and qualified.

 

22

 

 

28 Powers of Directors

 

28.1 Subject to the provisions of the Statute, the Memorandum and the Articles and to any directions given by Special Resolution, the business of the Company shall be managed by the Directors who may exercise all the powers of the Company. No alteration of the Memorandum or Articles and no such direction shall invalidate any prior act of the Directors which would have been valid if that alteration had not been made or that direction had not been given. A duly convened meeting of Directors at which a quorum is present may exercise all powers exercisable by the Directors.

 

28.2 All cheques, promissory notes, drafts, bills of exchange and other negotiable or transferable instruments and all receipts for monies paid to the Company shall be signed, drawn, accepted, endorsed or otherwise executed as the case may be in such manner as the Directors shall determine by resolution.

 

28.3 The Directors on behalf of the Company may pay a gratuity or pension or allowance on retirement to any Director who has held any other salaried office or place of profit with the Company or to his widow or dependants and may make contributions to any fund and pay premiums for the purchase or provision of any such gratuity, pension or allowance.

 

28.4 The Directors may exercise all the powers of the Company to borrow money and to mortgage or charge its undertaking, property and assets (present and future) and uncalled capital or any part thereof and to issue debentures, debenture stock, mortgages, bonds and other such securities whether outright or as security for any debt, liability or obligation of the Company or of any third party.

 

29 Appointment and Removal of Directors

 

29.1 Prior to the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company may by Ordinary Resolution of the holders of the Class B Shares appoint any person to be a Director or may by Ordinary Resolution of the holders of the Class B Shares remove any Director. For the avoidance of doubt, prior to the consummation of a Business Combination, holders of Class A Shares shall have no right to vote on the appointment or removal of any Director.

 

29.2 The Directors may appoint any person to be a Director, either to fill a vacancy or as an additional Director provided that the appointment does not cause the number of Directors to exceed any number fixed by or in accordance with the Articles as the maximum number of Directors.

 

29.3 After the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company may by Ordinary Resolution appoint any person to be a Director or may by Ordinary Resolution remove any Director.

 

29.4 Prior to the consummation of a Business Combination, Article 29.1 may only be amended by a Special Resolution passed by at least two-thirds of such Members (which shall include a simple majority of the holders of Class B Shares) as, being entitled to do so, vote in person or, where proxies are allowed, by proxy at a general meeting of which notice specifying the intention to propose the resolution as a special resolution has been given, or by way of unanimous written resolution.

 

23

 

 

30 Vacation of Office of Director

 

The office of a Director shall be vacated if:

 

(a) the Director gives notice in writing to the Company that he resigns the office of Director; or

 

(b) the Director absents himself (for the avoidance of doubt, without being represented by proxy) from three consecutive meetings of the board of Directors without special leave of absence from the Directors, and the Directors pass a resolution that he has by reason of such absence vacated office; or

 

(c) the Director dies, becomes bankrupt or makes any arrangement or composition with his creditors generally; or

 

(d) the Director is found to be or becomes of unsound mind; or

 

(e) all of the other Directors (being not less than two in number) determine that he should be removed as a Director, either by a resolution passed by all of the other Directors at a meeting of the Directors duly convened and held in accordance with the Articles or by a resolution in writing signed by all of the other Directors.

 

31 Proceedings of Directors

 

31.1 The quorum for the transaction of the business of the Directors may be fixed by the Directors, and unless so fixed shall be a majority of the Directors then in office.

 

31.2 Subject to the provisions of the Articles, the Directors may regulate their proceedings as they think fit. Questions arising at any meeting shall be decided by a majority of votes. In the case of an equality of votes, the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

 

31.3 A person may participate in a meeting of the Directors or any committee of Directors by conference telephone or other communications equipment by means of which all the persons participating in the meeting can communicate with each other at the same time. Participation by a person in a meeting in this manner is treated as presence in person at that meeting. Unless otherwise determined by the Directors, the meeting shall be deemed to be held at the place where the chairman is located at the start of the meeting.

 

31.4 A resolution in writing (in one or more counterparts) signed by all the Directors or all the members of a committee of the Directors or, in the case of a resolution in writing relating to the removal of any Director or the vacation of office by any Director, all of the Directors other than the Director who is the subject of such resolution shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of the Directors, or committee of Directors as the case may be, duly convened and held.

 

31.5 A Director may, or other Officer on the direction of a Director shall, call a meeting of the Directors by at least two days’ notice in writing to every Director which notice shall set forth the general nature of the business to be considered unless notice is waived by all the Directors either at, before or after the meeting is held. To any such notice of a meeting of the Directors all the provisions of the Articles relating to the giving of notices by the Company to the Members shall apply mutatis mutandis.

 

24

 

 

31.6 The continuing Directors (or a sole continuing Director, as the case may be) may act notwithstanding any vacancy in their body, but if and so long as their number is reduced below the number fixed by or pursuant to the Articles as the necessary quorum of Directors the continuing Directors or Director may act for the purpose of increasing the number of Directors to be equal to such fixed number, or of summoning a general meeting of the Company, but for no other purpose.

 

31.7 The Directors may elect a chairman of their board and determine the period for which he is to hold office; but if no such chairman is elected, or if at any meeting the chairman is not present within five minutes after the time appointed for the meeting to commence, the Directors present may choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.

 

31.8 All acts done by any meeting of the Directors or of a committee of the Directors shall, notwithstanding that it is afterwards discovered that there was some defect in the appointment of any Director, and/or that they or any of them were disqualified, and/or had vacated their office and/or were not entitled to vote, be as valid as if every such person had been duly appointed and/or not disqualified to be a Director and/or had not vacated their office and/or had been entitled to vote, as the case may be.

 

31.9 A Director may be represented at any meetings of the board of Directors by a proxy appointed in writing by him. The proxy shall count towards the quorum and the vote of the proxy shall for all purposes be deemed to be that of the appointing Director.

 

32 Presumption of Assent

 

A Director who is present at a meeting of the board of Directors at which action on any Company matter is taken shall be presumed to have assented to the action taken unless his dissent shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting or unless he shall file his written dissent from such action with the person acting as the chairman or secretary of the meeting before the adjournment thereof or shall forward such dissent by registered post to such person immediately after the adjournment of the meeting. Such right to dissent shall not apply to a Director who voted in favour of such action.

 

33 Directors’ Interests

 

33.1 A Director may hold any other office or place of profit under the Company (other than the office of Auditor) in conjunction with his office of Director for such period and on such terms as to remuneration and otherwise as the Directors may determine.

 

33.2 A Director may act by himself or by, through or on behalf of his firm in a professional capacity for the Company and he or his firm shall be entitled to remuneration for professional services as if he were not a Director.

 

33.3 A Director may be or become a director or other officer of or otherwise interested in any company promoted by the Company or in which the Company may be interested as a shareholder, a contracting party or otherwise, and no such Director shall be accountable to the Company for any remuneration or other benefits received by him as a director or officer of, or from his interest in, such other company.

 

25

 

 

33.4 No person shall be disqualified from the office of Director or prevented by such office from contracting with the Company, either as vendor, purchaser or otherwise, nor shall any such contract or any contract or transaction entered into by or on behalf of the Company in which any Director shall be in any way interested be or be liable to be avoided, nor shall any Director so contracting or being so interested be liable to account to the Company for any profit realised by or arising in connection with any such contract or transaction by reason of such Director holding office or of the fiduciary relationship thereby established. A Director shall be at liberty to vote in respect of any contract or transaction in which he is interested provided that the nature of the interest of any Director in any such contract or transaction shall be disclosed by him at or prior to its consideration and any vote thereon.

 

33.5 A general notice that a Director is a shareholder, director, officer or employee of any specified firm or company and is to be regarded as interested in any transaction with such firm or company shall be sufficient disclosure for the purposes of voting on a resolution in respect of a contract or transaction in which he has an interest, and after such general notice it shall not be necessary to give special notice relating to any particular transaction.

 

34 Minutes

 

The Directors shall cause minutes to be made in books kept for the purpose of recording all appointments of Officers made by the Directors, all proceedings at meetings of the Company or the holders of any class of Shares and of the Directors, and of committees of the Directors, including the names of the Directors present at each meeting.

 

35 Delegation of Directors’ Powers

 

35.1 The Directors may delegate any of their powers, authorities and discretions, including the power to sub-delegate, to any committee consisting of one or more Directors (including, without limitation, the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating Committee). Any such delegation may be made subject to any conditions the Directors may impose and either collaterally with or to the exclusion of their own powers and any such delegation may be revoked or altered by the Directors. Subject to any such conditions, the proceedings of a committee of Directors shall be governed by the Articles regulating the proceedings of Directors, so far as they are capable of applying.

 

35.2 The Directors may establish any committees, local boards or agencies or appoint any person to be a manager or agent for managing the affairs of the Company and may appoint any person to be a member of such committees, local boards or agencies. Any such appointment may be made subject to any conditions the Directors may impose, and either collaterally with or to the exclusion of their own powers and any such appointment may be revoked or altered by the Directors. Subject to any such conditions, the proceedings of any such committee, local board or agency shall be governed by the Articles regulating the proceedings of Directors, so far as they are capable of applying.

 

26

 

 

35.3 The Directors may adopt formal written charters for committees and, if so adopted, shall review and assess the adequacy of such formal written charters on an annual basis. Each of these committees shall be empowered to do all things necessary to exercise the rights of such committee set forth in the Articles and shall have such powers as the Directors may delegate pursuant to the Articles and as required by the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law. Each of the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating Committee, if established, shall consist of such number of Directors as the Directors shall from time to time determine (or such minimum number as may be required from time to time by the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law). For so long as any class of Shares is listed on the Designated Stock Exchange, the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Nominating Committee shall be made up of such number of Independent Directors as is required from time to time by the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law.

 

35.4 The Directors may by power of attorney or otherwise appoint any person to be the agent of the Company on such conditions as the Directors may determine, provided that the delegation is not to the exclusion of their own powers and may be revoked by the Directors at any time.

 

35.5 The Directors may by power of attorney or otherwise appoint any company, firm, person or body of persons, whether nominated directly or indirectly by the Directors, to be the attorney or authorised signatory of the Company for such purpose and with such powers, authorities and discretions (not exceeding those vested in or exercisable by the Directors under the Articles) and for such period and subject to such conditions as they may think fit, and any such powers of attorney or other appointment may contain such provisions for the protection and convenience of persons dealing with any such attorneys or authorised signatories as the Directors may think fit and may also authorise any such attorney or authorised signatory to delegate all or any of the powers, authorities and discretions vested in him.

 

35.6 The Directors may appoint such Officers as they consider necessary on such terms, at such remuneration and to perform such duties, and subject to such provisions as to disqualification and removal as the Directors may think fit. Unless otherwise specified in the terms of his appointment an Officer may be removed by resolution of the Directors or Members. An Officer may vacate his office at any time if he gives notice in writing to the Company that he resigns his office.

 

36 No Minimum Shareholding

 

    The Company in general meeting may fix a minimum shareholding required to be held by a Director, but unless and until such a shareholding qualification is fixed a Director is not required to hold Shares.

 

27

 

 

37 Remuneration of Directors

 

37.1 The remuneration to be paid to the Directors, if any, shall be such remuneration as the Directors shall determine, provided that no cash remuneration shall be paid to any Director by the Company prior to the consummation of a Business Combination. The Directors shall also, whether prior to or after the consummation of a Business Combination, be entitled to be paid all travelling, hotel and other expenses properly incurred by them in connection with their attendance at meetings of Directors or committees of Directors, or general meetings of the Company, or separate meetings of the holders of any class of Shares or debentures of the Company, or otherwise in connection with the business of the Company or the discharge of their duties as a Director, or to receive a fixed allowance in respect thereof as may be determined by the Directors, or a combination partly of one such method and partly the other.

 

37.2 The Directors may by resolution approve additional remuneration to any Director for any services which in the opinion of the Directors go beyond his ordinary routine work as a Director. Any fees paid to a Director who is also counsel, attorney or solicitor to the Company, or otherwise serves it in a professional capacity shall be in addition to his remuneration as a Director.

 

38 Seal

 

38.1 The Company may, if the Directors so determine, have a Seal. The Seal shall only be used by the authority of the Directors or of a committee of the Directors authorised by the Directors. Every instrument to which the Seal has been affixed shall be signed by at least one person who shall be either a Director or some Officer or other person appointed by the Directors for the purpose.

 

38.2 The Company may have for use in any place or places outside the Cayman Islands a duplicate Seal or Seals each of which shall be a facsimile of the common Seal of the Company and, if the Directors so determine, with the addition on its face of the name of every place where it is to be used.

 

38.3 A Director or Officer, representative or attorney of the Company may without further authority of the Directors affix the Seal over his signature alone to any document of the Company required to be authenticated by him under seal or to be filed with the Registrar of Companies in the Cayman Islands or elsewhere wheresoever.

 

39 Dividends, Distributions and Reserve

 

39.1 Subject to the Statute and this Article and except as otherwise provided by the rights attached to any Shares, the Directors may resolve to pay Dividends and other distributions on Shares in issue and authorise payment of the Dividends or other distributions out of the funds of the Company lawfully available therefor. A Dividend shall be deemed to be an interim Dividend unless the terms of the resolution pursuant to which the Directors resolve to pay such Dividend specifically state that such Dividend shall be a final Dividend. No Dividend or other distribution shall be paid except out of the realised or unrealised profits of the Company, out of the share premium account or as otherwise permitted by law.

 

39.2 Except as otherwise provided by the rights attached to any Shares, all Dividends and other distributions shall be paid according to the par value of the Shares that a Member holds. If any Share is issued on terms providing that it shall rank for Dividend as from a particular date, that Share shall rank for Dividend accordingly.

 

28

 

 

39.3 Subject to the Statute, this Article, the rights, if any, of the holders of any outstanding Preference Shares and Article 50:

 

(a) the holders of the Class A Shares shall be entitled to receive such dividends and other distributions (payable in cash, property or shares of the Company) when, as and if declared thereon by the Directors from time to time out of any assets or funds of the Company legally available therefor, and shall share equally on a per share basis in such dividends and distributions; and

 

(b) dividends and other distributions shall not be declared or paid on the Class B Shares unless the dividend consists of Class B Shares held by the Company in treasury, or by way of issue of further Class B Shares as a result of capitalisation pursuant to Article 40.

 

39.4 The Directors may deduct from any Dividend or other distribution payable to any Member all sums of money (if any) then payable by him to the Company on account of calls or otherwise.

 

39.5 The Directors may resolve that any Dividend or other distribution be paid wholly or partly by the distribution of specific assets and in particular (but without limitation) by the distribution of shares, debentures, or securities of any other company or in any one or more of such ways and where any difficulty arises in regard to such distribution, the Directors may settle the same as they think expedient and in particular may issue fractional Shares and may fix the value for distribution of such specific assets or any part thereof and may determine that cash payments shall be made to any Members upon the basis of the value so fixed in order to adjust the rights of all Members and may vest any such specific assets in trustees in such manner as may seem expedient to the Directors.

 

39.6 Except as otherwise provided by the rights attached to any Shares, Dividends and other distributions may be paid in any currency. The Directors may determine the basis of conversion for any currency conversions that may be required and how any costs involved are to be met.

 

39.7 The Directors may, before resolving to pay any Dividend or other distribution, set aside such sums as they think proper as a reserve or reserves which shall, at the discretion of the Directors, be applicable for any purpose of the Company and pending such application may, at the discretion of the Directors, be employed in the business of the Company.

 

39.8 Any Dividend, other distribution, interest or other monies payable in cash in respect of Shares may be paid by wire transfer to the holder or by cheque or warrant sent through the post directed to the registered address of the holder or, in the case of joint holders, to the registered address of the holder who is first named on the Register of Members or to such person and to such address as such holder or joint holders may in writing direct. Every such cheque or warrant shall be made payable to the order of the person to whom it is sent. Any one of two or more joint holders may give effectual receipts for any Dividends, other distributions, bonuses, or other monies payable in respect of the Share held by them as joint holders.

 

39.9 No Dividend or other distribution shall bear interest against the Company.

 

39.10 Any Dividend or other distribution which cannot be paid to a Member and/or which remains unclaimed after six months from the date on which such Dividend or other distribution becomes payable may, in the discretion of the Directors, be paid into a separate account in the Company’s name, provided that the Company shall not be constituted as a trustee in respect of that account and the Dividend or other distribution shall remain as a debt due to the Member. Any Dividend or other distribution which remains unclaimed after a period of six years from the date on which such Dividend or other distribution becomes payable shall be forfeited and shall revert to the Company.

 

29

 

 

40 Capitalisation

 

The Directors may at any time capitalise any sum standing to the credit of any of the Company’s reserve accounts or funds (including the share premium account and capital redemption reserve fund) or any sum standing to the credit of the profit and loss account or otherwise available for distribution; appropriate such sum to Members in the proportions in which such sum would have been divisible amongst such Members had the same been a distribution of profits by way of Dividend or other distribution; and apply such sum on their behalf in paying up in full unissued Shares for allotment and distribution credited as fully paid-up to and amongst them in the proportion aforesaid. In such event the Directors shall do all acts and things required to give effect to such capitalisation, with full power given to the Directors to make such provisions as they think fit in the case of Shares becoming distributable in fractions (including provisions whereby the benefit of fractional entitlements accrue to the Company rather than to the Members concerned). The Directors may authorise any person to enter on behalf of all of the Members interested into an agreement with the Company providing for such capitalisation and matters incidental or relating thereto and any agreement made under such authority shall be effective and binding on all such Members and the Company.

 

41 Books of Account

 

41.1 The Directors shall cause proper books of account (including, where applicable, material underlying documentation including contracts and invoices) to be kept with respect to all sums of money received and expended by the Company and the matters in respect of which the receipt or expenditure takes place, all sales and purchases of goods by the Company and the assets and liabilities of the Company. Such books of account must be retained for a minimum period of five years from the date on which they are prepared. Proper books shall not be deemed to be kept if there are not kept such books of account as are necessary to give a true and fair view of the state of the Company’s affairs and to explain its transactions.

 

41.2 The Directors shall determine whether and to what extent and at what times and places and under what conditions or regulations the accounts and books of the Company or any of them shall be open to the inspection of Members not being Directors and no Member (not being a Director) shall have any right of inspecting any account or book or document of the Company except as conferred by Statute or authorised by the Directors or by the Company in general meeting.

 

41.3 The Directors may cause to be prepared and to be laid before the Company in general meeting profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, group accounts (if any) and such other reports and accounts as may be required by law.

 

30

 

 

42 Audit

 

42.1 The Directors may appoint an Auditor of the Company who shall hold office on such terms as the Directors determine.

 

42.2 Without prejudice to the freedom of the Directors to establish any other committee, if the Shares (or depositary receipts therefor) are listed or quoted on the Designated Stock Exchange, and if required by the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law, the Directors shall establish and maintain an Audit Committee as a committee of the Directors and shall adopt a formal written Audit Committee charter and review and assess the adequacy of the formal written charter on an annual basis. The composition and responsibilities of the Audit Committee shall comply with the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law. The Audit Committee shall meet at least once every financial quarter, or more frequently as circumstances dictate.

 

42.3 If the Shares (or depositary receipts therefor) are listed or quoted on the Designated Stock Exchange, the Company shall conduct an appropriate review of all related party transactions on an ongoing basis and shall utilise the Audit Committee for the review and approval of potential conflicts of interest.

 

42.4 The remuneration of the Auditor shall be fixed by the Audit Committee (if one exists).

 

42.5 If the office of Auditor becomes vacant by resignation or death of the Auditor, or by his becoming incapable of acting by reason of illness or other disability at a time when his services are required, the Directors shall fill the vacancy and determine the remuneration of such Auditor.

 

42.6 Every Auditor of the Company shall have a right of access at all times to the books and accounts and vouchers of the Company and shall be entitled to require from the Directors and Officers such information and explanation as may be necessary for the performance of the duties of the Auditor.

 

42.7 Auditors shall, if so required by the Directors, make a report on the accounts of the Company during their tenure of office at the next annual general meeting following their appointment in the case of a company which is registered with the Registrar of Companies as an ordinary company, and at the next extraordinary general meeting following their appointment in the case of a company which is registered with the Registrar of Companies as an exempted company, and at any other time during their term of office, upon request of the Directors or any general meeting of the Members.

 

42.8 Any payment made to members of the Audit Committee (if one exists) shall require the review and approval of the Directors, with any Director interested in such payment abstaining from such review and approval.

 

42.9 The Audit Committee shall monitor compliance with the terms of the IPO and, if any non-compliance is identified, the Audit Committee shall be charged with the responsibility to take all action necessary to rectify such non-compliance or otherwise cause compliance with the terms of the IPO.

 

42.10 At least one member of the Audit Committee shall be an “audit committee financial expert” as determined by the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or otherwise under Applicable Law. The “audit committee financial expert” shall have such past employment experience in finance or accounting, requisite professional certification in accounting, or any other comparable experience or background which results in the individual’s financial sophistication.

 

31

 

 

43 Notices

 

43.1 Notices shall be in writing and may be given by the Company to any Member either personally or by sending it by courier, post, cable, telex, fax or e-mail to him or to his address as shown in the Register of Members (or where the notice is given by e-mail by sending it to the e-mail address provided by such Member). Notice may also be served by Electronic Communication in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Designated Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and/or any other competent regulatory authority or by placing it on the Company’s Website.

 

43.2 Where a notice is sent by:

 

(a) courier; service of the notice shall be deemed to be effected by delivery of the notice to a courier company, and shall be deemed to have been received on the third day (not including Saturdays or Sundays or public holidays) following the day on which the notice was delivered to the courier;

 

(b) post; service of the notice shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre paying and posting a letter containing the notice, and shall be deemed to have been received on the fifth day (not including Saturdays or Sundays or public holidays in the Cayman Islands) following the day on which the notice was posted;

 

(c) cable, telex or fax; service of the notice shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing and sending such notice and shall be deemed to have been received on the same day that it was transmitted;

 

(d) e-mail or other Electronic Communication; service of the notice shall be deemed to be effected by transmitting the e-mail to the e-mail address provided by the intended recipient and shall be deemed to have been received on the same day that it was sent, and it shall not be necessary for the receipt of the e-mail to be acknowledged by the recipient; and

 

(e) placing it on the Company’s Website; service of the notice shall be deemed to have been effected one hour after the notice or document was placed on the Company’s Website.

 

43.3 A notice may be given by the Company to the person or persons which the Company has been advised are entitled to a Share or Shares in consequence of the death or bankruptcy of a Member in the same manner as other notices which are required to be given under the Articles and shall be addressed to them by name, or by the title of representatives of the deceased, or trustee of the bankrupt, or by any like description at the address supplied for that purpose by the persons claiming to be so entitled, or at the option of the Company by giving the notice in any manner in which the same might have been given if the death or bankruptcy had not occurred.

 

43.4 Notice of every general meeting shall be given in any manner authorised by the Articles to every holder of Shares carrying an entitlement to receive such notice on the record date for such meeting except that in the case of joint holders the notice shall be sufficient if given to the joint holder first named in the Register of Members and every person upon whom the ownership of a Share devolves by reason of his being a legal personal representative or a trustee in bankruptcy of a Member where the Member but for his death or bankruptcy would be entitled to receive notice of the meeting, and no other person shall be entitled to receive notices of general meetings.

 

32

 

 

44 Winding Up

 

44.1 Subject to Article 44.3, if the Company shall be wound up, the liquidator shall apply the assets of the Company in satisfaction of creditors’ claims in such manner and order as such liquidator thinks fit. Subject to the rights attaching to any Shares, in a winding up:

 

(a) if the assets available for distribution amongst the Members shall be insufficient to repay the whole of the Company’s issued share capital, such assets shall be distributed so that, as nearly as may be, the losses shall be borne by the Members in proportion to the par value of the Shares held by them; or

 

(b) if the assets available for distribution amongst the Members shall be more than sufficient to repay the whole of the Company’s issued share capital at the commencement of the winding up, the surplus shall be distributed amongst the Members in proportion to the par value of the Shares held by them at the commencement of the winding up subject to a deduction from those Shares in respect of which there are monies due, of all monies payable to the Company for unpaid calls or otherwise.

 

44.2 Subject to Article 44.3, if the Company shall be wound up the liquidator may, subject to the rights attaching to any Shares and with the approval of a Special Resolution of the Company and any other approval required by the Statute, divide amongst the Members in kind the whole or any part of the assets of the Company (whether such assets shall consist of property of the same kind or not) and may for that purpose value any assets and determine how the division shall be carried out as between the Members or different classes of Members. The liquidator may, with the like approval, vest the whole or any part of such assets in trustees upon such trusts for the benefit of the Members as the liquidator, with the like approval, shall think fit, but so that no Member shall be compelled to accept any asset upon which there is a liability.

 

44.3 Subject to any Applicable Law, the rights, if any, of the holders of any outstanding Preference Shares and Article 50, if the Company shall be wound up, after payment or provision for payment of the debts and other liabilities of the Company, the holders of the Class A Shares shall be entitled to receive all the remaining assets of the Company available for distribution to the Members, ratably in proportion to the number of Class A Shares held by them. The holders of shares of Class B Shares, as such, shall not be entitled to receive any assets of the Company in the event the Company is wound up.

 

33

 

 

45 Indemnity and Insurance

 

45.1 Every Director and Officer (which for the avoidance of doubt, shall not include auditors of the Company), together with every former Director and former Officer (each an “Indemnified Person”) shall be indemnified out of the assets of the Company against any liability, action, proceeding, claim, demand, costs, damages or expenses, including legal expenses, whatsoever which they or any of them may incur as a result of any act or failure to act in carrying out their functions other than such liability (if any) that they may incur by reason of their own actual fraud, wilful neglect or wilful default. No Indemnified Person shall be liable to the Company for any loss or damage incurred by the Company as a result (whether direct or indirect) of the carrying out of their functions unless that liability arises through the actual fraud, wilful neglect or wilful default of such Indemnified Person. No person shall be found to have committed actual fraud, wilful neglect or wilful default under this Article unless or until a court of competent jurisdiction shall have made a finding to that effect.

 

45.2 The Company shall advance to each Indemnified Person reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs and expenses incurred in connection with the defence of any action, suit, proceeding or investigation involving such Indemnified Person for which indemnity will or could be sought. In connection with any advance of any expenses hereunder, the Indemnified Person shall execute an undertaking to repay the advanced amount to the Company if it shall be determined by final judgment or other final adjudication that such Indemnified Person was not entitled to indemnification pursuant to this Article. If it shall be determined by a final judgment or other final adjudication that such Indemnified Person was not entitled to indemnification with respect to such judgment, costs or expenses, then such party shall not be indemnified with respect to such judgment, costs or expenses and any advancement shall be returned to the Company (without interest) by the Indemnified Person.

 

45.3 The Directors, on behalf of the Company, may purchase and maintain insurance for the benefit of any Director or Officer against any liability which, by virtue of any rule of law, would otherwise attach to such person in respect of any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust of which such person may be guilty in relation to the Company.

 

46 Financial Year

 

  Unless the Directors otherwise prescribe, the financial year of the Company shall end on 31st December in each year and, following the year of incorporation, shall begin on 1st January in each year.

 

47 Transfer by Way of Continuation

 

  If the Company is exempted as defined in the Statute, it shall, subject to the provisions of the Statute and with the approval of a Special Resolution, have the power to register by way of continuation as a body corporate under the laws of any jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands and to be deregistered in the Cayman Islands.

 

34

 

 

48 Mergers and Consolidations

 

The Company shall have the power to merge or consolidate with one or more other constituent companies (as defined in the Statute) upon such terms as the Directors may determine and (to the extent required by the Statute) with the approval of a Special Resolution.

 

49 IPO Proceeds

 

49.1 Immediately after the IPO, a certain amount of the net offering proceeds received by the Company in the IPO (including the proceeds of any exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) and certain other amounts specified in the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1, as initially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as amended from time to time, shall be contributed to Opco in exchange for Class A Units and warrants of Opco and deposited in the Trust Account.

 

50 Business Combination

 

50.1 Notwithstanding any other provision of the Articles, this Article shall apply during the period commencing upon the adoption of the Articles and terminating upon the first to occur of the consummation of a Business Combination and the full distribution of the Trust Account pursuant to this Article. In the event of a conflict between this Article and any other Articles, the provisions of this Article shall prevail.

 

50.2 Prior to the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company shall either:

 

(a) submit such Business Combination to its Members for approval; or

 

(b) provide Members with the opportunity to have their Shares repurchased by means of a tender offer for a per-Share repurchase price payable in cash, equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (a) the aggregate amount on deposit in the Trust Account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, including interest not previously released to the Company to pay its franchise and income taxes, by (b) the total number of then outstanding Public Shares and Class A Units (other than those held by the Company and any of its wholly owned subsidiaries) (such redemption price being referred to herein as the “Redemption Price”), provided that the Company shall not repurchase Public Shares in an amount that would cause the Company’s net tangible assets to be less than US$5,000,001 upon consummation of such Business Combination and/or following such repurchases. Such obligation to repurchase Shares is subject to the completion of the proposed Business Combination to which it relates.

 

50.3 If the Company offers to redeem the Public Shares other than in conjunction with a Member approval in connection with a Business Combination with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act and filing proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company shall offer to redeem the Public Shares upon the consummation of the Business Combination, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, in accordance with the provisions of Article 50.5 pursuant to a tender offer in accordance with Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E under the Exchange Act (the “Tender Offer Rules”) which it shall commence prior to the consummation of the Business Combination and shall file tender offer documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to the consummation of the Business Combination that contain substantially the same financial and other information about the Business Combination and the applicable redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act (the “Proxy Solicitation Rules”), even if such information is not required under the Tender Offer Rules; provided, however, that if Member approval is required by law to approve the Business Combination, or the Company decides to submit the Business Combination to the Members for their approval for business or other legal reasons, the Company shall offer to redeem the Public Shares, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, in accordance with the provisions of Article 50.5 in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the Proxy Solicitation Rules (and not the Tender Offer Rules) at a per-Share price equal to the Redemption Price. In the event that the Company offers to redeem the Public Shares pursuant to a tender offer in accordance with the Tender Offer Rules, the Public Shares will be redeemed at a per-Share price equal to the Redemption Price. If the Company offers to redeem the Public Shares in conjunction with a Member approval in connection with the Business Combination pursuant to a proxy solicitation, the Public Shares will be redeemed at a per-Share price equal to the Redemption Price.

 

35

 

 

50.4 At a general meeting called for the purposes of approving a Business Combination pursuant to this Article, in the event that such Business Combination is approved by Ordinary Resolution, the Company shall be authorised to consummate such Business Combination, provided that the Company shall not consummate such Business Combination unless the Company has net tangible assets of at least US$5,000,001 immediately prior to, or upon such consummation of, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to, such Business Combination.

 

50.5 Any Member holding Public Shares who is not the Sponsor, a Founder, Officer or Director may, in connection with any vote on a Business Combination, elect to have their Public Shares redeemed for cash, in accordance with any applicable requirements provided for in the related proxy materials (the “IPO Redemption”), provided that no such Member acting together with any Affiliate of his or any other person with whom he is acting in concert or as a partnership, limited partnership, syndicate, or other group for the purposes of acquiring, holding, or disposing of Shares may exercise this redemption right with respect to more than 15 per cent of the Public Shares in the aggregate without the prior consent of the Company and provided further that any beneficial holder of Public Shares on whose behalf a redemption right is being exercised must identify itself to the Company in connection with any redemption election in order to validly redeem such Public Shares. If so demanded, the Company shall pay any such redeeming Member, regardless of whether he is voting for or against such proposed Business Combination, a per-Share redemption price payable in cash, equal to the Redemption Price, but only in the event that the applicable proposed Business Combination is approved and consummated. The Company shall not redeem Public Shares that would cause the Company’s net tangible assets to be less than US$5,000,001 following such redemptions (the “Redemption Limitation”).

 

50.6 A Member may not withdraw a Redemption Notice once submitted to the Company unless the Directors determine (in their sole discretion) to permit the withdrawal of such redemption request (which they may do in whole or in part).

 

36

 

 

50.7 In the event that the Company does not consummate a Business Combination within 24 months from the consummation of the IPO, or such later time as the Members may approve in accordance with the Articles, the Company shall:

 

(a) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up;

 

(b) 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 (less taxes payable and up to US$100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the total number of then Public Shares and Class A Units (other than those held by the Company and any of its subsidiaries) in issue, which redemption will completely extinguish public Members’ rights as Members (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and

 

(c) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining Members and the Directors, liquidate and dissolve,

 

subject in each case to its obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and other requirements of Applicable Law.

 

50.8 In the event that any amendment is made to the Articles to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with a Business Combination or redeem 100 per cent of the Public Shares if the Company does not consummate a Business Combination within 24 months from the consummation of the IPO, or such later time as the Members may approve in accordance with the Articles, each holder of Public Shares who is not the Sponsor, a Founder, Officer or Director shall be provided with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares (with a corresponding redemption of units of Opco held by the Company), upon the approval or effectiveness of any such amendment at a per-Share price, payable in cash, equal to the Redemption Price. The Company’s ability to provide such redemption in this Article is subject to the Redemption Limitation.

 

50.9 A holder of Public Shares shall be entitled to receive distributions from the Trust Account only in the event of an IPO Redemption, a repurchase of Shares by means of a tender offer pursuant to this Article, or a distribution of the Trust Account pursuant to this Article. In no other circumstance shall a holder of Public Shares have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account.

 

50.10 In the event that any Class A Shares are redeemed in exchange for any amounts in the Trust Account, a corresponding number of Class A Units held by the Company and any of its wholly owned subsidiaries shall first be redeemed in exchange for such amounts.

 

37

 

 

50.11 Each holder of Public Shares that does not exercise its redemption rights pursuant to this Article, shall retain its interest in the Company and shall be deemed to have given its consent to the release of the remaining funds in the Trust Account to Opco, and following payment to any holders of Public Shares exercising their redemption rights pursuant to this Article, the remaining funds in the Trust Account shall be released to Opco.

 

50.12 After the issue of Public Shares, and prior to the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company shall not issue additional Shares or any other securities that would entitle the holders thereof to:

 

(a) receive funds from the Trust Account; or

 

(b) vote as a class with Public Shares on a Business Combination.

 

50.13 The uninterested members of the Audit Committee shall approve any transaction or transactions between the Company and any of the following parties:

 

(a) any Member owning an interest in the voting power of the Company that gives such Member a significant influence over the Company; and

 

(b) any Director or Officer and any Affiliate of such Director or Officer.

 

50.14 A Director may vote in respect of a Business Combination in which such Director has a conflict of interest with respect to the evaluation of such Business Combination. Such Director must disclose such interest or conflict to the other Directors.

 

50.15 As long as the securities of the Company are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Company must complete one or more Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80 per cent of the assets held in the Trust Account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discounts held in the Trust Account) at the time of the Company’s signing a definitive agreement in connection with a Business Combination. A Business Combination must not be effectuated solely with another blank cheque company or a similar company with nominal operations.

 

50.16 The Company may enter into a Business Combination with a target business that is Affiliated with the Sponsor, a Founder, a Director or an Officer. In the event the Company seeks to consummate a Business Combination with a target that is Affiliated with the Sponsor, a Founder, a Director or an Officer, the Company, or a committee of Independent Directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another valuation or appraisal firm that regularly renders fairness opinions on the type of target business the Company is seeking to acquire that is a member of the United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority or an independent accounting firm that such a Business Combination is fair to the Company from a financial point of view.

 

51 Certain Tax Filings

 

  Each Tax Filing Authorised Person and any such other person, acting alone, as any Director shall designate from time to time, are authorised to file tax forms SS-4, W-8 BEN, W-8 IMY, W-9, 8832 and 2553 and such other similar tax forms as are customary to file with any US state or federal governmental authorities or foreign governmental authorities in connection with the formation, activities and/or elections of the Company and such other tax forms as may be approved from time to time by any Director or Officer. The Company further ratifies and approves any such filing made by any Tax Filing Authorised Person or such other person prior to the date of the Articles.

 

38

 

 

52 Business Opportunities

 

52.1 To the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, no individual serving as a Director or an Officer (“Management”) shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as the Company. To the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, the Company renounces any interest or expectancy of the Company in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for Management, on the one hand, and the Company, on the other. Except to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, Management shall have no duty to communicate or offer any such corporate opportunity to the Company and shall not be liable to the Company or its Members for breach of any fiduciary duty as a Member, Director and/or Officer solely by reason of the fact that such party pursues or acquires such corporate opportunity for itself, himself or herself, directs such corporate opportunity to another person, or does not communicate information regarding such corporate opportunity to the Company.

 

52.2 Except as provided elsewhere in this Article, the Company hereby renounces any interest or expectancy of the Company in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for both the Company and Management, about which a Director and/or Officer who is also a member of Management acquires knowledge.

 

52.3 To the extent a court might hold that the conduct of any activity related to a corporate opportunity that is renounced in this Article to be a breach of duty to the Company or its Members, the Company hereby waives, to the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, any and all claims and causes of action that the Company may have for such activities. To the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, the provisions of this Article apply equally to activities conducted in the future and that have been conducted in the past.

 

 

39

 

 

Exhibit 4.1

 

SPECIMEN UNIT CERTIFICATE

 

NUMBER UNITS U-
     
SEE REVERSE FOR Rice Acquisition Corp. II  
CERTAIN    
DEFINITIONS    
     
  CUSIP [●]

 

UNITS CONSISTING OF ONE CLASS A ORDINARY SHARE AND ONE-FOURTH OF ONE REDEEMABLE

 

WARRANT TO PURCHASE ONE CLASS A ORDINARY SHARE

 

THIS CERTIFIES THAT                  is the owner of                  Units.

 

Each Unit (“Unit”) consists of one (1) Class A ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (“Ordinary Shares”), of Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), and one-fourth (1/4) of one redeemable warrant (each whole warrant, a “Warrant”). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one (1) Ordinary Share for $11.50 per share (subject to adjustment). Each Warrant will become exercisable thirty (30) days after the Company’s completion of a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses (each, a “Business Combination”), and will expire unless exercised before 5:00 p.m., New York City Time, on the date that is five (5) years after the date on which the Company completes its initial Business Combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation (the “Expiration Date”). The Ordinary Shares and Warrants comprising the Units represented by this certificate are not transferable separately prior to                 , 2021, unless Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc. elect to allow earlier separate trading, subject to the Company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of a Current Report on Form 8-K containing an audited balance sheet reflecting the Company’s receipt of the gross proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and issuing a press release announcing when separate trading will begin. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole warrants are exercisable. The terms of the Warrants are governed by a Warrant Agreement, dated as of                   , 2021, between the Company, Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as Warrant Agent, and are subject to the terms and provisions contained therein, all of which terms and provisions the holder of this certificate consents to by acceptance hereof. Copies of the Warrant Agreement are on file at the office of the Warrant Agent at 1 State Street, 30th Floor, New York, New York 10004, and are available to any Warrant holder on written request and without cost.

 

Upon the consummation of the Business Combination, the Units represented by this certificate will automatically separate into the Class A Ordinary Shares and Warrants comprising such Units.

 

This certificate is not valid unless countersigned by the Transfer Agent and Registrar of the Company.

 

This certificate shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York.

 

Witness the facsimile signatures of its duly authorized officers.

 

By      
Chief Executive Officer   Chief Financial Officer

 

 

 

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

 

The Company will furnish without charge to each unitholder who so requests, a statement of the powers, designations, preferences and relative, participating, optional or other special rights of each class of shares or series thereof of the Company and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions of such preferences and/or rights.

 

The following abbreviations, when used in the inscription on the face of this certificate, shall be construed as though they were written out in full according to applicable laws or regulations:

 

TEN COM

as tenants in common UNIF GIFT MIN ACT —   Custodian  
TEN ENT as tenants by the entireties   (Cust)   (Minor)
JT TEN as joint tenants with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common   under Uniform Gifts
to Minors Act
         
        (State)

 

Additional abbreviations may also be used though not in the above list.

 

2

 

 

For value received,                  hereby sells, assigns and transfers unto

 

 

(PLEASE INSERT SOCIAL SECURITY OR OTHER IDENTIFYING NUMBER(S) OF ASSIGNEE(S))

 

 

(PLEASE PRINT OR TYPEWRITE NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES), INCLUDING ZIP CODE, OF ASSIGNEE(S))

 

 

Units represented by the within Certificate, and do hereby irrevocably constitute and appoint

 

 

Attorney to transfer the said Units on the books of the within named Company with full power of substitution in the premises.

 

Dated _________________________________    
     
     
  Notice: The signature to this assignment must correspond with the name as written upon the face of the certificate in every particular, without alteration or enlargement or any change whatever.
     
Signature(s) Guaranteed:    
     
THE SIGNATURE(S) MUST BE GUARANTEED BY AN ELIGIBLE GUARANTOR INSTITUTION (BANKS, STOCKBROKERS, SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AND CREDIT UNIONS WITH MEMBERSHIP IN AN APPROVED SIGNATURE GUARANTEE MEDALLION PROGRAM, PURSUANT TO SEC RULE 17Ad-15 OR ANY SUCCESSOR RULES).    

 

In each case, as more fully described in the Company’s final prospectus dated [●], 2021, the holder(s) of this certificate shall be entitled to receive a pro-rata portion of certain funds held in the trust account established in connection with the Company’s initial public offering only in the event that (i) the Company redeems the Ordinary Shares sold in its initial public offering and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by the Company) and liquidates because it does not consummate an initial business combination within the period of time set forth in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as the same may be amended from time to time, (ii) the Company redeems the Ordinary Shares sold in its initial public offering in connection with a shareholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association  that would modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide holders of the Ordinary Shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with the Company’s initial business combination or to redeem 100% of the Ordinary Shares if the Company does not complete its initial business combination within the time period set forth therein, or (iii) if the holder(s) seek(s) to redeem for cash his, her or its respective Ordinary Shares in connection with a tender offer (or proxy solicitation, solely in the event the Company seeks shareholder approval of the proposed initial business combination) setting forth the details of a proposed initial business combination. In no other circumstances shall the holder(s) have any right or interest of any kind in or to the trust account.

 

 

3

 

Exhibit 4.2

 

SPECIMEN CLASS A ORDINARY SHARE CERTIFICATE

 

NUMBER SHARES

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

CLASS A ORDINARY SHARES

 

SEE REVERSE FOR

CERTAIN DEFINITIONS

 

CUSIP [●]

 

This Certifies that is the owner of

 

FULLY PAID AND NON-ASSESSABLE CLASS A ORDINARY SHARES OF THE PAR VALUE OF

US$0.0001 EACH OF RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II (THE “COMPANY”)

 

subject to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as the same may be amended from time to time, and transferable on the books of the Company in person or by duly authorized attorney upon surrender of this certificate properly endorsed.

 

The Company will be forced to redeem all of its Class A ordinary shares and any Class A Units of Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) (other than those held by Rice Acquisition Corp. II) if it is unable to complete a business combination within the period set forth in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as the same may be amended from time to time, all as more fully described in the Company’s final prospectus dated                         , 2021.

 

This certificate is not valid unless countersigned by the Transfer Agent and registered by the Registrar.

 

Witness the facsimile signatures of its duly authorized officers.

 

Dated:                                                       

 

Chief Executive Officer   Chief Financial Officer
     
     

 

 

 

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II

 

The Company will furnish without charge to each shareholder who so requests the powers, designations, preferences and relative, participating, optional or other special rights of each class of shares or series thereof of the Company and the qualifications, limitations, or restrictions of such preferences and/or rights. This certificate and the shares represented thereby are issued and shall be held subject to all the provisions of the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as the same may be amended from time to time, and resolutions of the Board of Directors providing for the issue of Class A ordinary shares (copies of which may be obtained from the secretary of the Company), to all of which the holder of this certificate by acceptance hereof assents. The following abbreviations, when used in the inscription on the face of this certificate, shall be construed as though they were written out in full according to applicable laws or regulations:

 

TEN COM

as tenants in common UNIF GIFT MIN ACT —   Custodian  
TEN ENT as tenants by the entireties   (Cust)   (Minor)
JT TEN as joint tenants with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common   under Uniform Gifts
to Minors Act
         
        (State)

 

Additional abbreviations may also be used though not in the above list.

 

2

 

 

For value received,                  hereby sells, assigns and transfers unto

 

 

(PLEASE INSERT SOCIAL SECURITY OR OTHER IDENTIFYING NUMBER(S) OF ASSIGNEE(S))

 

 

(PLEASE PRINT OR TYPEWRITE NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES), INCLUDING ZIP CODE, OF ASSIGNEE(S))

 

 

Shares of the capital stock represented by the within Certificate, and does hereby irrevocably constitute and appoint

 

 

Attorney to transfer the said stock on the books of the within named Corporation with full power of substitution in the premises.

 

Dated ____________________________________

 

     
  Shareholder
     
  NOTICE: THE SIGNATURE(S) TO THIS ASSIGNMENT MUST CORRESPOND WITH THE NAME AS WRITTEN UPON THE FACE OF THE CERTIFICATE IN EVERY PARTICULAR, WITHOUT ALTERATION OR ENLARGEMENT OR ANY CHANGE WHATEVER.
     
Signature(s) Guaranteed:    
     
By:    
     
     
     
     

 

THE SIGNATURE(S) MUST BE GUARANTEED BY AN ELIGIBLE GUARANTOR INSTITUTION (BANKS, STOCKBROKERS, SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AND CREDIT UNIONS WITH MEMBERSHIP IN AN APPROVED SIGNATURE GUARANTEE MEDALLION PROGRAM, PURSUANT TO S.E.C. RULE 17Ad-15 OR ANY SUCCESSOR RULE).

 

In each case, as more fully described in the Company’s final prospectus dated [●], 2021, the holder(s) of this certificate shall be entitled to receive a pro-rata portion of certain funds held in the trust account established in connection with its initial public offering only in the event that (i) the Company redeems the Class A ordinary shares sold in its initial public offering and Class A Units of Opco (other than those held by the Company) and liquidates because it does not consummate an initial business combination within the period of time set forth in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, as the same may be amended from time to time, (ii) the Company redeems the Class A ordinary shares sold in its initial public offering in connection with a shareholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association  that would 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 Company’s initial business combination or to redeem 100% of the Class A ordinary shares if the Company does not complete its initial business combination within the time period set forth therein, or (iii) if the holder(s) seek(s) to redeem for cash his, her or its respective Class A ordinary shares in connection with a tender offer (or proxy solicitation, solely in the event the Company seeks shareholder approval of the proposed initial business combination) setting forth the details of a proposed initial business combination. In no other circumstances shall the holder(s) have any right or interest of any kind in or to the trust account.

 

 

3

 

Exhibit 4.3

 

[FACE]

 

Number

 

Warrants

 

THIS WARRANT SHALL BE VOID IF NOT EXERCISED PRIOR TO

THE EXPIRATION OF THE EXERCISE PERIOD PROVIDED FOR

IN THE WARRANT AGREEMENT DESCRIBED BELOW

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

Incorporated Under the Laws of the Cayman Islands

 

CUSIP [●]

 

Warrant Certificate

 

This Warrant Certificate certifies that [                                 ], or registered assigns, is the registered holder of [                      ] warrant(s) (the “Warrants” and each, a “Warrant”) to purchase Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value (“Ordinary Shares”), of Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”). Each Warrant entitles the holder, upon exercise during the period set forth in the Warrant Agreement referred to below, to receive from the Company that number of fully paid and nonassessable Ordinary Shares as set forth below, at the exercise price (the “Exercise Price”) as determined pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, payable in lawful money (or through “cashless exercise” as provided for in the Warrant Agreement) of the United States of America upon surrender of this Warrant Certificate and payment of the Exercise Price at the office or agency of the Warrant Agent referred to below, subject to the conditions set forth herein and in the Warrant Agreement. Defined terms used in this Warrant Certificate but not defined herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Each whole Warrant is initially exercisable for one fully paid and non-assessable Ordinary Share. Fractional shares shall not be issued upon exercise of any Warrant. If, upon the exercise of Warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in an Ordinary Share, the Company shall, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Ordinary Shares to be issued to the Warrant holder. The number of Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events as set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

The initial Exercise Price per one Ordinary Share for any Warrant is equal to $11.50 per share. The Exercise Price is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events as set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Subject to the conditions set forth in the Warrant Agreement, the Warrants may be exercised only during the Exercise Period and to the extent not exercised by the end of such Exercise Period, such Warrants shall become void. The Warrants may be redeemed, subject to certain conditions, as set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Reference is hereby made to the further provisions of this Warrant Certificate set forth on the reverse hereof and such further provisions shall for all purposes have the same effect as though fully set forth at this place.

 

This Warrant Certificate shall not be valid unless countersigned by the Warrant Agent, as such term is used in the Warrant Agreement. This Warrant Certificate shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York.

 

 

 

 

  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
       
  By:  
    Name:  
    Title: Authorized Signatory
       
  CONTINENTAL STOCK TRANSFER & TRUST COMPANY,
  as Warrant Agent
       
  By:  
    Name:  
    Title:  

 

 

 

 

[Form of Warrant Certificate]

 

[Reverse]

 

The Warrants evidenced by this Warrant Certificate are part of a duly authorized issue of Warrants entitling the holder on exercise to receive [                ] Ordinary Shares and are issued or to be issued pursuant to a Warrant Agreement dated as of [●], 2021 (the “Warrant Agreement”), duly executed and delivered by the Company to Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a New York limited purpose trust company, as warrant agent (the “Warrant Agent”), which Warrant Agreement is hereby incorporated by reference in and made a part of this instrument and is hereby referred to for a description of the rights, limitation of rights, obligations, duties and immunities thereunder of the Warrant Agent, the Company and the holders (the words “holders” or “holder” meaning the Registered Holders or Registered Holder, respectively) of the Warrants. A copy of the Warrant Agreement may be obtained by the holder hereof upon written request to the Company. Defined terms used in this Warrant Certificate but not defined herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Warrants may be exercised at any time during the Exercise Period set forth in the Warrant Agreement. The holder of Warrants evidenced by this Warrant Certificate may exercise them by surrendering this Warrant Certificate, with the form of Election to Purchase set forth hereon properly completed and executed, together with payment of the Exercise Price as specified in the Warrant Agreement (or through “cashless exercise” as provided for in the Warrant Agreement) at the principal corporate trust office of the Warrant Agent. In the event that upon any exercise of Warrants evidenced hereby the number of Warrants exercised shall be less than the total number of Warrants evidenced hereby, there shall be issued to the holder hereof or his, her or its assignee, a new Warrant Certificate evidencing the number of Warrants not exercised.

 

Notwithstanding anything else in this Warrant Certificate or the Warrant Agreement, no Warrant may be exercised unless at the time of exercise (i) a registration statement covering the issuance of the Ordinary Shares to be issued upon exercise is effective under the Securities Act and (ii) a prospectus thereunder relating to the Ordinary Shares is current, except through “cashless exercise” as provided for in the Warrant Agreement.

 

The Warrant Agreement provides that upon the occurrence of certain events the number of Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants set forth on the face hereof may, subject to certain conditions, be adjusted. If, upon exercise of a Warrant, the holder thereof would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in an Ordinary Share, the Company shall, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of Ordinary Shares to be issued to the holder of the Warrant.

 

Warrant Certificates, when surrendered at the principal corporate trust office of the Warrant Agent by the Registered Holder thereof in person or by legal representative or attorney duly authorized in writing, may be exchanged, in the manner and subject to the limitations provided in the Warrant Agreement, but without payment of any service charge, for another Warrant Certificate or Warrant Certificates of like tenor evidencing in the aggregate a like number of Warrants.

 

Upon due presentation for registration of transfer of this Warrant Certificate at the office of the Warrant Agent a new Warrant Certificate or Warrant Certificates of like tenor and evidencing in the aggregate a like number of Warrants shall be issued to the transferee(s) in exchange for this Warrant Certificate, subject to the limitations provided in the Warrant Agreement, without charge except for any tax or other governmental charge imposed in connection therewith.

 

The Company and the Warrant Agent may deem and treat the Registered Holder(s) hereof as the absolute owner(s) of this Warrant Certificate (notwithstanding any notation of ownership or other writing hereon made by anyone), for the purpose of any exercise hereof, of any distribution to the holder(s) hereof, and for all other purposes, and neither the Company nor the Warrant Agent shall be affected by any notice to the contrary. Neither the Warrants nor this Warrant Certificate entitles any holder hereof to any rights of a shareholder of the Company.

 

 

 

 

Election to Purchase

 

(To Be Executed Upon Exercise of Warrant)

 

The undersigned hereby irrevocably elects to exercise the right, represented by this Warrant Certificate, to receive [                ] Ordinary Shares and herewith tenders payment for such Ordinary Shares to the order of Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”) in the amount of $[                ] in accordance with the terms hereof. The undersigned requests that a certificate for such Ordinary Shares be registered in the name of [                ], whose address is [                ] and that such Ordinary Shares be delivered to [                ] whose address is [                ]. If said [                ] number of Ordinary Shares is less than all of the Ordinary Shares purchasable hereunder, the undersigned requests that a new Warrant Certificate representing the remaining balance of such Ordinary Shares be registered in the name of [                ], whose address is [                ] and that such Warrant Certificate be delivered to [                ], whose address is [                ].

 

In the event that the Warrant has been called for redemption by the Company pursuant to Section 6.2 of the Warrant Agreement and a holder thereof elects to exercise its Warrant pursuant to a Make-Whole Exercise, the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for shall be determined in accordance with subsection 3.3.1(c) or Section 6.2 of the Warrant Agreement, as applicable.

 

In the event that the Warrant is a Private Placement Warrant that is to be exercised on a “cashless” basis pursuant to subsection 3.3.1(c) of the Warrant Agreement, the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for shall be determined in accordance with subsection 3.3.1(c) of the Warrant Agreement.

 

In the event that the Warrant is to be exercised on a “cashless” basis pursuant to Section 7.4 of the Warrant Agreement, the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for shall be determined in accordance with Section 7.4 of the Warrant Agreement.

 

In the event that the Warrant may be exercised, to the extent allowed by the Warrant Agreement, through cashless exercise (i) the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for would be determined in accordance with the relevant section of the Warrant Agreement which allows for such cashless exercise and (ii) the holder hereof shall complete the following: The undersigned hereby irrevocably elects to exercise the right, represented by this Warrant Certificate, through the cashless exercise provisions of the Warrant Agreement, to receive Ordinary Shares. If said number of shares is less than all of the Ordinary Shares purchasable hereunder (after giving effect to the cashless exercise), the undersigned requests that a new Warrant Certificate representing the remaining balance of such Ordinary Shares be registered in the name of [                ], whose address is [                ] and that such Warrant Certificate be delivered to [                ], whose address is [                ].

 

[Signature Page Follows]

 

 

 

 

Date: [                ], 20

 

  (Signature)
   
  (Address)
   
   
  (Tax Identification Number)

 

Signature Guaranteed:  
   
   

 

THE SIGNATURE(S) SHOULD BE GUARANTEED BY AN ELIGIBLE GUARANTOR INSTITUTION (BANKS, STOCKBROKERS, SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AND CREDIT UNIONS WITH MEMBERSHIP IN AN APPROVED SIGNATURE GUARANTEE MEDALLION PROGRAM, PURSUANT TO S.E.C. RULE 17Ad-15 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED).

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 4.4

 

WARRANT AGREEMENT

 

by and among

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II,

 

RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC

 

and

 

CONTINENTAL STOCK TRANSFER & TRUST COMPANY

 

Dated as of [], 2021

 

THIS WARRANT AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of [], 2021, is by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Opco” and, together with the Company, the “SPAC Parties”) and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a New York limited purpose trust company, as warrant agent (the “Warrant Agent”, also referred to herein as the “Transfer Agent”).

 

WHEREAS, it is proposed that the Company enter into that certain Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreements with Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), pursuant to which the Sponsor will purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 warrants of the Company (or 9,750,000 warrants of the Company if the Over-allotment Option (as defined below) in connection with the Offering (as defined below) is exercised in full) , simultaneously with the closing of the Offering (and the closing of the Over-allotment Option, if applicable), bearing the legend set forth in Exhibit B hereto (the “Private Placement Warrants”) and, in each case, a non-exclusive right to exercise a corresponding number of Opco warrants initially issued to Company (such warrants, the “Opco Warrants”), for an aggregate purchase price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant and such rights in the Opco Warrants; and

 

WHEREAS, in order to finance the SPAC Parties’ transaction costs in connection with an intended Initial Business Combination (as defined below), the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as the Company may require, of which up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into up to an additional 1,500,000 Private Placement Warrants and rights in a corresponding number of Opco warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant; and

 

WHEREAS, the Company is engaged in an initial public offering (the “Offering”) of units of the Company’s equity securities, each such unit comprised of one Class A Ordinary Share (as defined below) and one-fourth of one whole Public Warrant (as defined below) (the “Units”) and, in connection therewith, has determined to issue and deliver up to 7,187,500 warrants of the Company (including up to 937,500 warrants subject to the Over-allotment Option) to public investors in the Offering (the “Public Warrants” and, together with the Private Placement Warrants, the “Company Warrants,” and together with the Opco Warrants, the “Warrants”). Each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one whole Class A Ordinary Share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class A Ordinary Shares”), for $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. Each whole Private Placement Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase, subject to the limitations described herein, one whole Class A Ordinary Share for $11.50, subject to adjustment as described herein; and

 

 

 

 

WHEREAS, the Company shall use the proceeds of the Offering to acquire from Opco a number of additional Class A Unit of Opco (“Class A Units”) and Opco Warrants equal to the number of Class A Ordinary Shares and Company Warrants, respectively, comprising the Units issued in the Offering;

 

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco, dated [], 2021 (the “Opco LLC Agreement”), upon the exercise of any Company Warrant, the Company is obligated to exercise a corresponding Opco Warrant; and

 

WHEREAS, each whole Opco Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase, subject to the limitations described herein, one whole Class A Unit and, in the case of a holder other than the Company (or its subsidiaries), one whole Class B Ordinary Share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class B Ordinary Shares”), for $11.50 per unit, subject to adjustment as described herein; and

 

WHEREAS, the Company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) a registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-254080) (the “Registration Statement”) and prospectus (the “Prospectus”), for the registration, under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), of the Units, the Public Warrants and the Class A Ordinary Shares included in the Units; and

 

WHEREAS, the SPAC Parties desire the Warrant Agent to act on its behalf, and the Warrant Agent is willing to so act, in connection with the issuance, registration, transfer, exchange, redemption and exercise of the Warrants; and

 

WHEREAS, the SPAC Parties desire to provide for the form and provisions of the Warrants, the terms upon which they shall be issued and exercised, and the respective rights, limitation of rights, and immunities of the Company, Opco, the Warrant Agent, and the holders of the Warrants; and

 

WHEREAS, all acts and things have been done and performed which are necessary to make the Company Warrants, when executed on behalf of the Company, and the Opco Warrants, when executed on behalf of Opco, and in each case, countersigned by or on behalf of the Warrant Agent (if a physical certificate is issued), as provided herein, the valid, binding and legal obligations of the Company or the Opco, as applicable, and to authorize the execution and delivery of this Agreement.

 

2

 

 

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual agreements herein contained, the parties hereto agree as follows:

 

1. Appointment of Warrant Agent. The SPAC Parties hereby appoint the Warrant Agent to act as agent for the SPAC Parties for the Warrants, and the Warrant Agent hereby accepts such appointment and agrees to perform the same in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.

 

2. Warrants.

 

2.1 Form of Warrant. Each Warrant shall be initially issued in registered form only.

 

2.2 Effect of Countersignature. If a physical certificate is issued, unless and until countersigned by the Warrant Agent pursuant to this Agreement, a certificated Warrant shall be invalid and of no effect and may not be exercised by the holder thereof.

 

2.3 Registration.

 

2.3.1 Warrant Register. The Warrant Agent shall maintain books (the “Warrant Register”), for the registration of original issuance and the registration of transfer of the Warrants. Upon the initial issuance of the Warrants in book-entry form, the Warrant Agent shall issue and register the Warrants in the names of the respective holders thereof in such denominations and otherwise in accordance with instructions delivered to the Warrant Agent by the SPAC Parties. Ownership of beneficial interests in the Public Warrants shall be shown on, and the transfer of such ownership shall be effected through, records maintained by institutions that have accounts with The Depository Trust Company (the “Depositary”) (such institution, with respect to a Warrant in its account, a “Participant”). If the Depositary subsequently ceases to make its book-entry settlement system available for the Public Warrants, the Company may instruct the Warrant Agent regarding making other arrangements for book-entry settlement. In the event that the Public Warrants are not eligible for, or it is no longer necessary to have the Public Warrants available in, book-entry form, the Warrant Agent shall provide written instructions to the Depositary to deliver to the Warrant Agent for cancellation each book-entry Public Warrant, and the Company shall instruct the Warrant Agent to deliver to the Depositary definitive certificates in physical form evidencing such Warrants (“Definitive Warrant Certificates”) which shall be in the form annexed hereto as Exhibit A.

 

Physical certificates, if issued, shall be signed by, or bear the facsimile signature of, the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, Secretary or other principal officer of the Company. In the event the person whose facsimile signature has been placed upon any Warrant shall have ceased to serve in the capacity in which such person signed the Warrant before such Warrant is issued, it may be issued with the same effect as if he or she had not ceased to be such at the date of issuance.

 

2.3.2 Registered Holder. Prior to due presentment for registration of transfer of any Warrant, the SPAC Parties and the Warrant Agent may deem and treat the person in whose name such Warrant is registered in the Warrant Register (the “Registered Holder”) as the absolute owner of such Warrant and of each Warrant represented thereby, for the purpose of any exercise thereof, and for all other purposes, and neither the SPAC Parties nor the Warrant Agent shall be affected by any notice to the contrary.

 

3

 

 

2.4 Detachability of Warrants. The Class A Ordinary Shares and Public Warrants comprising the Units shall begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of the Prospectus or, if such 52nd day is not on a day, other than a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday, on which banks in New York City are generally open for normal business (a “Business Day”), then on the immediately succeeding Business Day following such date, or earlier (the “Detachment Date”) with the consent of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., representatives of the several underwriters, but in no event shall the Class A Ordinary Shares and the Public Warrants comprising the Units be separately traded until (A) the Company has filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Commission containing an audited balance sheet reflecting the receipt by the Company of the gross proceeds of the Offering, including the proceeds received by the Company from the exercise by the underwriters of their right to purchase additional Units in the Offering (the “Over-allotment Option”), if the Over-allotment Option is exercised prior to the filing of the Current Report on Form 8-K, and (B) the Company issues a press release announcing when such separate trading shall begin.

 

2.5 No Fractional Warrants Other Than as Part of Units. The SPAC Parties shall not issue fractional Warrants other than as part of the Units, each of which is comprised of one Class A Ordinary Share and one-fourth of one whole Public Warrant. If, upon the detachment of Public Warrants from the Units or otherwise, a holder of Warrants would be entitled to receive a fractional Warrant, the Company shall round down to the nearest whole number the number of Warrants to be issued to such holder.

 

2.6 Private Placement Warrants; Opco Warrants and Warrant Rights.

 

2.6.1 Private Placement Warrants. The Private Placement Warrants shall be identical to the Public Warrants, except that so long as they are held by the Sponsor or any of its respective Permitted Transferees (as defined below), the Private Placement Warrants: (i) may be exercised for cash or on a cashless basis, pursuant to subsection 3.3.1(c) hereof, (ii) will terminate as of the close of the first transaction or series of transactions (whether through a merger, equity exchange or purchase, asset acquisition, reorganization or similar transaction) resulting in a business combination involving the SPAC Parties and one or more operating businesses (the “Initial Business Combination”) if any holder, other than the Company (or any of its subsidiaries), of the Class A Units of Opco associated with such Opco Warrant Rights continues to hold any Class A Units of Opco (or of any successor to Opco) immediately after the close of the Initial Business Combination, in which case the associated Opco Warrant Rights will not terminate, (iii) may not be transferred, assigned or sold until thirty (30) days after the completion by the Company of an Initial Business Combination, and (iv) shall not be redeemable by the Company for cash pursuant to Section 6.1 hereof; provided, however, that in the case of (iii), the Private Placement Warrants and any Class A Ordinary Shares held by the Sponsor or any of its respective Permitted Transferees and issued upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants or upon exchange of any Class A Units of Opco issued upon exercise of any warrants of Opco may be transferred by the holders thereof:

 

(a) to the Company’s officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of the Company’s officers or directors, any member(s) or partners of the Sponsor or their affiliates, any affiliates of the Sponsor, or any employees of such affiliates;

 

4

 

 

(b) in the case of an individual, by gift to members of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of one of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization;

 

(c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of such person;

 

(d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order;

 

(e) by virtue of the Sponsor’s organizational documents upon liquidation of the Sponsor;

 

(f) by private sales or transfers made in connection with any forward purchase agreement or similar agreement or in connection with the consummation of the Company’s Initial Business Combination at prices no greater than the price at which the Private Placement Warrants or Class A Ordinary Shares, as applicable, were originally purchased;

 

(g) to the Company for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of the Initial Business Combination;

 

(h) in the event of the Company’s liquidation prior to the completion of the Company’s Initial Business Combination; or

 

(i) in the event of the Company’s completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A Ordinary Shares for cash, securities or other property subsequent to the completion of the Company’s Initial Business Combination;

 

provided, however, that, in the case of clauses (a) through (f), these permitted transferees (the “Permitted Transferees”) must enter into a written agreement with the SPAC Parties agreeing to be bound by the transfer restrictions in this Agreement and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement, dated as of the date hereof, by and among the SPAC Parties, the Sponsor, and the Company’s officers and directors.

 

2.6.2 Opco Warrants and Warrant Rights.

 

(a) Prior to the consummation of the Initial Business Combination, the Company may transfer to the Sponsor or any of its respective Permitted Transferees a non-exclusive right to exercise an Opco Warrant (“Opco Warrant Rights”). The holders of such Opco Warrant Rights shall be designated on Exhibit C, as amended from time to time. The Opco Warrant Rights shall entitle the holder thereof to exercise the underlying Opco Warrant subject to the terms hereof, and upon such exercise, the Company (or its transferees of the underlying Opco Warrant) shall no longer have the right to exercise such Opco Warrant.

 

5

 

 

(b) The Opco Warrant Rights in respect of any Opco Warrant (i) will become exclusive to the holder thereof, and the rights of the Company (or any of its subsidiaries) to the underlying Opco Warrant will terminate, as of the close of the Initial Business Combination, if any holder, other than the Company (or any of its subsidiaries), of the Units of Opco associated with such Opco Warrant Rights continues to hold any such Units of Opco (or of any successor to Opco) immediately after the close of the Initial Business Combination, (ii) will terminate with respect to the holder of such Opco Warrant Rights, and the rights of the Company to the underlying Opco Warrant will become exclusive to the Company, as of the close of the Initial Business Combination if Section 2.6.2(b)(i) hereof does not apply to such Opco Warrant Rights, in which case the associated Private Placement Warrants will not terminate, and (iii) may not be transferred, assigned or sold; provided, however, that in the case of (iii), the Opco Warrant Rights, any underlying Opco Warrants, and any Class A Units and Class B Ordinary Shares held by the holder of such Opco Warrant Rights immediately after the Offering or any of its Permitted Transferees and issued upon exercise of the Opco Warrant Rights may be transferred by the holders thereof to (x) any person listed in Section 2.6.1(a)-(h) or (y) to the Company or any of its subsidiaries; provided, however, any Permitted Transferees must enter into a written agreement with the SPAC Parties agreeing to be bound by the transfer restrictions in this Agreement.

 

(c) For the avoidance of doubt, given that a holder of both a Private Placement Warrant and an associated Opco Warrant Right may not exercise such rights until after the Initial Business Combination pursuant to Section 3.2, and one of either the Private Placement Warrant or the associated Opco Warrant Right will terminate upon the Initial Business Combination pursuant to Section 2.6.1 or this Section 2.6.2, respectively, such holder shall only be able to exercise either the Private Placement Warrant or the Opco Warrant Right, but not both. All provisions of this Agreement shall be interpreted consistent with this Section 2.6.2(z).

 

(d) To the extent appropriate as determined in the good faith of the Company and Opco, where the provisions after Section 2 of this Agreement refer to Warrants, Company Warrants, Private Placement Warrants, Class A Ordinary Shares, or the Company or associated terms, such provisions shall apply in a similar manner to the Opco Warrants, Class A Units of Opco (and associated Class B Ordinary Shares) and Opco or associated terms.

 

2.6.3 Certain Actions by the Company. Upon the exercise of any Company Warrant, the Company shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Opco LLC Agreement, exercise a corresponding Opco Warrant on the same terms on which such Opco Warrant was exercised. Upon the exercise of any Opco Warrants (other than by the Company or any of its subsidiaries), the Company shall issue to Opco, for delivery to the person exercising such Opco Warrants, a number of Class B Ordinary Shares, equal to the number of Class A Units issued upon the exercise of such Opco Warrants.

 

6

 

 

3. Terms and Exercise of Warrants.

 

3.1 Warrant Price. Each whole Warrant shall entitle the Registered Holder thereof, subject to the provisions of such Warrant and of this Agreement, (a) in the case of a Company Warrant, to purchase from the Company the number of Class A Ordinary Shares stated therein, at the price of $11.50 per share, and (b) in the case of an Opco Warrant, to purchase from Opco the number of Class A Units (and in the case of a holder other than the Company or its subsidiaries, a corresponding number of Class B Ordinary Shares) stated therein, at the price of $11.50 per unit (and corresponding share, as applicable), in each case, subject to the adjustments provided in Section 4 hereof and in the last sentence of this Section 3.1. For the avoidance of doubt, if the Company (or any wholly owned subsidiary) assigns a non-exclusive Opco Warrant Right in respect of an Opco Warrant to any other person pursuant to this Agreement, Opco shall only be required to issue one (1) Class A Units in respect of such Opco Warrant and associated Opco Warrant Right, either to the Company (or its wholly owned subsidiary) or to the holder of the Opco Warrant Right, respectively. The term “Warrant Price” as used in this Agreement shall mean the price per share (including in cash or by payment of Warrants pursuant to a “cashless exercise,” to the extent permitted hereunder) described in the prior sentence at which Class A Ordinary Shares may be purchased at the time a Warrant is exercised. The Company in its sole discretion may lower the Warrant Price at any time prior to the Expiration Date (as defined below) for a period of not less than fifteen (15) Business Days (unless otherwise required by the Commission, any national securities exchange on which the Warrants are listed or applicable law), provided, that the Company shall provide at least five (5) days’ prior written notice of such reduction to Registered Holders of the Warrants and, provided further that any such reduction shall be identical among all of the Warrants.

 

3.2 Duration of Warrants. A Warrant may be exercised only during the period (the “Exercise Period”) (i) commencing on the date that is thirty (30) days after the first date on which the SPAC Parties complete an Initial Business Combination and (ii) terminating at the earliest to occur of (x) 5:00 p.m., New York City time on the date that is five (5) years after the date on which the SPAC Parties complete an Initial Business Combination, (y) the liquidation of the Company, in accordance with the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, as amended from time to time, if the Company fails to complete the Initial Business Combination, and (z) other than with respect to the Private Placement Warrants or the Opco Warrants then held by the Sponsor or its Permitted Transferees with respect to a redemption pursuant to Section 6.1 hereof or, if the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof), Section 6.2 hereof, 5:00 p.m., New York City time on the Redemption Date (as defined below) as provided in Section 6.3 hereof (the “Expiration Date”); provided, however, that the exercise of any Warrant shall be subject to the satisfaction of any applicable conditions, as set forth in subsection 3.3.2 below with respect to an effective registration statement or a valid exemption therefrom being available. Except with respect to the right to receive the Redemption Price (as defined below) (other than with respect to a Private Placement Warrant then held by the Sponsor or its Permitted Transferees in connection with a redemption pursuant to Section 6.1 hereof or, if the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof), Section 6.2 hereof) in the event of a redemption (as set forth in Section 6 hereof), each Warrant (other than a Private Placement Warrant then held by the Sponsor or its Permitted Transferees in the event of a redemption pursuant to Section 6.1 hereof or, if the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof), Section 6.2 hereof) not exercised on or before the Expiration Date shall become void, and all rights thereunder and all rights in respect thereof under this Agreement shall cease at 5:00 p.m. New York City time on the Expiration Date. The Company in its sole discretion may extend the duration of the Warrants by delaying the Expiration Date; provided, that the Company shall provide at least twenty (20) days prior written notice of any such extension to Registered Holders of the Warrants and, provided further that any such extension shall be identical in duration among all the Warrants.

 

7

 

 

3.3 Exercise of Warrants.

 

3.3.1 Payment. Subject to the provisions of the Warrant and this Agreement, a Warrant may be exercised by the Registered Holder thereof by delivering to the Warrant Agent at its corporate trust department (i) the Definitive Warrant Certificate evidencing the Warrants to be exercised, or, in the case of a Warrant represented by a book-entry, the Warrants to be exercised (the “Book-Entry Warrants”) on the records of the Depositary to an account of the Warrant Agent at the Depositary designated for such purposes in writing by the Warrant Agent to the Depositary from time to time, (ii) an election to purchase (“Election to Purchase”) any Class A Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of a Warrant, properly completed and executed by the Registered Holder on the reverse of the Definitive Warrant Certificate or, in the case of a Book-Entry Warrant, properly delivered by the Participant in accordance with the Depositary’s procedures, and (iii) the payment in full the Warrant Price for each full Class A Ordinary Share or Class A Unit (and corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares), as applicable, as to which the Warrant is exercised and any and all applicable taxes due in connection with the exercise of the Warrant, the exchange of the Warrant for the Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Unit (and corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares), as applicable, and the issuance of such Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Unit (and corresponding Class B Ordinary Share), as applicable, as follows:

 

(a) in lawful money of the United States, in good certified check or good bank draft payable to the order of the Warrant Agent;

 

(b) [Reserved];

 

(c) with respect to any Private Placement Warrant, so long as such Private Placement Warrant is held by the Sponsor, or a Permitted Transferee, by surrendering the Warrants for that number of Class A Ordinary Shares equal to (i) if in connection with a redemption of Private Placement Warrants pursuant to Section 6.2 hereof, as provided in Section 6.2 hereof with respect to a Make-Whole Exercise (as defined below) and (ii) in all other scenarios the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A Ordinary Shares underlying the Warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “Fair Market Value” (as defined in this subsection 3.3.1(c)) less the Warrant Price by (y) the Fair Market Value. Solely for purposes of this subsection 3.3.1(c), the “Fair Market Value” shall mean the average last reported sale price of the Class A Ordinary Shares for the ten (10) trading days ending on the third (3rd) trading day prior to the date on which notice of exercise of the Private Placement Warrant is sent to the Warrant Agent;

 

(d) as provided in Section 6.2 hereof with respect to a Make-Whole Exercise; or

 

(e) as provided in Section 7.4 hereof.

 

8

 

 

3.3.2 Issuance of Class A Ordinary Shares on Exercise. As soon as practicable after the exercise of any Warrant and the clearance of the funds in payment of the Warrant Price (if payment is pursuant to subsection 3.3.1(a)), the Company shall issue to the Registered Holder of such Warrant a book-entry position or certificate, as applicable, for the number of full Class A Ordinary Shares to which he, she or it is entitled, registered in such name or names as may be directed by him, her or it on the register of members of the Company, and if such Warrant shall not have been exercised in full, a new book-entry position or countersigned Warrant, as applicable, for the number of Class A Ordinary Shares as to which such Warrant shall not have been exercised. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company shall not be obligated to deliver any Class A Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of a Warrant and shall have no obligation to settle such Warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A Ordinary Shares underlying the Warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company’s satisfying its obligations under Section 7.4 or a valid exemption from registration is available. No Warrant shall be exercisable and the Company shall not be obligated to issue Class A Ordinary Shares upon exercise of a Warrant unless the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon such Warrant exercise have been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt from registration or qualification under the securities laws of the state of residence of the Registered Holder of the Warrants. Subject to Section 4.6 of this Agreement, a Registered Holder of Warrants may exercise its Warrants only for a whole number of Class A Ordinary Shares. The Company may require holders of Public Warrants to settle the Public Warrant on a “cashless basis” pursuant to Section 7.4. If, by reason of any exercise of Warrants on a “cashless basis”, the holder of any Warrant would be entitled, upon the exercise of such Warrant, to receive a fractional interest in a Class A Ordinary Share, the Company shall round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A Ordinary Shares to be issued to such holder.

 

3.3.3 Valid Issuance. All Class A Ordinary Shares issued upon the proper exercise of a Warrant in conformity with this Agreement shall be validly issued and, solely with respect to the Class A Ordinary Shares, fully paid and non-assessable.

 

3.3.4 Date of Issuance. Each person in whose name any book-entry position or certificate, as applicable, for Class A Ordinary Shares is issued and who is registered in the register of members of the Company shall for all purposes be deemed to have become the holder of record of such Class A Ordinary Shares on the date on which the Warrant, or book-entry position representing such Warrant, was surrendered and payment of the Warrant Price was made, irrespective of the date of delivery of such certificate in the case of a certificated Warrant, except that, if the date of such surrender and payment is a date when the resister of members of the Company or book-entry system of the Warrant Agent are closed, such person shall be deemed to have become the holder of such Class A Ordinary Shares at the close of business on the next succeeding date on which the share transfer books or book-entry system are open.

 

9

 

 

3.3.5 Maximum Percentage. A holder of a Warrant may notify the Company in writing in the event it elects to be subject to the provisions contained in this subsection 3.3.5; however, no holder of a Warrant shall be subject to this subsection 3.3.5 unless he, she or it makes such election. If the election is made by a holder, the Warrant Agent shall not effect the exercise of the holder’s Warrant, and such holder shall not have the right to exercise such Warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the Warrant Agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 9.8% (the “Maximum Percentage”) of the Class A Ordinary Shares outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise. For purposes of the foregoing sentence, the aggregate number of Class A Ordinary Shares beneficially owned by such person and its affiliates shall include the number of Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrant with respect to which the determination of such sentence is being made, but shall exclude Class A Ordinary Shares that would be issuable upon (x) exercise of the remaining, unexercised portion of the Warrant beneficially owned by such person and its affiliates and (y) exercise or conversion of the unexercised or unconverted portion of any other securities of the Company beneficially owned by such person and its affiliates (including, without limitation, any convertible notes or convertible preferred shares or warrants) subject to a limitation on conversion or exercise analogous to the limitation contained herein. Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, for purposes of this paragraph, beneficial ownership shall be calculated in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). For purposes of the Warrant, in determining the number of outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares, the holder may rely on the number of outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares as reflected in (1) the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, Current Report on Form 8-K or other public filing with the Commission as the case may be, (2) a more recent public announcement by the Company or (3) any other notice by the Company or Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as transfer agent (in such capacity, the ” Transfer Agent”) setting forth the number of Class A Ordinary Shares outstanding. For any reason at any time, upon the written request of the holder of the Warrant, the Company shall, within two (2) Business Days, confirm orally and in writing to such holder the number of Class A Ordinary Shares then outstanding. In any case, the number of issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares shall be determined after giving effect to the conversion or exercise of equity securities of the Company by the holder and its affiliates since the date as of which such number of issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares was reported. By written notice to the Company, the holder of a Warrant may from time to time increase or decrease the Maximum Percentage applicable to such holder to any other percentage specified in such notice; provided, however, that any such increase shall not be effective until the sixty-first (61st) day after such notice is delivered to the Company.

 

4. Adjustments.

 

4.1 Share Capitalizations.

 

4.1.1 Sub-Divisions. If after the date hereof, and subject to the provisions of Section 4.6 below, the number of issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares is increased by a capitalization or share dividend of Class A Ordinary Shares, or by a sub-division of Class A Ordinary Shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such share capitalization, sub-division or similar event, the number of Class A Ordinary Shares issuable on exercise of each Warrant shall be increased in proportion to such increase in the issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares. A rights offering made to all or substantially all holders of Class A Ordinary Shares entitling holders to purchase Class A Ordinary Shares at a price less than the “Historical Fair Market Value” (as defined below) shall be deemed a capitalization of a number of Class A Ordinary Shares equal to the product of (i) the number of Class A Ordinary Shares actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for the Class A Ordinary Shares) multiplied by (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per Class A Ordinary Share paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the Historical Fair Market Value. For purposes of this subsection 4.1.1, (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A Ordinary Shares, in determining the price payable for Class A Ordinary Shares, there shall be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) “Historical Fair Market Value” means the volume weighted average price of the Class A Ordinary Shares during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the Class A Ordinary Shares trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights. No Class A Ordinary Shares shall be issued at less than their par value.

 

10

 

 

4.1.2 Extraordinary Dividends. If the Company, at any time while the Warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pays to all or substantially all of the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets on account of such Class A Ordinary Shares (or other shares into which the Warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described in subsection 4.1.1 above, (b) Ordinary Cash Dividends (as defined below), (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares in connection with a proposed Initial Business Combination, (d) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares in connection with a shareholder vote to amend the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide holders of 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 it does not complete its Initial Business Combination within the time period required by the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, as amended from time to time, (e) as a result of the repurchase of Class A Ordinary Shares by the Company if a proposed Initial Business Combination is presented to the shareholders of the Company for approval or (f) in connection with the redemption of public shares upon the failure of the Company to complete its Initial Business Combination and any subsequent distribution of its assets upon its liquidation (any such non-excluded event being referred to herein as an “Extraordinary Dividend”), then the Warrant Price shall be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such Extraordinary Dividend, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value (as determined by the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”), in good faith) of any securities or other assets paid on each Class A Ordinary Share in respect of such Extraordinary Dividend. For purposes of this subsection 4.1.2, “Ordinary Cash Dividends” means any cash dividend or cash distribution which, when combined on a per share basis, with the per share amounts of all other cash dividends and cash distributions paid on the Class A Ordinary Shares during the 365-day period ending on the date of declaration of such dividend or distribution to the extent it does not exceed $0.50 (which amount shall be adjusted to appropriately reflect any of the events referred to in other subsections of this Section 4 and excluding cash dividends or cash distributions that resulted in an adjustment to the Warrant Price or to the number of Class A Ordinary Shares issuable on exercise of each Warrant).

 

4.2 Aggregation of Shares. If after the date hereof, and subject to the provisions of Section 4.6 hereof, the number of issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse share split or reclassification of Class A Ordinary Shares or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse share split, reclassification or similar event, the number of Class A Ordinary Shares issuable on exercise of each Warrant shall be decreased in proportion to such decrease in issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares.

 

11

 

 

4.3 Adjustments in Exercise Price. Whenever the number of Class A Ordinary Shares purchasable upon the exercise of the Warrants is adjusted, as provided in subsection 4.1.1 or Section 4.2 above, the Warrant Price shall be adjusted (to the nearest cent) by multiplying such Warrant Price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which shall be the number of Class A Ordinary Shares purchasable upon the exercise of the Warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which shall be the number of Class A Ordinary Shares so purchasable immediately thereafter. If (x) the Company issues additional Class A Ordinary Shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A Ordinary Share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Board and, in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any Class A Ordinary Share of the Company issued prior to the Offering and held by the Sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of the Company’s Initial Business Combination on the date of the completion of the Company’s Initial Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume-weighted average trading price of Class A Ordinary Shares during the twenty (20) trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates its Initial Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the Warrant Price shall be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described in Section 6.1 and Section 6.2 shall be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price described in Section 6.2 shall be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.

 

4.4 Replacement of Securities upon Reorganization, etc. In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares (other than a change under Section 4.1 or Section 4.2 hereof or that solely affects the par value of such Class A Ordinary Shares), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which the Company is the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of the issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of the Company as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which the Company is dissolved, the holders of the Warrants shall thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the Warrants and in lieu of the Class A Ordinary Shares of the Company immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares or stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the Warrants would have received if such holder had exercised his, her or its Warrant(s) immediately prior to such event (the “Alternative Issuance” ); provided, however, that (i) if the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares were entitled to exercise a right of election as to the kind or amount of securities, cash or other assets receivable upon such consolidation or merger, then the kind and amount of securities, cash or other assets constituting the Alternative Issuance for which each Warrant shall become exercisable shall be deemed to be the weighted average of the kind and amount received per share by the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares in such consolidation or merger that affirmatively make such election, and (ii) if a tender, exchange or redemption offer shall have been made to and accepted by the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares (other than a tender, exchange or redemption offer made by the Company in connection with redemption rights held by shareholders of the Company as provided for in the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, as amended from time to time, or as a result of the redemption of Class A Ordinary Shares by the Company if a proposed Initial Business Combination is presented to the shareholders of the Company for approval) under circumstances in which, upon completion of such tender or exchange offer, the maker thereof, together with members of any group (within the meaning of Rule 13d-5(b)(1) under the Exchange Act) of which such maker is a part, and together with any affiliate or associate of such maker (within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act) and any members of any such group of which any such affiliate or associate is a part, own beneficially (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act) more than 50% of the issued and outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares, the holder of a Warrant shall be entitled to receive as the Alternative Issuance, the highest amount of cash, securities or other property to which such holder would actually have been entitled as a shareholder if such Warrant holder had exercised the Warrant prior to the expiration of such tender or exchange offer, accepted such offer and all of the Class A Ordinary Shares held by such holder had been purchased pursuant to such tender or exchange offer, subject to adjustments (from and after the consummation of such tender or exchange offer) as nearly equivalent as possible to the adjustments provided for in this Section 4; provided further that if less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares in the applicable event is payable in the form of shares in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the Registered Holder properly exercises the Warrant within thirty (30) days following the public disclosure of the consummation of such applicable event by the Company pursuant to a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission, the Warrant Price shall be reduced by an amount (in dollars) equal to the difference of (i) the Warrant Price in effect prior to such reduction minus (ii) (A) the Per Share Consideration (as defined below) (but in no event less than zero) minus (B) the Black-Scholes Warrant Value (as defined below). The “Black-Scholes Warrant Value” means the value of a Warrant immediately prior to the consummation of the applicable event based on the Black-Scholes Warrant Model for a Capped American Call on Bloomberg Financial Markets (assuming zero dividends) (“Bloomberg”). For purposes of calculating such amount, (i) Section 6 of this Agreement shall be taken into account, (ii) the price of each Class A Ordinary Share shall be the volume weighted average price of the Class A Ordinary Shares during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the effective date of the applicable event, (iii) the assumed volatility shall be the 90 day volatility obtained from the HVT function on Bloomberg determined as of the trading day immediately prior to the day of the announcement of the applicable event and (iv) the assumed risk-free interest rate shall correspond to the U.S. Treasury rate for a period equal to the remaining term of the Warrant. “Per Share Consideration” means (i) if the consideration paid to holders of the Class A Ordinary Shares consists exclusively of cash, the amount of such cash per Class A Ordinary Share, and (ii) in all other cases, the volume weighted average price of the Class A Ordinary Shares during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the effective date of the applicable event. If any reclassification or reorganization also results in a change in Class A Ordinary Shares covered by subsection 4.1.1, then such adjustment shall be made pursuant to subsection 4.1.1 or Sections 4.2, 4.3 and this Section 4.4. The provisions of this Section 4.4 shall similarly apply to successive reclassifications, reorganizations, mergers or consolidations, sales or other transfers. In no event shall the Warrant Price be reduced to less than the par value per share issuable upon exercise of such Warrant.

 

12

 

 

4.5 Notices of Changes in Warrant. Upon every adjustment of the Warrant Price or the number of Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of a Warrant, the Company shall give written notice thereof to the Warrant Agent, which notice shall state the Warrant Price resulting from such adjustment and the increase or decrease, if any, in the number of Class A Ordinary Shares purchasable at such price upon the exercise of a Warrant, setting forth in reasonable detail the method of calculation and the facts upon which such calculation is based. Upon the occurrence of any event specified in Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 or 4.4, the Company shall give written notice of the occurrence of such event to each holder of a Warrant, at the last address set forth for such holder in the Warrant Register, of the record date or the effective date of the event. Failure to give such notice, or any defect therein, shall not affect the legality or validity of such event.

 

4.6 No Fractional Shares. Notwithstanding any provision contained in this Agreement to the contrary, the Company shall not issue fractional Class A Ordinary Shares upon the exercise of Warrants. If, by reason of any adjustment made pursuant to this Section 4, the holder of any Warrant would be entitled, upon the exercise of such Warrant, to receive a fractional interest in a share, the Company shall, upon such exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A Ordinary Shares to be issued to such holder.

 

4.7 Form of Warrant. The form of Warrant need not be changed because of any adjustment pursuant to this Section 4, and Warrants issued after such adjustment may state the same Warrant Price and the same number of Class A Ordinary Shares as is stated in the Warrants initially issued pursuant to this Agreement; provided, however, that the Company may at any time in its sole discretion make any change in the form of Warrant that the Company may deem appropriate and that does not affect the substance thereof, and any Warrant thereafter issued or countersigned, whether in exchange or substitution for an outstanding Warrant or otherwise, may be in the form as so changed.

 

5. Transfer and Exchange of Warrants.

 

5.1 Registration of Transfer. The Warrant Agent shall register the transfer, from time to time, of any outstanding Warrant upon the Warrant Register, upon surrender of such Warrant for transfer, properly endorsed with signatures properly guaranteed and accompanied by appropriate instructions for transfer. Upon any such transfer, a new Warrant representing an equal aggregate number of Warrants shall be issued and the old Warrant shall be cancelled by the Warrant Agent. In the case of certificated Warrants, the Warrants so cancelled shall be delivered by the Warrant Agent to the Company from time to time upon request.

 

13

 

 

5.2 Procedure for Surrender of Warrants. Warrants may be surrendered to the Warrant Agent, together with a written request for exchange or transfer, and thereupon the Warrant Agent shall issue in exchange therefor one or more new Warrants as requested by the Registered Holder of the Warrants so surrendered, representing an equal aggregate number of Warrants; provided, however, that except as otherwise provided herein or with respect to any Book-Entry Warrant, each Book-Entry Warrant may be transferred only in whole and only to the Depositary, to another nominee of the Depositary, to a successor depository, or to a nominee of a successor depository; provided further, however that in the event that a Warrant surrendered for transfer bears a restrictive legend (as in the case of the Private Placement Warrants), the Warrant Agent shall not cancel such Warrant and issue new Warrants in exchange thereof until the Warrant Agent has received an opinion of counsel for the Company stating that such transfer may be made and indicating whether the new Warrants must also bear a restrictive legend.

 

5.3 Fractional Warrants. The Warrant Agent shall not be required to effect any registration of transfer or exchange which shall result in the issuance of a warrant certificate or book-entry position for a fraction of a warrant, except as part of the Units.

 

5.4 Service Charges. No service charge shall be made for any exchange or registration of transfer of Warrants.

 

5.5 Warrant Execution and Countersignature. The Warrant Agent is hereby authorized to countersign and to deliver, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, the Warrants required to be issued pursuant to the provisions of this Section 5, and the Company, whenever required by the Warrant Agent, shall supply the Warrant Agent with Warrants duly executed on behalf of the Company for such purpose.

 

5.6 Transfer of Warrants. Prior to the Detachment Date, the Public Warrants may be transferred or exchanged only together with the Unit in which such Warrant is included, and only for the purpose of effecting, or in conjunction with, a transfer or exchange of such Unit. Furthermore, each transfer of a Unit on the register relating to such Units shall operate also to transfer the Warrants included in such Unit. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this Section 5.6 shall have no effect on any transfer of Warrants on and after the Detachment Date.

 

6. Redemption.

 

6.1 Redemption of Warrants for Cash. Subject to Section 6.5 hereof, not less than all of the outstanding Warrants may be redeemed, at the option of the Company, at any time during the Exercise Period, at the office of the Warrant Agent, upon notice to the Registered Holders of the Warrants, as described in Section 6.3 below, at a Redemption Price of $0.01 per Warrant, provided that (a) the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof) and (b) there is an effective registration statement covering the issuance of the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants, and a current prospectus relating thereto, available throughout the 30-day Redemption Period (as defined in Section 6.3 below).

 

14

 

 

6.2 Redemption of Warrants for Class A Ordinary Shares. Subject to Section 6.5 hereof, not less than all of the outstanding Warrants may be redeemed, at the option of the Company, at any time during the Exercise Period, at the office of the Warrant Agent, upon notice to the Registered Holders of the Warrants, as described in Section 6.3 below, at a Redemption Price of $0.10 per Warrant, provided that (i) the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof) and (ii) if the Reference Value is less than $18.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof), the Private Placement Warrants are also concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding Public Warrants. During the 30-day Redemption Period in connection with a redemption pursuant to this Section 6.2, Registered Holders of the Warrants may elect to exercise their Warrants on a “cashless basis” pursuant to subsection 3.3.1 and receive a number of Class A Ordinary Shares determined by reference to the table below, based on the Redemption Date (calculated for purposes of the table as the period to expiration of the Warrants) and the “Redemption Fair Market Value” (as such term is defined in this Section 6.2) (a “Make-Whole Exercise”). Solely for purposes of this Section 6.2, the “Redemption Fair Market Value” shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A Ordinary Shares for the ten (10) trading days immediately following the date on which notice of redemption pursuant to this Section 6.2 is sent to the Registered Holders. In connection with any redemption pursuant to this Section 6.2, the Company shall provide the Registered Holders with the Redemption Fair Market Value no later than one (1) Business Day after the ten (10) trading day period described above ends.

 

    Redemption Fair Market Value of Class A Ordinary Shares
(period to expiration of warrants)
 
Redemption Date   ≤ 10.00     11.00     12.00     13.00     14.00     15.00     16.00     17.00     18.00  
60 months     0.261       0.281       0.297       0.311       0.324       0.337       0.348       0.358       0.361  
57 months     0.257       0.277       0.294       0.310       0.324       0.337       0.348       0.358       0.361  
54 months     0.252       0.272       0.291       0.307       0.322       0.335       0.347       0.357       0.361  
51 months     0.246       0.268       0.287       0.304       0.320       0.333       0.346       0.357       0.361  
48 months     0.241       0.263       0.283       0.301       0.317       0.332       0.344       0.356       0.361  
45 months     0.235       0.258       0.279       0.298       0.315       0.330       0.343       0.356       0.361  
42 months     0.228       0.252       0.274       0.294       0.312       0.328       0.342       0.355       0.361  
39 months     0.221       0.246       0.269       0.290       0.309       0.325       0.340       0.354       0.361  
36 months     0.213       0.239       0.263       0.285       0.305       0.323       0.339       0.353       0.361  
33 months     0.205       0.232       0.257       0.280       0.301       0.320       0.337       0.352       0.361  
30 months     0.196       0.224       0.250       0.274       0.297       0.316       0.335       0.351       0.361  
27 months     0.185       0.214       0.242       0.268       0.291       0.313       0.332       0.350       0.361  
24 months     0.173       0.204       0.233       0.260       0.285       0.308       0.329       0.348       0.361  
21 months     0.161       0.193       0.223       0.252       0.279       0.304       0.326       0.347       0.361  
18 months     0.146       0.179       0.211       0.242       0.271       0.298       0.322       0.345       0.361  
15 months     0.130       0.164       0.197       0.230       0.262       0.291       0.317       0.342       0.361  
12 months     0.111       0.146       0.181       0.216       0.250       0.282       0.312       0.339       0.361  
9 months     0.090       0.125       0.162       0.199       0.237       0.272       0.305       0.336       0.361  
6 months     0.065       0.099       0.137       0.178       0.219       0.259       0.296       0.331       0.361  
3 months     0.034       0.065       0.104       0.150       0.197       0.243       0.286       0.326       0.361  
0 months                 0.042       0.115       0.179       0.233       0.281       0.323       0.361  

 

The exact Redemption Fair Market Value and Redemption Date may not be set forth in the table above, in which case, if the Redemption Fair Market Value is between two values in the table or the Redemption Date is between two redemption dates in the table, the number of Class A Ordinary Shares to be issued for each Warrant exercised in a Make-Whole Exercise shall be determined by a straight-line interpolation between the number of shares set forth for the higher and lower Redemption Fair Market Values and the earlier and later redemption dates, as applicable, based on a 365- or 366-day year, as applicable.

 

15

 

 

The share prices set forth in the column headings of the table above shall be adjusted as of any date on which the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a Warrant or the Exercise Price is adjusted pursuant to Section 4 hereof. If the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a Warrant is adjusted pursuant to Section 4 hereof, the adjusted share prices in the column headings shall equal the share prices immediately prior to such adjustment, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a Warrant immediately prior to such adjustment and the denominator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a Warrant as so adjusted. The number of shares in the table above shall be adjusted in the same manner and at the same time as the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a Warrant. If the Exercise Price of a warrant is adjusted, (a) in the case of an adjustment pursuant to Section 4.4 hereof, the adjusted share prices in the column headings shall equal the share prices immediately prior to such adjustment multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price and the denominator of which is $10.00 and (b) in the case of an adjustment pursuant to Section 4.1.2 hereof, the adjusted share prices in the column headings shall equal the share prices immediately prior to such adjustment less the decrease in the Exercise Price pursuant to such Exercise Price adjustment. In no event shall the number of shares issued in connection with a Make-Whole Exercise exceed 0.361 Class A Ordinary Shares per Warrant (subject to adjustment).

 

6.3 Date Fixed for, and Notice of, Redemption, Redemption Rice; Reference Value. In the event that the Company elects to redeem the Public Warrants pursuant to Section 6.1 or 6.2, the Company shall fix a date for the redemption (the “Redemption Date”). Notice of redemption shall be mailed by first class mail, postage prepaid, by the Company not less than thirty (30) days prior to the Redemption Date (the “30-day Redemption Period”) to the Registered Holders of the Warrants to be redeemed at their last addresses as they shall appear on the registration books. Any notice mailed in the manner herein provided shall be conclusively presumed to have been duly given whether or not the Registered Holder received such notice. As used in this Agreement, (a) “Redemption Price” shall mean the price per Warrant at which any Warrants are redeemed pursuant to Sections 6.1 or 6.2 and (b) “Reference Value” shall mean the last reported sales price of the Class A Ordinary Shares for any twenty (20) trading days within the thirty (30) trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which notice of the redemption is given.

 

6.4 Exercise After Notice of Redemption. The Warrants may be exercised, for cash (or on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 6.2 of this Agreement) at any time after notice of redemption shall have been given by the Company pursuant to Section 6.3 hereof and prior to the Redemption Date. On and after the Redemption Date, the record holder of the Warrants shall have no further rights except to receive, upon surrender of the Warrants, the Redemption Price.

 

16

 

 

6.5 Exclusion of Private Placement Warrants.

 

6.5.1 The Company agrees that (a) the redemption rights provided in Section 6.1 hereof shall not apply to the Private Placement Warrants if at the time of the redemption such Private Placement Warrants continue to be held by the Sponsor or its Permitted Transferees and (b) if the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (subject to adjustment in compliance with Section 4 hereof), the redemption rights provided in Section 6.2 hereof shall not apply to the Private Placement Warrants if at the time of the redemption such Private Placement Warrants continue to be held by the Sponsor or its Permitted Transferees. However, once such Private Placement Warrants are transferred (other than to Permitted Transferees in accordance with Section 2.6 hereof), the Company may redeem the Private Placement Warrants, provided that the criteria for redemption are met, including the opportunity of the holder of such Private Placement Warrants to exercise the Private Placement Warrants prior to redemption pursuant to Section 6.4 hereof. Private Placement Warrants that are transferred to persons other than Permitted Transferees shall upon such transfer cease to be Private Placement Warrants and shall become Public Warrants under this Agreement, including for purposes of Section 9.8 hereof.

 

7. Other Provisions Relating to Rights of Holders of Warrants.

 

7.1 No Rights as Shareholder. A Warrant does not entitle the Registered Holder thereof to any of the rights of a shareholder of the Company, including, without limitation, the right to receive dividends, or other distributions, exercise any preemptive rights to vote or to consent or to receive notice as shareholders in respect of the meetings of shareholders or the election of directors of the Company or any other matter.

 

7.2 Lost, Stolen, Mutilated, or Destroyed Warrants. If any Warrant is lost, stolen, mutilated, or destroyed, the Company and the Warrant Agent may on such terms as to indemnity or otherwise as they may in their discretion impose (which shall, in the case of a mutilated Warrant, include the surrender thereof), issue a new Warrant of like denomination, tenor, and date as the Warrant so lost, stolen, mutilated, or destroyed. Any such new Warrant shall constitute a substitute contractual obligation of the Company, whether or not the allegedly lost, stolen, mutilated, or destroyed Warrant shall be at any time enforceable by anyone.

 

7.3 Reservation of Class A Ordinary Shares. The Company shall at all times reserve and keep available a number of its authorized but unissued Class A Ordinary Shares that shall be sufficient to permit the exercise in full of all outstanding Warrants issued pursuant to this Agreement.

 

17

 

 

7.4 Registration of Class A Ordinary Shares; Cashless Exercise at Company’s Option.

 

7.4.1 Registration of the Class A Ordinary Shares. The Company agrees that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than twenty (20) Business Days after the closing of its Initial Business Combination, it shall use its commercially reasonable efforts to file with the Commission a post-effective amendment to the registration statement for the Public Offering or a new registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants. The Company shall use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within sixty (60) Business Days following the closing of its Initial Business Combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration or redemption of the Warrants in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement. If any such registration statement has not been declared effective by the sixtieth (60th) Business Day following the closing of the Initial Business Combination, holders of the Warrants shall have the right, during the period beginning on the sixty-first (61st) Business Day after the closing of the Initial Business Combination and ending upon such registration statement being declared effective by the Commission, and during any other period when the Company shall fail to have maintained an effective registration statement covering the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants, to exercise such Warrants on a “cashless basis,” by exchanging the Warrants (in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption) for that number of Class A Ordinary Shares equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A Ordinary Shares underlying the Warrants, multiplied by the difference between the Warrant Price and the “Fair Market Value” (as defined below) by (y) the Fair Market Value and (B) 0.361. Solely for purposes of this subsection 7.4.1, “Fair Market Value” shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A Ordinary Shares as reported during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the date that notice of exercise is received by the Warrant Agent from the holder of such Warrants or its securities broker or intermediary. The date that notice of cashless exercise is received by the Warrant Agent shall be conclusively determined by the Warrant Agent. In connection with the “cashless exercise” of a Public Warrant, the Company shall, upon request, provide the Warrant Agent with an opinion of counsel for the Company (which shall be an outside law firm with securities law experience) stating that (i) the exercise of the Warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with this subsection 7.4.1 is not required to be registered under the Securities Act and (ii) the Class A Ordinary Shares issued upon such exercise shall be freely tradable under United States federal securities laws by anyone who is not an affiliate (as such term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act) of the Company and, accordingly, shall not be required to bear a restrictive legend. Except as provided in subsection 7.4.2, for the avoidance of doubt, unless and until all of the Warrants have been exercised or have expired, the Company shall continue to be obligated to comply with its registration obligations under the first three sentences of this subsection 7.4.1.

 

7.4.2 Cashless Exercise at Company’s Option. If the Class A Ordinary Shares are at the time of any exercise of a Public Warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, (i) require holders of Public Warrants who exercise Public Warrants to exercise such Public Warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act as described in subsection 7.4.1 and (ii) in the event the Company so elects, the Company shall (x) not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants, notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary and (y) use its commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify for sale the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrant under the applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

 

8. Concerning the Warrant Agent and Other Matters.

 

8.1 Payment of Taxes. The Company shall from time to time promptly pay all taxes and charges that may be imposed upon the Company or the Warrant Agent in respect of the issuance or delivery of Class A Ordinary Shares upon the exercise of the Warrants, but the Company shall not be obligated to pay any transfer taxes in respect of the Warrants or such Class A Ordinary Shares.

 

18

 

 

8.2 Resignation, Consolidation, or Merger of Warrant Agent.

 

8.2.1 Appointment of Successor Warrant Agent. The Warrant Agent, or any successor to it hereafter appointed, may resign its duties and be discharged from all further duties and liabilities hereunder after giving sixty (60) days’ notice in writing to the Company. If the office of the Warrant Agent becomes vacant by resignation or incapacity to act or otherwise, the Company shall appoint in writing a successor Warrant Agent in place of the Warrant Agent. If the Company shall fail to make such appointment within a period of thirty (30) days after it has been notified in writing of such resignation or incapacity by the Warrant Agent or by the holder of a Warrant (who shall, with such notice, submit his, her or its Warrant for inspection by the Company), then the holder of any Warrant may apply to the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of New York for the appointment of a successor Warrant Agent at the Company’s cost. Any successor Warrant Agent, whether appointed by the Company or by such court, shall be a corporation or other entity organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York, in good standing and having its principal office in the United States of America, and authorized under such laws to exercise corporate trust powers and subject to supervision or examination by federal or state authority. After appointment, any successor Warrant Agent shall be vested with all the authority, powers, rights, immunities, duties, and obligations of its predecessor Warrant Agent with like effect as if originally named as Warrant Agent hereunder, without any further act or deed; but if for any reason it becomes necessary or appropriate, the predecessor Warrant Agent shall execute and deliver, at the expense of the Company, an instrument transferring to such successor Warrant Agent all the authority, powers, and rights of such predecessor Warrant Agent hereunder; and upon request of any successor Warrant Agent the Company shall make, execute, acknowledge, and deliver any and all instruments in writing for more fully and effectually vesting in and confirming to such successor Warrant Agent all such authority, powers, rights, immunities, duties, and obligations.

 

8.2.2 Notice of Successor Warrant Agent. In the event a successor Warrant Agent shall be appointed, the Company shall give notice thereof to the predecessor Warrant Agent and the Transfer Agent for the Class A Ordinary Shares not later than the effective date of any such appointment.

 

8.2.3 Merger or Consolidation of Warrant Agent. Any entity into which the Warrant Agent may be merged or with which it may be consolidated or any entity resulting from any merger or consolidation to which the Warrant Agent shall be a party shall be the successor Warrant Agent under this Agreement without any further act.

 

8.3 Fees and Expenses of Warrant Agent.

 

8.3.1 Remuneration. The Company agrees to pay the Warrant Agent reasonable remuneration for its services as such Warrant Agent hereunder and shall, pursuant to its obligations under this Agreement, reimburse the Warrant Agent upon demand for all expenditures that the Warrant Agent may reasonably incur in the execution of its duties hereunder.

 

19

 

 

8.3.2 Further Assurances. The Company agrees to perform, execute, acknowledge, and deliver or cause to be performed, executed, acknowledged, and delivered all such further and other acts, instruments, and assurances as may reasonably be required by the Warrant Agent for the carrying out or performing of the provisions of this Agreement.

 

8.4 Liability of Warrant Agent.

 

8.4.1 Reliance on Company Statement. Whenever in the performance of its duties under this Agreement, the Warrant Agent shall deem it necessary or desirable that any fact or matter be proved or established by the Company prior to taking or suffering any action hereunder, such fact or matter (unless other evidence in respect thereof be herein specifically prescribed) may be deemed to be conclusively proved and established by a statement signed by the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, Secretary or Chairman of the Board of the Company and delivered to the Warrant Agent. The Warrant Agent may rely upon such statement for any action taken or suffered in good faith by it pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement.

 

8.4.2 Indemnity. The Warrant Agent shall be liable hereunder only for its own gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud or bad faith. The Company agrees to indemnify the Warrant Agent and save it harmless against any and all liabilities, including judgments, out-of-pocket costs and reasonable outside counsel fees, for anything done or omitted by the Warrant Agent in the execution of this Agreement, except as a result of the Warrant Agent’s gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud or bad faith.

 

8.4.3 Exclusions. The Warrant Agent shall have no responsibility with respect to the validity of this Agreement or with respect to the validity or execution of any Warrant (except its countersignature thereof). The Warrant Agent shall not be responsible for any breach by the Company of any covenant or condition contained in this Agreement or in any Warrant. The Warrant Agent shall not be responsible to make any adjustments required under the provisions of Section 4 hereof or responsible for the manner, method, or amount of any such adjustment or the ascertaining of the existence of facts that would require any such adjustment; nor shall it by any act hereunder be deemed to make any representation or warranty as to the authorization or reservation of any Class A Ordinary Shares to be issued pursuant to this Agreement or any Warrant or as to whether any Class A Ordinary Shares shall, when issued, be valid and, solely with respect to the Class A Ordinary Shares, fully paid and non-assessable.

 

8.5 Acceptance of Agency. The Warrant Agent hereby accepts the agency established by this Agreement and agrees to perform the same upon the terms and conditions herein set forth and among other things, shall account promptly to the Company with respect to Warrants exercised and concurrently account for, and pay to the Company all monies received by the Warrant Agent for the purchase of Class A Ordinary Shares through the exercise of the Warrants.

 

8.6 Waiver. The Warrant Agent has no right of set-off or any other right, title, interest or claim of any kind (“Claim”) in, or to any distribution of, the Trust Account (as defined in that certain Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated as of the date hereof, by and between the Company, Opco and the Warrant Agent as trustee thereunder) and hereby agrees not to seek recourse, reimbursement, payment or satisfaction for any Claim against the Trust Account for any reason whatsoever. The Warrant Agent hereby waives any and all Claims against the Trust Account and any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account.

 

20

 

 

9. Miscellaneous Provisions.

 

9.1 Successors. All the covenants and provisions of this Agreement by or for the benefit of the Company or the Warrant Agent shall bind and inure to the benefit of their respective successors and assigns.

 

9.2 Notices. Any notice, statement or demand authorized by this Agreement to be given or made by the Warrant Agent or by the holder of any Warrant to or on the Company shall be sufficiently given when so delivered if by hand or overnight delivery or if sent by certified mail or private courier service within five (5) days after deposit of such notice, postage prepaid, addressed (until another address is filed in writing by the Company with the Warrant Agent), as follows:

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106

Attention: Secretary

 

With a copy to:

 

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

609 Main Street

Houston, Texas 77007

Attention: Matthew Pacey
 Lanchi Huynh

 

Any notice, statement or demand authorized by this Agreement to be given or made by the holder of any Warrant or by the Company to or on the Warrant Agent shall be sufficiently given when so delivered if by hand or overnight delivery or if sent by certified mail or private courier service within five (5) days after deposit of such notice, postage prepaid, addressed (until another address is filed in writing by the Warrant Agent with the Company), as follows:

 

Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company

One State Street, 30th Floor

New York, New York 10004

Attention: Compliance Department

 

9.3 Applicable Law and Exclusive Forum. The validity, interpretation, and performance of this Agreement and of the Warrants shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of New York. Subject to applicable law, the Company hereby agrees that any action, proceeding or claim against it arising out of or relating in any way to this Agreement shall be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. The Company hereby waives any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.

 

21

 

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this paragraph will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in the Warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in this Section 9.3. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions above, is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any warrant holder, such warrant holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.

 

9.4 Persons Having Rights under this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to confer upon, or give to, any person, corporation or other entity other than the parties hereto and the Registered Holders of the Warrants any right, remedy, or claim under or by reason of this Agreement or of any covenant, condition, stipulation, promise, or agreement hereof. All covenants, conditions, stipulations, promises, and agreements contained in this Agreement shall be for the sole and exclusive benefit of the parties hereto and their successors and assigns and of the Registered Holders of the Warrants.

 

9.5 Examination of the Warrant Agreement. A copy of this Agreement shall be available at all reasonable times at the office of the Warrant Agent in the United States of America for inspection by the Registered Holder of any Warrant. The Warrant Agent may require any such holder to submit such holder’s Warrant for inspection by the Warrant Agent.

 

9.6 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in any number of original or facsimile counterparts and each of such counterparts shall for all purposes be deemed to be an original, and all such counterparts shall together constitute but one and the same instrument. Signatures to this Agreement transmitted via facsimile or e-mail shall be valid and effective to bind the party so signing (including any electronic signature covered by the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the Electronic Signatures and Records Act or other applicable law, e.g., www.docusign.com).

 

9.7 Effect of Headings. The section headings herein are for convenience only and are not part of this Agreement and shall not affect the interpretation thereof.

 

22

 

 

9.8 Amendments. This Agreement may be amended by the parties hereto without the consent of any Registered Holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or to correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions hereof to the description of the terms of the Warrants and this Agreement set forth in the Prospectus, or defective provision contained herein, (ii) amending the definition of “Ordinary Cash Dividend” as contemplated by and in accordance with the second sentence of subsection 4.1.2, (iii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under this Agreement as the parties may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem shall not adversely affect the rights of the Registered Holders hereunder in any material respect or (iv) to make any amendments that are necessary in the good faith determination of the Company’s board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the Warrants to be classified as equity in the Company’s financial statements. All other modifications or amendments, including any modification or amendment to increase the Warrant Price or shorten the Exercise Period and any amendment to the terms of only the Private Placement Warrants, shall require the vote or written consent of the Registered Holders of 50% of the then-outstanding Public Warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the Private Placement Warrants or any provision of this Agreement with respect to the Private Placement Warrants, 50% of the then-outstanding Private Placement Warrants. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company may lower the Warrant Price or extend the duration of the Exercise Period pursuant to Sections 3.1 and 3.2, respectively, or make any amendment necessary in the good faith determination of the Company’s board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the Warrants to be classified as equity in the Company’s financial statements, in each case, without the consent of the Registered Holders.

 

9.9 Severability. This Agreement shall be deemed severable, and the invalidity or unenforceability of any term or provision hereof shall not affect the validity or enforceability of this Agreement or of any other term or provision hereof. Furthermore, in lieu of any such invalid or unenforceable term or provision, the parties hereto intend that there shall be added as a part of this Agreement a provision as similar in terms to such invalid or unenforceable provision as may be possible and be valid and enforceable.

 

Exhibit A — Form of Warrant Certificate

Exhibit B Legend — Private Placement Warrants

Exhibit C — Opco Warrant Right Holders

 

23

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be duly executed as of the date first above written.

 

  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
   
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
   
  CONTINENTAL STOCK TRANSFER & TRUST COMPANY, as Warrant Agent
   
  By:  
  Name:   
  Title:  

 

[Warrant Agreement Signature Page]

 

 

 

 

Exhibit A

 

[FACE]

 

Number

Warrants

 

THIS WARRANT SHALL BE VOID IF NOT EXERCISED PRIOR TO
THE EXPIRATION OF THE EXERCISE PERIOD PROVIDED FOR
IN THE WARRANT AGREEMENT DESCRIBED BELOW

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

Incorporated Under the Laws of the Cayman Islands

 

 

CUSIP [                   ]

Warrant Certificate

 

This Warrant Certificate certifies that [                ], or registered assigns, is the registered holder of [                ] warrant(s) (the “Warrants” and each, a “Warrant”) to purchase Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value (“Ordinary Shares”), of Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”). Each Warrant entitles the holder, upon exercise during the period set forth in the Warrant Agreement referred to below, to receive from the Company that number of fully paid and nonassessable Ordinary Shares as set forth below, at the exercise price (the “Exercise Price”) as determined pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, payable in lawful money (or through “cashless exercise” as provided for in the Warrant Agreement) of the United States of America upon surrender of this Warrant Certificate and payment of the Exercise Price at the office or agency of the Warrant Agent referred to below, subject to the conditions set forth herein and in the Warrant Agreement. Defined terms used in this Warrant Certificate but not defined herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Each whole Warrant is initially exercisable for one fully paid and non-assessable Ordinary Share. Fractional shares shall not be issued upon exercise of any Warrant. If, upon the exercise of Warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in an Ordinary Share, the Company shall, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Ordinary Shares to be issued to the Warrant holder. The number of Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events as set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

The initial Exercise Price per one Ordinary Share for any Warrant is equal to $11.50 per share. The Exercise Price is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events as set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

 

 

 

Subject to the conditions set forth in the Warrant Agreement, the Warrants may be exercised only during the Exercise Period and to the extent not exercised by the end of such Exercise Period, such Warrants shall become void. The Warrants may be redeemed, subject to certain conditions, as set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Reference is hereby made to the further provisions of this Warrant Certificate set forth on the reverse hereof and such further provisions shall for all purposes have the same effect as though fully set forth at this place.

 

This Warrant Certificate shall not be valid unless countersigned by the Warrant Agent, as such term is used in the Warrant Agreement. This Warrant Certificate shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York.

 

  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
   
  By:                                    
  Name:   
  Title:  
   
  CONTINENTAL STOCK TRANSFER & TRUST COMPANY as Warrant Agent
   
  By:  
  Name:  
  Title:  

 

 

 

 

[Form of Warrant Certificate]

 

[Reverse]

 

The Warrants evidenced by this Warrant Certificate are part of a duly authorized issue of Warrants entitling the holder on exercise to receive [                ] Ordinary Shares and are issued or to be issued pursuant to a Warrant Agreement dated as of [], 2021 (the “Warrant Agreement”), duly executed and delivered by the Company to Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a New York limited purpose trust company, as warrant agent (the “Warrant Agent”), which Warrant Agreement is hereby incorporated by reference in and made a part of this instrument and is hereby referred to for a description of the rights, limitation of rights, obligations, duties and immunities thereunder of the Warrant Agent, the Company and the holders (the words “holders” or “holder” meaning the Registered Holders or Registered Holder, respectively) of the Warrants. A copy of the Warrant Agreement may be obtained by the holder hereof upon written request to the Company. Defined terms used in this Warrant Certificate but not defined herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Warrants may be exercised at any time during the Exercise Period set forth in the Warrant Agreement. The holder of Warrants evidenced by this Warrant Certificate may exercise them by surrendering this Warrant Certificate, with the form of Election to Purchase set forth hereon properly completed and executed, together with payment of the Exercise Price as specified in the Warrant Agreement (or through “cashless exercise” as provided for in the Warrant Agreement) at the principal corporate trust office of the Warrant Agent. In the event that upon any exercise of Warrants evidenced hereby the number of Warrants exercised shall be less than the total number of Warrants evidenced hereby, there shall be issued to the holder hereof or his, her or its assignee, a new Warrant Certificate evidencing the number of Warrants not exercised.

 

Notwithstanding anything else in this Warrant Certificate or the Warrant Agreement, no Warrant may be exercised unless at the time of exercise (i) a registration statement covering the issuance of the Ordinary Shares to be issued upon exercise is effective under the Securities Act and (ii) a prospectus thereunder relating to the Ordinary Shares is current, except through “cashless exercise” as provided for in the Warrant Agreement.

 

The Warrant Agreement provides that upon the occurrence of certain events the number of Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants set forth on the face hereof may, subject to certain conditions, be adjusted. If, upon exercise of a Warrant, the holder thereof would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in an Ordinary Share, the Company shall, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of Ordinary Shares to be issued to the holder of the Warrant.

 

Warrant Certificates, when surrendered at the principal corporate trust office of the Warrant Agent by the Registered Holder thereof in person or by legal representative or attorney duly authorized in writing, may be exchanged, in the manner and subject to the limitations provided in the Warrant Agreement, but without payment of any service charge, for another Warrant Certificate or Warrant Certificates of like tenor evidencing in the aggregate a like number of Warrants.

 

Upon due presentation for registration of transfer of this Warrant Certificate at the office of the Warrant Agent a new Warrant Certificate or Warrant Certificates of like tenor and evidencing in the aggregate a like number of Warrants shall be issued to the transferee(s) in exchange for this Warrant Certificate, subject to the limitations provided in the Warrant Agreement, without charge except for any tax or other governmental charge imposed in connection therewith.

 

The Company and the Warrant Agent may deem and treat the Registered Holder(s) hereof as the absolute owner(s) of this Warrant Certificate (notwithstanding any notation of ownership or other writing hereon made by anyone), for the purpose of any exercise hereof, of any distribution to the holder(s) hereof, and for all other purposes, and neither the Company nor the Warrant Agent shall be affected by any notice to the contrary. Neither the Warrants nor this Warrant Certificate entitles any holder hereof to any rights of a shareholder of the Company.

 

 

 

 

Election to Purchase

 

(To Be Executed Upon Exercise of Warrant)

 

The undersigned hereby irrevocably elects to exercise the right, represented by this Warrant Certificate, to receive [                ] Ordinary Shares and herewith tenders payment for such Ordinary Shares to the order of Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”) in the amount of $[                ] in accordance with the terms hereof. The undersigned requests that a certificate for such Ordinary Shares be registered in the name of [                ], whose address is [                ] and that such Ordinary Shares be delivered to [                ] whose address is [                ]. If said [                ] number of Ordinary Shares is less than all of the Ordinary Shares purchasable hereunder, the undersigned requests that a new Warrant Certificate representing the remaining balance of such Ordinary Shares be registered in the name of [                ], whose address is [                ] and that such Warrant Certificate be delivered to [                ], whose address is [                ].

 

In the event that the Warrant has been called for redemption by the Company pursuant to Section 6.2 of the Warrant Agreement and a holder thereof elects to exercise its Warrant pursuant to a Make-Whole Exercise, the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for shall be determined in accordance with subsection 3.3.1(c) or Section 6.2 of the Warrant Agreement, as applicable.

 

In the event that the Warrant is a Private Placement Warrant that is to be exercised on a “cashless” basis pursuant to subsection 3.3.1(c) of the Warrant Agreement, the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for shall be determined in accordance with subsection [3.3.1(c)] of the Warrant Agreement.

 

In the event that the Warrant is to be exercised on a “cashless” basis pursuant to Section 7.4 of the Warrant Agreement, the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for shall be determined in accordance with Section 7.4 of the Warrant Agreement.

 

In the event that the Warrant may be exercised, to the extent allowed by the Warrant Agreement, through cashless exercise (i) the number of Ordinary Shares that this Warrant is exercisable for would be determined in accordance with the relevant section of the Warrant Agreement which allows for such cashless exercise and (ii) the holder hereof shall complete the following: The undersigned hereby irrevocably elects to exercise the right, represented by this Warrant Certificate, through the cashless exercise provisions of the Warrant Agreement, to receive Ordinary Shares. If said number of shares is less than all of the Ordinary Shares purchasable hereunder (after giving effect to the cashless exercise), the undersigned requests that a new Warrant Certificate representing the remaining balance of such Ordinary Shares be registered in the name of [                ], whose address is [                ] and that such Warrant Certificate be delivered to [                ], whose address is [                ].

 

[Signature Page Follows]

 

 

 

 

Date: [                ], 20

 

    (Signature)
     
    (Address)
     
     
    (Tax Identification Number)
     
Signature Guaranteed:    
     
     

 

THE SIGNATURE(S) SHOULD BE GUARANTEED BY AN ELIGIBLE GUARANTOR INSTITUTION (BANKS, STOCKBROKERS, SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS AND CREDIT UNIONS WITH MEMBERSHIP IN AN APPROVED SIGNATURE GUARANTEE MEDALLION PROGRAM, PURSUANT TO S.E.C. RULE 17Ad-15 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED).

 

A-1

 

 

Exhibit B (cont’d)

 

Exhibit B

 

LEGEND

 

“THE SECURITIES REPRESENTED BY THIS CERTIFICATE HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD, TRANSFERRED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED OF UNLESS REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, AND ANY APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS OR AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE. IN ADDITION, SUBJECT TO ANY ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON TRANSFER DESCRIBED IN THE LETTER AGREEMENT BY AND AMONG RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II (THE “COMPANY”), RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC AND THE OTHER PARTIES THERETO, THE SECURITIES REPRESENTED BY THIS CERTIFICATE MAY NOT BE SOLD OR TRANSFERRED PRIOR TO THE DATE THAT IS THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER THE DATE UPON WHICH THE COMPANY COMPLETES ITS INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION (AS DEFINED IN SECTION 3 OF THE WARRANT AGREEMENT REFERRED TO HEREIN) EXCEPT TO A PERMITTED TRANSFEREE (AS DEFINED IN SECTION 2 OF THE WARRANT AGREEMENT) WHO AGREES IN WRITING WITH THE COMPANY TO BE SUBJECT TO SUCH TRANSFER PROVISIONS.

 

SECURITIES EVIDENCED BY THIS CERTIFICATE AND CLASS A ORDINARY SHARES OF THE COMPANY ISSUED UPON EXERCISE OF SUCH SECURITIES SHALL BE ENTITLED TO REGISTRATION RIGHTS UNDER A REGISTRATION AND SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS AGREEMENT TO BE EXECUTED BY THE COMPANY.”

 

B-1

 

 

Exhibit C (cont’d)

 

Exhibit C

 

Holders

 

Rice Acquisition Sponsor LLC

 

 

C-1

 

Exhibit 5.1

 

 

 

609 Main Street

Houston, TX 77002

United States

 

+1 713 836 3600

 

www.kirkland.com

Facsimile:
+1 713 836 3601

 

June 3, 2021

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

102 East Main Street
Second Story
Carnegie, PA 15106

 

Re: Rice Acquisition Corp. II Registration Statement on Form S-1

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

We are issuing this opinion in our capacity as special United States counsel to Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Island exempted company (the “Company”), in connection with the registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), on a Registration Statement on Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-254080), initially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on March 10, 2021 (such Registration Statement, as amended at the effective date thereof, being referred to herein as the “Registration Statement”) of 28,750,000 units of the Company, including the underwriter’s over-allotment option to purchase an additional 3,750,000 units (collectively, the “Units”), with each Unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”), of the Company and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant of the Company to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share (the “Warrants”).

 

This opinion is being furnished in accordance with the requirements of Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Act.

 

In rendering the opinions stated herein, we have examined and relied upon the following:

 

(a) the form of Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) proposed to be entered into by and among the Company, Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Holdings”), and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., as representatives of the several underwriters named therein (the “Underwriters”), relating to the sale by the Company to the Underwriters of the Units, filed as Exhibit 1.1 to the Registration Statement;

 

(b) the form of Unit Certificate, filed as Exhibit 4.1 to the Registration Statement;

 

Austin Bay Area Beijing Boston Chicago Dallas Hong Kong Houston London Los Angeles Munich Paris Shanghai Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

June 3, 2021

Page 2

  

(c) the form of Warrant Certificate, filed as Exhibit 4.3 to the Registration Statement; and

 

(d) the form of Warrant Agreement proposed to be entered into by and between the Company, Holdings and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent (the “Warrant Agreement”), filed as Exhibit 4.4 to the Registration Statement.

 

For purposes of this letter, we have examined such other documents, records, certificates, resolutions and other instruments deemed necessary as a basis for this opinion, and we have assumed the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as originals, the conformity to the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies and the authenticity of the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies. As to any facts material to the opinions expressed herein which we have not independently established or verified, we have relied upon statements and representations of officers and other representatives of the Company and others.

 

We do not express any opinion with respect to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the laws of the State of New York.

 

Based upon the foregoing and subject to the qualifications and assumptions stated herein, we are of the opinion that:

 

1. When the Units are delivered in accordance with the Underwriting Agreement upon payment of the agreed upon consideration therefor, the Units will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms under the laws of the State of New York.

 

2. When the Units are delivered in accordance with the Underwriting Agreement upon payment of the agreed upon consideration therefor, the Warrants included in such Units will constitute valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with their terms under the laws of the State of New York.

 

In addition, in rendering the foregoing opinions we have assumed that:

 

(a) the Company (i) is duly incorporated and is validly existing and in good standing, (ii) has requisite legal status and legal capacity under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization and (iii) has complied and will comply with all aspects of the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization in connection with the transactions contemplated by, and the performance of its obligations under, the Warrant Agreement;

 

(b) the Company has the corporate power and authority to execute, deliver and perform all its obligations under the Warrant Agreement and the Units;

 

 

 

 

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

June 3, 2021

Page 3

 

(c) neither the execution and delivery by the Company of the Warrant Agreement nor the performance by the Company of its obligations thereunder, including the issuance and sale of the Units: (i) conflicts or will conflict with the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company; (ii) constitutes or will constitute a violation of, or a default under, any lease, indenture, instrument or other agreement to which the Company or its property is subject; (iii) contravenes or will contravene any order or decree of any governmental authority to which the Company or its property is subject; or (iv) violates or will violate any law, rule or regulation to which the Company or its property is subject (except that we do not make the assumption set forth in this clause (iv) with respect to the laws of the State of New York); and

 

(d) neither the execution and delivery by the Company of the Warrant Agreement nor the performance by the Company of its obligations thereunder, including the issuance and sale of the Units, requires or will require the consent, approval, licensing or authorization of, or any filing, recording or registration with, any governmental authority under any law, rule or regulation of any jurisdiction.

 

Our opinions expressed above are subject to the qualifications that we express no opinion as to the applicability of, compliance with, or effect of (i) any bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, fraudulent transfer, fraudulent conveyance, moratorium or other similar law or judicially developed doctrine in this area (such as substantive consolidation or equitable subordination) affecting the enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) general principles of equity (regardless of whether enforcement is considered in a proceeding in equity or at law), (iii) an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (iv) public policy considerations which may limit the rights of parties to obtain certain remedies, (v) any requirement that a claim with respect to any security denominated in other than U.S. dollars (or a judgment denominated in other than U.S. dollars in respect of such claim) be converted into U.S. dollars at a rate of exchange prevailing on a date determined in accordance with applicable law, (vi) governmental authority to limit, delay or prohibit the making of payments outside of the United States or in a foreign currency or currency unit and (vii) any laws except the laws of the State of New York. We advise you that issues addressed by this letter may be governed in whole or in part by other laws, but we express no opinion as to whether any relevant difference exists between the laws upon which our opinions are based and any other laws which may actually govern.

 

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion with the Commission as Exhibit 5.1 to the Registration Statement. We also consent to the reference to our firm under the heading “Legal Matters” in the Registration Statement. In giving this consent, we do not thereby admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations of the Commission.

 

 

 

 

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

June 3, 2021

Page 4

 

We do not find it necessary for the purposes of this opinion, and accordingly we do not purport to cover herein, the application of the securities or “Blue Sky” laws of the various states to the offering of the Units.

 

This opinion is limited to the specific issues addressed herein, and no opinion may be inferred or implied beyond that expressly stated herein. We assume no obligation to revise or supplement this opinion should the present laws of the State of New York be changed by legislative action, judicial decision or otherwise.

 

This opinion is furnished to you in connection with the filing of the Registration Statement and is not to be used, circulated, quoted or otherwise relied upon for any other purposes.

 

  Very truly yours,
   
  /s/ KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 5.2

 

 

 

Our ref SMC/783638-000001/65599836v1

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II
PO Box 309, Ugland House
Grand Cayman, KY1-1104
Cayman Islands

 

June 3, 2021

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

 

We have acted as counsel as to Cayman Islands law to Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”) in connection with the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1, including all amendments or supplements thereto, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”) (including its exhibits, the “Registration Statement”) for the purposes of, registering with the Commission under the Act, the offering and sale to the public of:

 

(a) up to 28,750,000 units (including 3,750,000 units, which the several underwriters, for whom Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc. are acting as representatives (“Representatives”), will have a 45-day option to purchase from the Company to cover over-allotments, if any) (“Units”) at an offering price of US$10 per Unit, each Unit consisting of:

 

(i) one Class A ordinary share of a par value of US$0.0001 of the Company (“Ordinary Shares”); and

 

(ii) one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one Ordinary Share at a price of US$11.50 per Ordinary Share (“Warrants”); and

 

(b) all Ordinary Shares and Warrants issued as part of the Units.

 

This opinion letter is given in accordance with the terms of the Legal Matters section of the Registration Statement.

 

1 Documents Reviewed

 

We have reviewed originals, copies, drafts or conformed copies of the following documents:

 

1.1 The certificate of incorporation dated 2 February 2021, and the memorandum and articles of association of the Company as registered or adopted on 2 February 2021 (the “Memorandum and Articles”).

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.2 The written resolutions of the board of directors of the Company dated 10 February 2021 and 9 March 2021 (together, the “Resolutions”) and the corporate records of the Company maintained at its registered office in the Cayman Islands.

 

1.3 A certificate of good standing with respect to the Company issued by the Registrar of Companies (the “Certificate of Good Standing”).

 

1.4 A certificate from a director of the Company a copy of which is attached to this opinion letter (the “Director’s Certificate”).

 

1.5 The Registration Statement.

 

1.6 A draft of the form of the unit certificate representing the Units (the “Unit Certificate”).

 

1.7 A draft of the form of the warrant agreement and the warrant certificate constituting the Warrants (the “Warrant Documents”).

 

1.8 A draft of the underwriting agreement between the Company, Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC and the Representatives (the “Underwriting Agreement”).

 

The documents listed in paragraphs 1.6 to 1.8 inclusive above shall be referred to collectively herein as the “Documents”.

 

2 Assumptions

 

The following opinions are given only as to, and based on, circumstances and matters of fact existing and known to us on the date of this opinion letter. These opinions only relate to the laws of the Cayman Islands which are in force on the date of this opinion letter. In giving the following opinions, we have relied (without further verification) upon the completeness and accuracy, as at the date of this opinion letter, of the Director’s Certificate and the Certificate of Good Standing. We have also relied upon the following assumptions, which we have not independently verified:

 

2.1 The Documents have been or will be authorised and duly executed and unconditionally delivered by or on behalf of all relevant parties in accordance with all relevant laws (other than, with respect to the Company, the laws of the Cayman Islands).

 

2.2 The Documents are, or will be, legal, valid, binding and enforceable against all relevant parties in accordance with their terms under the laws of the State of New York (the “Relevant Law”) and all other relevant laws (other than, with respect to the Company, the laws of the Cayman Islands).

 

2.3 The choice of the Relevant Law as the governing law of the Documents has been made in good faith and would be regarded as a valid and binding selection which will be upheld by the courts of the State of New York and any other relevant jurisdiction (other than the Cayman Islands) as a matter of the Relevant Law and all other relevant laws (other than the laws of the Cayman Islands).

 

2.4 Copies of documents, conformed copies or drafts of documents provided to us are true and complete copies of, or in the final forms of, the originals.

 

2.5 All signatures, initials and seals are genuine.

 

2

 

 

2.6 The capacity, power, authority and legal right of all parties under all relevant laws and regulations (other than, with respect to the Company, the laws and regulations of the Cayman Islands) to enter into, execute, unconditionally deliver and perform their respective obligations under the Documents.

 

2.7 No invitation has been or will be made by or on behalf of the Company to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for any of the Units, the Warrants or the Ordinary Shares.

 

2.8 There is no contractual or other prohibition or restriction (other than as arising under Cayman Islands law) binding on the Company prohibiting or restricting it from entering into and performing its obligations under the Documents.

 

2.9 No monies paid to or for the account of any party under the Documents or any property received or disposed of by any party to the Documents in each case in connection with the Documents or the consummation of the transactions contemplated thereby represent or will represent proceeds of criminal conduct or criminal property or terrorist property (as defined in the Proceeds of Crime Act (As Revised) and the Terrorism Act (As Revised), respectively).

 

2.10 There is nothing under any law (other than the laws of the Cayman Islands) which would or might affect the opinions set out below. Specifically, we have made no independent investigation of the Relevant Law.

 

2.11 The Company will receive money or money’s worth in consideration for the issue of the Ordinary Shares and none of the Ordinary Shares were or will be issued for less than par value.

 

Save as aforesaid we have not been instructed to undertake and have not undertaken any further enquiry or due diligence in relation to the transaction the subject of this opinion letter.

 

3 Opinions

 

Based upon, and subject to, the foregoing assumptions and the qualifications set out below, and having regard to such legal considerations as we deem relevant, we are of the opinion that:

 

3.1 The Company has been duly incorporated as an exempted company with limited liability and is validly existing and in good standing with the Registrar of Companies under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

 

3.2 The Ordinary Shares to be offered and issued by the Company as contemplated by the Registration Statement (including the issuance of Ordinary Shares upon the exercise of the Warrants in accordance with the Warrant Documents) have been duly authorised for issue, and when issued by the Company against payment in full of the consideration as set out in the Registration Statement and in accordance with the terms set out in the Registration Statement (including the issuance of Ordinary Shares upon the exercise of the Warrants in accordance with the Warrant Documents), such Ordinary Shares will be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. As a matter of Cayman Islands law, a share is only issued when it has been entered in the register of members (shareholders).

 

3.3 The execution, delivery and performance of the Unit Certificate and the Warrant Documents have been authorised by and on behalf of the Company and, once the Unit Certificate and the Warrant Documents have been executed and delivered by any director or officer of the Company, the Unit Certificate and the Warrant Documents will be duly executed and delivered on behalf of the Company and will constitute the legal, valid and binding obligations of the Company enforceable in accordance with their terms.

 

3

 

 

4 Qualifications

 

The opinions expressed above are subject to the following qualifications:

 

4.1 The term “enforceable” as used above means that the obligations assumed by the Company under the Documents are of a type which the courts of the Cayman Islands will enforce. It does not mean that those obligations will necessarily be enforced in all circumstances in accordance with their terms. In particular:

 

(a) enforcement may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, reorganisation, readjustment of debts or moratorium or other laws of general application relating to or affecting the rights of creditors;

 

(b) enforcement may be limited by general principles of equity. For example, equitable remedies such as specific performance may not be available, inter alia, where damages are considered to be an adequate remedy;

 

(c) where obligations are to be performed in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands, they may not be enforceable in the Cayman Islands to the extent that performance would be illegal under the laws of that jurisdiction; and

 

(d) some claims may become barred under relevant statutes of limitation or may be or become subject to defences of set off, counterclaim, estoppel and similar defences.

 

4.2 To maintain the Company in good standing with the Registrar of Companies under the laws of the Cayman Islands, annual filing fees must be paid and returns made to the Registrar of Companies within the time frame prescribed by law.

 

4.3 Under Cayman Islands law, the register of members (shareholders) is prima facie evidence of title to shares and this register would not record a third party interest in such shares. However, there are certain limited circumstances where an application may be made to a Cayman Islands court for a determination on whether the register of members reflects the correct legal position. Further, the Cayman Islands court has the power to order that the register of members maintained by a company should be rectified where it considers that the register of members does not reflect the correct legal position. As far as we are aware, such applications are rarely made in the Cayman Islands and for the purposes of the opinion given in paragraph 3.2, there are no circumstances or matters of fact known to us on the date of this opinion letter which would properly form the basis for an application for an order for rectification of the register of members of the Company, but if such an application were made in respect of the Ordinary Shares, then the validity of such shares may be subject to re-examination by a Cayman Islands court.

 

4.4 Except as specifically stated herein, we make no comment with respect to any representations and warranties which may be made by or with respect to the Company in any of the documents or instruments cited in this opinion letter or otherwise with respect to the commercial terms of the transactions the subject of this opinion letter.

 

4.5 In this opinion letter, the phrase “non-assessable” means, with respect to shares in the Company, that a shareholder shall not, solely by virtue of its status as a shareholder, be liable for additional assessments or calls on the shares by the Company or its creditors (except in exceptional circumstances, such as involving fraud, the establishment of an agency relationship or an illegal or improper purpose or other circumstances in which a court may be prepared to pierce or lift the corporate veil).

 

4

 

 

We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion letter as an exhibit to the Registration Statement and to the references to our firm under the heading “Legal Matters” in the prospectus included in the Registration Statement. In providing our consent, we do not thereby admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Act or the Rules and Regulations of the Commission thereunder.

 

This opinion letter is addressed to you and may be relied upon by you, your counsel and purchasers of Units pursuant to the Registration Statement. This opinion letter is limited to the matters detailed herein and is not to be read as an opinion with respect to any other matter.

 

Yours faithfully

 

/s/ Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP

 

5

 

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

PO Box 309, Ugland House

Grand Cayman

KY1-1104

Cayman Islands

 

June 3, 2021

 

To: Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP
  PO Box 309, Ugland House
  Grand Cayman
  KY1-1104
  Cayman Islands

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”)

 

I, the undersigned, being a director of the Company, am aware that you are being asked to provide an opinion letter (the “Opinion”) in relation to certain aspects of Cayman Islands law. Unless otherwise defined herein, capitalised terms used in this certificate have the respective meanings given to them in the Opinion. I hereby certify that:

 

1 The Memorandum and Articles remain in full force and effect and are unamended.

 

2 The Company has not entered into any mortgages or charges over its property or assets other than those entered in the register of mortgages and charges of the Company.

 

3 Each of the Resolutions were duly passed in the manner prescribed in the Memorandum and Articles (including, without limitation, with respect to the disclosure of interests (if any) by the director of the Company) and have not been amended, varied or revoked in any respect.

 

4 The authorised share capital of the Company is US$33,100 divided into 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each, 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each and 1,000,000 preference shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each. The issued share capital of the Company is 7,187,600 Class B ordinary shares, which have been duly authorised and are validly issued as fully-paid and non-assessable.

 

5 The shareholders of the Company (the “Shareholders”) have not restricted the powers of the directors of the Company in any way.

 

6 The sole director of the Company at the date of each of the Resolutions and at the date of this certificate was and is as follows: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV.

 

7 The minute book and corporate records of the Company as maintained at its registered office in the Cayman Islands and made available to you are complete and accurate in all material respects, and all minutes and resolutions filed therein represent a complete and accurate record of all meetings of the Shareholders and the director (or any committee thereof) of the Company (duly convened in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles) and all resolutions passed at the meetings or passed by written resolution or consent, as the case may be.

 

8 Prior to, at the time of, and immediately following the approval of the transactions contemplated by the Registration Statement, the Company was, or will be, able to pay its debts as they fell, or fall, due and has entered, or will enter, into the transactions contemplated by the Registration Statement for proper value and not with an intention to defraud or wilfully defeat an obligation owed to any creditor or with a view to giving a creditor a preference.

 

6

 

 

9 The director of the Company considers the transactions contemplated by the Registration Statement to be of commercial benefit to the Company and has acted in good faith in the best interests of the Company, and for a proper purpose of the Company, in relation to the transactions which are the subject of the Opinion.

 

10 To the best of my knowledge and belief, having made due inquiry, the Company is not the subject of legal, arbitral, administrative or other proceedings in any jurisdiction. Nor have the directors or Shareholders taken any steps to have the Company struck off or placed in liquidation, nor have any steps been taken to wind up the Company. Nor has any receiver been appointed over any of the Company’s property or assets.

 

11 To the best of my knowledge and belief, having made due inquiry, there are no circumstances or matters of fact existing which may properly form the basis for an application for an order for rectification of the register of members of the Company.

 

12 The Registration Statement has been, or will be, authorised and duly executed and delivered by or on behalf of all relevant parties in accordance with all relevant laws.

 

13 No invitation has been made or will be made by or on behalf of the Company to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for any of the Ordinary Shares.

 

14 The Ordinary Shares to be issued pursuant to the Registration Statement have been, or will be, duly registered, and will continue to be registered, in the Company’s register of members (shareholders).

 

15 The Company is not a central bank, monetary authority or other sovereign entity of any state and is not a subsidiary, direct or indirect, of any sovereign entity or state.

 

16 There is no contractual or other prohibition or restriction (other than as arising under Cayman Islands law) binding on the Company prohibiting or restricting it from entering into and performing its obligations under the Documents.

 

(Signature Page follows)

 

7

 

 

I confirm that you may continue to rely on this certificate as being true and correct on the day that you issue the Opinion unless I shall have previously notified you in writing personally to the contrary.

 

Signature:   /s/ Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  
Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  
Title: Director  

 

 

8

 

 

Exhibit 10.1

 

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT TRUST AGREEMENT

 

This Investment Management Trust Agreement (this “Agreement”) is made effective as of [●], 2021, by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Opco” and together with the Company, the “SPAC Parties”), and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a New York limited purpose trust company (the “Trustee”).

 

WHEREAS, the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-254080) (the “Registration Statement”) and prospectus (the “Prospectus”) for the initial public offering of the Company’s units (the “Units”), each of which consists of one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares” and, the holders of Class A Ordinary Shares sold as part of the Units, the “Public Shareholders”), and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant, each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share (such initial public offering hereinafter referred to as the “Offering”), has been declared effective as of the date hereof by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission;

 

WHEREAS, prior to the Offering, the Company issued an additional 2,500 Class A Ordinary Shares to Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Sponsor”), and Opco issued 100 Class A Units (“Class A Units”) to Sponsor;

 

WHEREAS, the Company has entered into an Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc. as representatives (the “Representatives”) of the several underwriters (the “Underwriters”) named therein; and

 

WHEREAS, as described in the Registration Statement, $259,000,000 of the gross proceeds of the Offering and sale of the Private Placement Warrants (as defined in the Underwriting Agreement) (or $297,250,000 if the Underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be delivered to the Trustee to be deposited and held in a segregated trust account located at all times in the United States (the “Trust Account”) for the benefit of the SPAC Parties and the holders of Class A Ordinary Shares and Class A Units, as hereinafter provided (the amount to be delivered to the Trustee (and any interest subsequently earned thereon) is referred to herein as the “Property,” the holders for whose benefit the Trustee shall hold the Property will be referred to as the “Holders,” and the Holders, the Company and Opco will be referred to together as the “Beneficiaries”); and

 

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement, a portion of the Property equal to $8,750,000 or $10,062,500 if the Underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, is attributable to deferred underwriting discounts and commissions that may be payable by the Company to the Underwriters upon the consummation of the Business Combination (as defined below) (the “Deferred Discount”); and

 

WHEREAS, the SPAC Parties and the Trustee desire to enter into this Agreement to set forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the Trustee shall hold the Property.

 

 

 

 

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED:

 

1. Agreements and Covenants of Trustee. The Trustee hereby agrees and covenants to:

 

(a) Hold the Property in trust for the Beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of this Agreement in the Trust Account established by the Trustee at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (or at another U.S. chartered commercial bank with consolidated assets of $100 billion or more) in the United States, maintained by the Trustee and at a brokerage institution selected by the Trustee that is reasonably satisfactory to the SPAC Parties;

 

(b) Manage, supervise and administer the Trust Account subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein;

 

(c) In a timely manner, upon the written instruction of the SPAC Parties, invest and reinvest the Property in United States government securities within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, having a maturity of 185 days or less, or in money market funds meeting the conditions of paragraphs (d)(1), (d)(2), (d)(3) and (d)(4) of Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by the SPAC Parties; the Trustee may not invest in any other securities or assets, it being understood that the Trust Account will earn no interest while account funds are uninvested awaiting the SPAC Parties’ instructions hereunder and the trustee may earn bank credits or other considerations;

 

(d) Collect and receive, when due, all interest or other income arising from the Property, which shall become part of the “Property,” as such term is used herein;

 

(e) Promptly notify the SPAC Parties of all communications received by the Trustee with respect to any Property requiring action by the SPAC Parties;

 

(f)   Supply any necessary information or documents as may be requested by the SPAC Parties (or their authorized agents) in connection with the SPAC Parties’ preparation of the tax returns relating to assets held in the Trust Account;

 

(g) Participate in any plan or proceeding for protecting or enforcing any right or interest arising from the Property if, as and when instructed by the SPAC Parties to do so;

 

(h) Render to the SPAC Parties monthly written statements of the activities of, and amounts in, the Trust Account reflecting all receipts and disbursements of the Trust Account;

 

(i) Commence liquidation of the Trust Account only after and promptly after (x) receipt of, and only in accordance with, the terms of a letter from the SPAC Parties (“Termination Letter”) in a form substantially similar to that attached hereto as either Exhibit A or Exhibit B, as applicable, signed on behalf of each of the SPAC Parties, by the Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary or Chairman of the board of directors (the “Board”) or other authorized officer, as applicable, and complete the liquidation of the Trust Account and distribute the Property in the Trust Account, including interest not previously released to Opco to pay franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest that may be released to Opco to pay dissolution expenses), only as directed in the Termination Letter and the other documents referred to therein, or (y) upon the date which is the later of (1) 24 months after the closing of the Offering and (2) such later date as may be approved by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, if a Termination Letter has not been received by the Trustee prior to such date, in which case the Trust Account shall be liquidated in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Termination Letter attached as Exhibit B and the Property in the Trust Account, including interest not previously released to Opco to pay franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest that may be released to Opco to pay dissolution expenses) shall be distributed to the Holders of record as of such date;

 

2

 

 

(j) Upon joint written request from the SPAC Parties, which may be given from time to time in a form substantially similar to that attached hereto as Exhibit C (a “Tax Payment Withdrawal Instruction”), withdraw from the Trust Account and distribute to Opco the amount of interest earned on the Property requested by the SPAC Parties to cover any income or franchise tax obligation owed by the SPAC Parties as a result of assets of the SPAC Parties or interest or other income earned on the Property, which amount shall be delivered directly to Opco by electronic funds transfer or other method of prompt payment, and Opco shall forward such payment to the relevant taxing authority; provided, however, that to the extent there is not sufficient cash in the Trust Account to pay such tax obligation, the Trustee shall liquidate such assets held in the Trust Account as shall be designated by the SPAC Parties in writing to make such distribution; provided, further, that if the tax to be paid is a franchise tax, the written request by the SPAC Parties to make such distribution shall be accompanied by a copy of the franchise tax bill from the State of Delaware and a written statement from the principal financial officer of each of the SPAC Parties setting forth the actual amount payable. The written request of the SPAC Parties referenced above shall constitute presumptive evidence that Opco is entitled to said funds, and the Trustee shall have no responsibility to look beyond said request;

 

(k) Upon joint written request from the SPAC Parties, which may be given from time to time in a form substantially similar to that attached hereto as Exhibit D (a “Shareholder Redemption Withdrawal Instruction”), the Trustee shall distribute on behalf of the SPAC Parties the amount requested by the SPAC Parties to be used to redeem Class A Ordinary Shares from Public Shareholders properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of its public Class A Ordinary Shares if the Company has not consummated an initial Business Combination within such time as is described in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. The written request of the SPAC Parties referenced above shall constitute presumptive evidence that the SPAC Parties are entitled to distribute said funds, and the Trustee shall have no responsibility to look beyond said request; and

 

(l) Not make any withdrawals or distributions from the Trust Account other than pursuant to Section 1(i), 1(j) or 1(k) above.

 

2. Agreements and Covenants of the Company and Opco. Each of the Company and Opco, jointly and severally, hereby agrees and covenants to:

 

(a) Give all instructions to the Trustee hereunder in writing, signed by the Company’s Chairperson of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer or Secretary on behalf of the Company, in its individual capacity and in its capacity as managing member of Opco. In addition, except with respect to its duties under Sections 1(i), 1(j) and 1(k) hereof, the Trustee shall be entitled to rely on, and shall be protected in relying on, any verbal or telephonic advice or instruction which it, in good faith and with reasonable care, believes to be given by any one of the persons authorized above to give written instructions, provided that such SPAC Party shall promptly confirm such instructions in writing;

 

3

 

 

(b) Subject to Section 4 hereof, hold the Trustee harmless and indemnify the Trustee from and against any and all expenses, including reasonable counsel fees and disbursements, or losses suffered by the Trustee in connection with any action taken by it hereunder and in connection with any action, suit or other proceeding brought against the Trustee involving any claim, or in connection with any claim or demand, which in any way arises out of or relates to this Agreement, the services of the Trustee hereunder, or the Property or any interest earned on the Property, except for expenses and losses resulting from the Trustee’s gross negligence, fraud or willful misconduct. Promptly after the receipt by the Trustee of notice of demand or claim or the commencement of any action, suit or proceeding, pursuant to which the Trustee intends to seek indemnification under this Section 2(b), it shall notify the SPAC Parties in writing of such claim (hereinafter referred to as the “Indemnified Claim”). The Trustee shall have the right to conduct and manage the defense against such Indemnified Claim; provided that the Trustee shall obtain the consent of the SPAC Parties with respect to the selection of counsel, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. The Trustee may not agree to settle any Indemnified Claim without the prior written consent of the SPAC Parties, which such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. The Company and Opco may participate in such action with its own counsel;

 

(c) Pay the Trustee the fees set forth on Schedule A hereto, including an initial acceptance fee, annual administration fee, and transaction processing fee which fees shall be subject to modification by the parties from time to time. It is expressly understood that the Property shall not be used to pay such fees unless and until it is distributed to Opco pursuant to Sections 1(i) through 1(k) hereof. Opco shall pay the Trustee the initial acceptance fee and the first annual administration fee at the consummation of the Offering. Neither SPAC Party shall be responsible for any other fees or charges of the Trustee except as set forth in this Section 2(c), Schedule A and as may be provided in Section 2(b) hereof;

 

(d) In connection with any vote of the Company’s shareholders regarding a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination involving the Company and one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”), provide to the Trustee an affidavit or certificate of the inspector of elections for the shareholder meeting verifying the vote of such shareholders regarding such Business Combination;

 

(e) Provide the Representatives with a copy of any Termination Letter(s) and/or any other correspondence that is sent to the Trustee with respect to any proposed withdrawal from the Trust Account promptly after it issues the same;

 

(f)   Instruct the Trustee to make only those distributions that are permitted under this Agreement, and refrain from instructing the Trustee to make any distributions that are not permitted under this Agreement; and

 

4

 

 

(g) Within five (5) business days after the Representatives exercise the overallotment option (or any unexercised portion thereof) or such over-allotment option expires, provide the Trustee with a notice in writing (with a copy to the Representatives) of the total amount of the Deferred Discount.

 

3. Limitations of Liability. The Trustee shall have no responsibility or liability to:

 

(a) Imply obligations, perform duties, inquire or otherwise be subject to the provisions of any agreement or document other than this Agreement and that which is expressly set forth herein;

 

(b) Take any action with respect to the Property, other than as directed in Section 1 hereof, and the Trustee shall have no liability to any party except for liability arising out of the Trustee’s gross negligence, fraud or willful misconduct;

 

(c) Institute any proceeding for the collection of any principal and income arising from, or institute, appear in or defend any proceeding of any kind with respect to, any of the Property unless and until it shall have received instructions from the SPAC Parties given as provided herein to do so and Opco shall have advanced or guaranteed to it funds sufficient to pay any expenses incident thereto;

 

(d) Refund any depreciation in principal of any Property;

 

(e) Assume that the authority of any person designated by the Company or Opco to give instructions hereunder shall not be continuing unless provided otherwise in such designation, or unless the Company or Opco shall have delivered a written revocation of such authority to the Trustee;

 

(f)   The other parties hereto or to anyone else for any action taken or omitted by it, or any action suffered by it to be taken or omitted, in good faith and in the Trustee’s best judgment, except for the Trustee’s gross negligence, fraud or willful misconduct. The Trustee may rely conclusively and shall be protected in acting upon any order, notice, demand, certificate, opinion or advice of counsel (including counsel chosen by the Trustee, which counsel may be the Company’s counsel), statement, instrument, report or other paper or document (not only as to its due execution and the validity and effectiveness of its provisions, but also as to the truth and acceptability of any information therein contained) which the Trustee believes, in good faith and with reasonable care, to be genuine and to be signed or presented by the proper person or persons. The Trustee shall not be bound by any notice or demand, or any waiver, modification, termination or rescission of this Agreement or any of the terms hereof, unless evidenced by a written instrument delivered to the Trustee, signed by the proper party or parties and, if the duties or rights of the Trustee are affected, unless it shall give its prior written consent thereto;

 

(g) Verify the accuracy of the information contained in the Registration Statement;

 

5

 

 

(h) Provide any assurance that any Business Combination entered into by the Company or any other action taken by the Company is as contemplated by the Registration Statement;

 

(i) File information returns with respect to the Trust Account with any local, state or federal taxing authority or provide periodic written statements to the SPAC Parties documenting the taxes payable by the SPAC Parties, if any, relating to any interest income earned on the Property;

 

(j) Prepare, execute and file tax reports, income or other tax returns and pay any taxes with respect to any income generated by, and activities relating to, the Trust Account, regardless of whether such tax is payable by the Trust Account or the SPAC Parties, including, but not limited to, income tax obligations, except pursuant to Section 1(j) hereof; or

 

(k) Verify calculations, qualify or otherwise approve the Company’s written requests for distributions pursuant to Sections 1(i), 1(j) and 1(k) hereof.

 

4. Trust Account Waiver. The Trustee has no right of set-off or any right, title, interest or claim of any kind (“Claim”) to, or to any monies in, the Trust Account, and hereby irrevocably waives any Claim to, or to any monies in, the Trust Account that it may have now or in the future. In the event the Trustee has any Claim against the SPAC Parties under this Agreement, including, without limitation, under Section 2(b) or Section 2(c) hereof, the Trustee shall pursue such Claim solely against the SPAC Parties and their assets outside the Trust Account and not against the Property or any monies in the Trust Account.

 

5. Termination. This Agreement shall terminate as follows:

 

(a) If the Trustee gives written notice to the SPAC Parties that it desires to resign under this Agreement, the SPAC Parties shall use their reasonable efforts to locate a successor trustee, pending which the Trustee shall continue to act in accordance with this Agreement. At such time that the SPAC Parties notify the Trustee that a successor trustee has been appointed and has agreed to become subject to the terms of this Agreement, the Trustee shall transfer the management of the Trust Account to the successor trustee, including but not limited to the transfer of copies of the reports and statements relating to the Trust Account, whereupon this Agreement shall terminate; provided, however, that in the event that the SPAC Parties do not locate a successor trustee within ninety (90) days of receipt of the resignation notice from the Trustee, the Trustee may submit an application to have the Property deposited with any court in the State of New York or with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and upon such deposit, the Trustee shall be immune from any liability whatsoever; or

 

(b) At such time that the Trustee has completed the liquidation of the Trust Account and its obligations in accordance with the provisions of Section 1(i) hereof (which section may not be amended under any circumstances) and distributed the Property in accordance with the provisions of the Termination Letter, this Agreement shall terminate except with respect to Section 2(b).

 

6

 

 

6. Miscellaneous.

 

(a) The Company, Opco and the Trustee each acknowledge that the Trustee will follow the security procedures set forth below with respect to funds transferred from the Trust Account. The Company, Opco and the Trustee will each restrict access to confidential information relating to such security procedures to authorized persons. Each party must notify the other party immediately if it has reason to believe unauthorized persons may have obtained access to such confidential information, or of any change in its authorized personnel. In executing funds transfers, the Trustee shall rely upon all information supplied to it by the SPAC Parties, including account names, account numbers, and all other identifying information relating to a Beneficiary, Beneficiary’s bank or intermediary bank. Except for any liability arising out of the Trustee’s gross negligence, fraud or willful misconduct, the Trustee shall not be liable for any loss, liability or expense resulting from any error in the information or transmission of the funds.

 

(b) This Agreement shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to conflicts of law principles that would result in the application of the substantive laws of another jurisdiction. This Agreement may be executed in several original or facsimile counterparts, each one of which shall constitute an original, and together shall constitute but one instrument.

 

(c) This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding of the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof. Except for Sections 1(i), 1(j) and 1(k) hereof (which sections may not be modified, amended or deleted without the affirmative vote of sixty-five percent (65%) of the then outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares and Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, of the Company, voting together as a single class; provided that no such amendment will affect any Public Shareholder who has properly elected to redeem his, her or its Class A Ordinary Shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to this Agreement that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of its Class A Ordinary Shares and Class A Units if the Company does not complete its initial Business Combination within the time frame specified in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association), this Agreement or any provision hereof may only be changed, amended or modified (other than to correct a typographical error) by a writing signed by each of the parties hereto.

 

(d) The parties hereto consent to the jurisdiction and venue of any state or federal court located in the City of New York, State of New York, for purposes of resolving any disputes hereunder. AS TO ANY CLAIM, CROSS-CLAIM OR COUNTERCLAIM IN ANY WAY RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT, EACH PARTY WAIVES THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY.

 

(e) Any notice, consent or request to be given in connection with any of the terms or provisions of this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be sent by express mail or similar private courier service, by certified mail (return receipt requested), by hand delivery or by facsimile or email transmission:

 

7

 

 

if to the Trustee, to:

 

Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company

1 State Street, 30th Floor

New York, New York 10004

Attn: Francis Wolf and Celeste Gonzalez
Email:

fwolf@continentalstock.com

cgonzalez@continentalstock.com

 

if to the Company or Opco, to:

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106

Attn: J. Kyle Derham
Email: kyle@riceinvestmentgroup.com

 

in each case, with copies to:

 

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

609 Main Street

Houston, Texas 77002

Attn: Matthew Pacey and Lanchi Huynh
Email: matt.pacey@kirkland.com

Lanchi.huynh@kirkland.com

 

and

 

Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

[●]
[●]
Attn: [●]
Email: [●]

 

8

 

 

and

 

Barclays Capital Inc.

[●]
[●]
Attn: [●]
Email: [●]

 

and

 

Vinson & Elkins L.L.P.

1001 Fannin Street, Suite 2500

Houston, Texas 77002

Attn: David P. Oelman, E. Ramey Layne and Sarah K. Morgan
Email: doelman@velaw.com

rlayne@velaw.com

smorgan@velaw.com

 

(f)   Each of the Company, Opco and the Trustee hereby represents that it has the full right and power and has been duly authorized to enter into this Agreement and to perform its respective obligations as contemplated hereunder. The Trustee acknowledges and agrees that it shall not make any claims or proceed against the Trust Account, including by way of set-off, and shall not be entitled to any funds in the Trust Account under any circumstance.

 

(g) Each of the Company, Opco and the Trustee hereby acknowledges and agrees that the Representatives, on behalf of the Underwriters, are third party beneficiaries of this Agreement.

 

(h) Except as specified herein, no party to this Agreement may assign its rights or delegate its obligations hereunder to any other person or entity.

 

[Signature Page Follows]

 

9

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have duly executed this Investment Management Trust Agreement as of the date first written above.

 

  Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company,
  as Trustee
     
  By:  
  Name: Francis Wolf
  Title: Vice President
     
  COMPANY:
     
  Rice Acquisition Corp. II
     
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
  OPCO:
     
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
     
  By:                                  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

[Signature Page to Investment Management Trust Agreement]

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE A

 

Fee Item   Time and method of payment   Amount  
Initial set-up fee.   Initial closing of Offering by wire transfer.   $ 3,500.00  
Trustee administration fee   Payable annually. First year fee payable at initial closing of Offering by wire transfer; thereafter, payable by wire transfer or check.   $ 10,000.00  
Transaction processing fee for disbursements to Company under Sections 1(i), 1(j) and 1(k)   Deduction by Trustee from accumulated disbursements made to Opco under Section 1   $ 250.00  
Paying Agent services as required pursuant to Sections 1(i) and 1(k)   Billed to Opco upon delivery of service pursuant to Sections 1(i) and 1(k)     Prevailing rates  

 

Schedule A

 

 

EXHIBIT A

 

[Letterhead of Company]

 

[Insert date]

 

Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company

1 State Street, 30th Floor

New York, New York 10004

Attn: Francis Wolf and Celeste Gonzalez

 

Re: Trust Account—Termination Letter

 

Dear Mr. Wolf and Ms. Gonzalez:

 

Pursuant to Section 1(i) of the Investment Management Trust Agreement by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”), dated as of [●], 2021 (the “Trust Agreement”), this is to advise you that the Company has entered into an agreement with ____________________ (the “Target Business”) to consummate a business combination with Target Business (the “Business Combination”) on or about ____________________, 20___. The Company shall notify you at least seventy-two (72) hours in advance of the actual date of the consummation of the Business Combination (the “Consummation Date”). Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the Trust Agreement.

 

In accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement, we hereby authorize you to commence to liquidate all of the assets of the Trust Account and to transfer the proceeds into the trust operating account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. to the effect that, on the Consummation Date, all of the funds held in the Trust Account will be immediately available for transfer to the account or accounts that the SPAC Parties shall direct on the Consummation Date. It is acknowledged and agreed that while the funds are on deposit in the trust operating account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. awaiting distribution, Opco will not earn any interest or dividends.

 

On the Consummation Date (i) counsel for the Company shall deliver to you written notification that the Business Combination has been consummated, or will be consummated concurrently with your transfer of funds to the accounts as directed by the SPAC Parties (the “Notification”) and (ii) the SPAC Parties shall deliver to you (a) a certificate of the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, which verifies that the Business Combination has been approved by a vote of the Company’s shareholders, if a vote is held and (b) written instruction signed by the SPAC Parties with respect to the transfer of the funds held in the Trust Account, including payment of the Deferred Discount from the Trust Account (the “Instruction Letter”). You are hereby directed and authorized to transfer the funds held in the Trust Account immediately upon your receipt of the Notification and the Instruction Letter, in accordance with the terms of the Instruction Letter. In the event that certain deposits held in the Trust Account may not be liquidated by the Consummation Date without penalty, you will notify the SPAC Parties in writing of the same and the SPAC Parties shall direct you as to whether such funds should remain in the Trust Account and be distributed after the Consummation Date to Opco. Upon the distribution of all the funds, net of any payments necessary for reasonable unreimbursed expenses related to liquidating the Trust Account, your obligations under the Trust Agreement shall be terminated.

 

A-1

 

 

In the event that the Business Combination is not consummated on the Consummation Date described in the notice thereof and we have not notified you on or before the original Consummation Date of a new Consummation Date, then upon receipt by the Trustee of written instructions from the SPAC Parties, the funds held in the Trust Account shall be reinvested as provided in Section 1(c) of the Trust Agreement on the business day immediately following the Consummation Date as set forth in such written instructions as soon thereafter as possible.

 

  Very truly yours,
     
  Rice Acquisition Corp. II
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

cc: Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc.

 

A-2

 

 

EXHIBIT B

 

[Letterhead of Company]

 

[Insert date]

 

Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company

1 State Street, 30th Floor

New York, New York 10004

Attn: Francis Wolf and Celeste Gonzalez

 

Re: Trust Account — Termination Letter

 

Dear Mr. Wolf and Ms. Gonzalez:

 

Pursuant to Section 1(i) of the Investment Management Trust Agreement by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”), dated as of [●], 2021 (the “Trust Agreement”), this is to advise you that the Company has been unable to effect a business combination with a Target Business within the time frame specified in the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, as described in the Company’s Prospectus relating to the Offering. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the Trust Agreement.

 

In accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement, we hereby authorize you to liquidate all of the assets in the Trust Account and to transfer the total proceeds into the trust operating account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. to await distribution to the Holders. The SPAC Parties have selected J.P.Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. as the effective date for the purpose of determining when the Holders will be entitled to receive their share of the liquidation proceeds. You agree to be the Paying Agent of record and, in your separate capacity as Paying Agent, agree to distribute said funds directly to the Holders in accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement, the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company and the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco. Upon the distribution of all the funds, net of any payments necessary for reasonable unreimbursed expenses related to liquidating the Trust Account, your obligations under the Trust Agreement shall be terminated, except to the extent otherwise provided in Section 1(j) of the Trust Agreement.

 

[Signature page follows]

 

B-1

 

 

  Very truly yours,
     
  Rice Acquisition Corp. II
     
  By:           
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

cc: Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc.

 

B-2

 

 

EXHIBIT C

 

[Letterhead of Company]

 

[Insert date]

 

Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company

1 State Street, 30th Floor

New York, New York 10004

Attn: Francis Wolf and Celeste Gonzalez

 

Re: Trust Account — Tax Payment Withdrawal Instruction

 

Dear Mr. Wolf and Ms. Gonzalez:

 

Pursuant to Section 1(j) of the Investment Management Trust Agreement by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”), dated as of [●], 2021 (the “Trust Agreement”), the SPAC Parties hereby request that you deliver to Opco $_____________ of the interest income earned on the Property as of the date hereof. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the Trust Agreement.

 

Opco needs such funds to pay for the tax obligations as set forth on the attached tax return or tax statement. In accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement, you are hereby directed and authorized to transfer (via wire transfer) such funds promptly upon your receipt of this letter to Opco’s operating account at:

 

[WIRE INSTRUCTION INFORMATION]

 

[Signature page follows]

 

C-1

 

 

  Very truly yours,
     
  Rice Acquisition Corp. II
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

cc: Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc.

 

C-2

 

 

EXHIBIT D

 

[Letterhead of Company]

 

[Insert date]

 

Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company

1 State Street, 30th Floor

New York, New York 10004

Attn: Francis Wolf and Celeste Gonzalez

 

Re: Trust Account — Shareholder Redemption Withdrawal Instruction

 

Dear Mr. Wolf and Ms. Gonzalez:

 

Pursuant to Section 1(k) of the Investment Management Trust Agreement by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”), dated as of [●], 2021 (the “Trust Agreement”), the SPAC Parties hereby request that you deliver to the redeeming Public Shareholders of the Company $_____________ of the principal and interest income earned on the Property as of the date hereof. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the Trust Agreement.

 

The SPAC Parties need such funds to pay the Public Shareholders who have properly elected to have their Class A Ordinary Shares redeemed by the Company in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that affects the substance or timing of the SPAC Parties’ obligation to redeem 100% of the Class A Ordinary Shares and Class A Units if the Company has not consummated an initial Business Combination within such time as is described in the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. As such, you are hereby directed and authorized to transfer (via wire transfer) such funds promptly upon your receipt of this letter to the redeeming Public Shareholders in accordance with your customary procedures.

 

[Signature page follows]

 

D-1

 

 

  Very truly yours,
     
  Rice Acquisition Corp. II
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
     
  By:            
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

cc: Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc.

 

 

D-2

 

 

Exhibit 10.2

 

REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT

 

THIS REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”), dated as of [●], 2021, is made and entered into by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), Rice Energy Sponsor II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (the “Sponsor”) and the undersigned parties listed under Holder on the signature page hereto (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 Sponsor, Jide Famuagun, Carrie M. Fox and James Lytal own an aggregate of 7,187,600 Class B Units (“Class B Units”) of Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) and a corresponding number of the Company’s Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class B Ordinary Shares”);

 

WHEREAS, the Sponsor also owns (i) 2,500 of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”), and (ii) 100 Class A Units of Opco (“Class A Units”) and a corresponding number of Class B Ordinary Shares (collectively, the “Sponsor Shares”);

 

WHEREAS, the Class B Units will automatically convert into Class A Units at the time of the Company’s initial Business Combination (as defined below) on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to the terms of the Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Opco, dated [●], 2021;

 

WHEREAS, following the initial Business Combination, the Holders will have the right to exchange their Class A Units (and a corresponding number of Class B Ordinary Shares) for Class A Ordinary Shares on a one-for-one basis;

 

WHEREAS, on [●], 2021, the Company and the Sponsor entered into that certain Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to purchase 9,000,000 warrants (or 9,750,000 warrants if the over-allotment option in connection with the Company’s initial public offering is exercised in full) (the “Sponsor Private Placement Warrants”) in a private placement transaction occurring simultaneously with the closing of the Company’s initial public offering; 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.

 

Agreement” shall have the meaning given in the Preamble.

 

Board” shall mean the Board of Directors of the Company.

 

Business Combination” shall mean any merger, capital share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, involving the Company.

 

Class A Ordinary Shares” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Class A Units” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Class B Ordinary Shares” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Class B Units” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Commission” shall mean the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

Company” shall have the meaning given in the Preamble.

 

Demand Registration” shall have the meaning given in subsection 2.1.1 of this Agreement.

 

Demanding Holder” shall mean, (i) for purposes of a Demand Registration, any Holder or group of Holders, that together holds Registrable Securities having an aggregate value of at least $25 million, at the time of the written demand, and (ii) for purposes of an Underwritten Demand, any Holder or group of Holders, that together elects to dispose of Registrable Securities having an aggregate value of at least $25 million, at the time of the Underwritten Demand, under a Registration Statement pursuant to an Underwritten Offering.

 

Effectiveness Period” shall have the meaning given in subsection 3.1.1 of this Agreement.

 

2

 

 

Exchange Act” shall mean the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as it may be amended from time to time.

 

Form S-3” shall mean Form S-3 or any similar short-form registration statement that may be available at such time.

 

Founder Shares” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Founder Share Lock-up Period” shall mean, with respect to the Founder Shares, the period ending on the earliest of (A) one year after the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination or (B) subsequent to the Business Combination, (x) the date on which the closing price of the Class A Ordinary Shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the Company’s initial Business Combination or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A Ordinary Shares for cash, securities or other property.

 

Holder Indemnified Persons” shall have the meaning given in subsection 4.1.1 of this Agreement.

 

Holders” shall have the meaning given in the Preamble.

 

Insider Letter” shall mean that certain letter agreement, dated as of [●], 2021, by and among the Company, Opco and the officers and directors of the Company.

 

Maximum Number of Securities” shall have the meaning given in subsection 2.1.4 of this Agreement.

 

Misstatement” shall mean an untrue statement of a material fact or an omission to state a material fact required to be stated in a Registration Statement or Prospectus, or necessary to make the statements in a Registration Statement or Prospectus in the light of the circumstances under which they were made not misleading.

 

Opco” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Permitted Transferees” means a person or entity to whom a Holder is permitted to transfer Registrable Securities prior to the expiration of the Founder Shares Lock-up Period or Private Placement Lock-up Period, as the case may be, under the Insider Letter and any other applicable agreement between such Holder and the Company, and to any transferee thereafter.

 

Piggyback Registration” shall have the meaning given in subsection 2.2.1 of this Agreement.

 

Private Placement Lock-up Period” shall mean, with respect to the Private Placement Warrants and Class A Ordinary Shares underlying the Private Placement Warrants, until thirty (30) days after the completion of a Business Combination.

 

3

 

 

Private Placement Warrants” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Pro Rata” shall have the meaning given in subsection 2.1.4 of this Agreement.

 

Prospectus” shall mean the prospectus included in any Registration Statement, as supplemented by any and all prospectus supplements and as amended by any and all post-effective amendments and including all material incorporated by reference in such prospectus.

 

Registrable Security” shall mean (a) the Class A Ordinary Shares issued or issuable upon the exchange of Class A Units (and the corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares), (b) the Private Placement Warrants (including any Class A Ordinary Shares issued or issuable upon the exercise of any such Private Placement Warrants or, if applicable, upon exchange of Class A Units issued upon the exercise of any such Private Placement Warrants), (c) any equity securities (including the Class A Ordinary Shares issued or issuable upon the exercise of any such equity security) of the Company issuable upon conversion of any working capital loans in an amount up to $1,500,000 made to the Company by a Holder, (d) any outstanding Class A Ordinary Shares, including Class A Ordinary Shares comprising the Sponsor Shares, or any other equity security (including the Class A Ordinary Shares issued or issuable upon the exercise of any other equity security) of the Company held by a Holder as of the date of this Agreement and (e) any other equity security of the Company issued or issuable with respect to any such Class A Ordinary Shares by way of a share capitalizations or share split or in connection with a combination of shares, recapitalization, merger, consolidation or reorganization; provided, however, that, as to any particular Registrable Security, such securities shall cease to be Registrable Securities when: (A) a Registration Statement with respect to the sale of such securities shall have become effective under the Securities Act and such securities shall have been sold, transferred, disposed of or exchanged in accordance with such Registration Statement; (B) such securities shall have been otherwise transferred, new certificates for such securities not bearing a legend restricting further transfer shall have been delivered by the Company and subsequent public distribution of such securities shall not require registration under the Securities Act; (C) such securities shall have ceased to be outstanding; or (D) such securities may be sold without registration pursuant to Rule 144 promulgated under the Securities Act (or any successor rule promulgated thereafter by the Commission) (but with no volume or other restrictions or limitations).

 

Registration” shall mean a registration effected by preparing and filing a registration statement or similar document in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Act, and the applicable rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, and any such registration statement having been declared effective by, or become effective pursuant to rules promulgated by, the Commission.

 

Registration Expenses” shall mean the out-of-pocket expenses of a Registration, including, without limitation, the following:

 

(A) all registration and filing fees (including fees with respect to filings required to be made with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and any securities exchange on which the Class A Ordinary Shares is then listed);

 

4

 

 

(B) fees and expenses of compliance with securities or blue sky laws (including reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel for the Underwriters in connection with blue sky qualifications of Registrable Securities);

 

(C) printing, messenger, telephone and delivery expenses;

 

(D) reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel for the Company;

 

(E) reasonable fees and disbursements of all independent registered public accountants of the Company incurred specifically in connection with such Registration; and

 

(F) reasonable fees and expenses of one (1) legal counsel selected by the Demanding Holders initiating a Demand Registration or Underwritten Demand to be registered for offer and sale in the applicable Registration or Underwritten Offering.

 

Registration Statement” shall mean any registration statement under the Securities Act that covers the Registrable Securities pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement, including the Prospectus included in such registration statement, amendments (including post-effective amendments) and supplements to such registration statement, and all exhibits to and all material incorporated by reference in such registration statement.

 

Requesting Holder” shall have the meaning given in subsection 2.1.3 of this Agreement.

 

Securities Act” shall mean the Securities Act of 1933, as amended from time to time.

 

Sponsor” shall have the meaning given in the Preamble.

 

Sponsor Private Placement Warrants” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Sponsor Shares” shall have the meaning given in the Recitals hereto.

 

Underwriter” shall mean a securities dealer who purchases any Registrable Securities as principal in an Underwritten Offering and not as part of such dealer’s market-making activities.

 

Underwritten Demand” shall have the meaning given in subsection 2.1.3 of this Agreement.

 

Underwritten Offering” shall mean a Registration in which securities of the Company are sold to an Underwriter in a firm commitment underwriting for distribution to the public.

 

Article II
REGISTRATIONS

 

2.1 Demand Registration.

 

2.1.1 Request for Registration. Subject to the provisions of subsection 2.1.4 and Section 2.3 of this Agreement, at any time and from time to time on or after the date the Company consummates the Business Combination, any Demanding Holder may make a written demand for Registration of all of the then-outstanding Registrable Securities and the Company shall file with the Commission, as soon as reasonably practicable, but in no event later than sixty (60) days following the receipt of such written demand, a Registration Statement covering such Registrable Securities (a “Demand Registration”). Such written demand will specify the intended methods of distribution. The Company shall use its reasonable best efforts to cause such Registration Statement to be declared effective by, or become effective pursuant to rules promulgated by, the Commission as soon as reasonably practicable after the initial filing of the Registration Statement in accordance with Section 3.1 of this Agreement.

 

5

 

 

2.1.2 Effective Registration. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2.1.1 of this Agreement or any other part of this Agreement, a Registration pursuant to a Demand Registration shall not count as a Registration unless and until (i) the Registration Statement filed with the Commission with respect to a Registration pursuant to a Demand Registration has been declared effective by, or become effective pursuant to rules promulgated by, the Commission and (ii) the Company has complied with all of its obligations under this Agreement with respect thereto. The Company shall not be obligated or required to file another Registration Statement until the Registration Statement that has been previously filed with respect to a Registration pursuant to a Demand Registration is subsequently terminated. Subject to the limitations contained in this Agreement, the Company shall effect any Demand Registration on such appropriate registration form of the Commission (x) as shall be selected by the Company and (y) as shall permit the disposition of the Registrable Securities in accordance with the intended method or methods of disposition specified in the Demand Registration. If at any time a Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed with the Commission pursuant to Section 2.1.1 of this Agreement is effective and a Holder provides written notice to the Company that it intends to effect an offering of all or part of the Registrable Securities included on such Registration Statement, the Company will amend or supplement such Registration Statement as may be necessary in order to enable such offering to take place in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

 

2.1.3 Underwritten Offering. Subject to the provisions of subsection 2.1.4 and Section 2.3 of this Agreement, any Demanding Holder may make a written demand for an Underwritten Offering pursuant to a Registration Statement filed with the Commission in accordance with Section 2.1.1 of this Agreement (an “Underwritten Demand”). The Company shall, within ten (10) days of the Company’s receipt of the Underwritten Demand, notify, in writing, all other Holders of such demand, and each Holder who thereafter wishes to include all or a portion of such Holder’s Registrable Securities in such Underwritten Offering pursuant to an Underwritten Demand (each such Holder that includes all or a portion of such Holder’s Registrable Securities in such Underwritten Offering, a “Requesting Holder”) shall so notify the Company, in writing, within two (2) days (one (1) day if such offering is an overnight or bought Underwritten Offering) after the receipt by the Holder of the notice from the Company. Upon receipt by the Company of any such written notification from a Requesting Holder(s), such Requesting Holder(s) shall be entitled to have their Registrable Securities included in the Underwritten Offering pursuant to an Underwritten Demand. All such Holders proposing to distribute their Registrable Securities through an Underwritten Offering under this subsection 2.1.3 shall enter into an underwriting agreement in customary form with the Underwriter(s) selected for such Underwritten Offering by the Demanding Holders initiating the Underwritten Offering. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company is not obligated to effect more than an aggregate of three (3) Underwritten Offerings pursuant to this subsection 2.1.3 and is not obligated to effect an Underwritten Offering pursuant to this subsection 2.1.3 within ninety (90) days after the closing of an Underwritten Offering.

 

2.1.4 Reduction of Underwritten Offering. If the managing Underwriter or Underwriters in an Underwritten Offering pursuant to a Underwritten Demand, in good faith, advises or advise the Company, the Demanding Holders, the Requesting Holders and other persons or entities holding Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company that the Company is obligated to include pursuant to separate written contractual arrangements with such persons or entities (if any) in writing that the dollar amount or number of Registrable Securities or other equity securities of the Company requested to be included in such Underwritten Offering exceeds the maximum dollar amount or maximum number of equity securities of the Company that can be sold in the Underwritten Offering without adversely affecting the proposed offering price, the timing, the distribution method or the probability of success of such offering (such maximum dollar amount or maximum number of such securities, as applicable, the “Maximum Number of Securities”), then the Company shall include in such Underwritten Offering, as follows: (i) first, the Registrable Securities of the Demanding Holders and the Requesting Holders (if any) (pro rata based on the respective number of Registrable Securities that each Demanding Holder and Requesting Holder (if any) has requested be included in such Underwritten Offering and the aggregate number of Registrable Securities that the Demanding Holders and Requesting Holders have requested be included in such Underwritten Offering (such proportion is referred to herein as “Pro Rata”)) that can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; (ii) second, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clause (i), Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company that the Company desires to sell and that can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; and (iii) third, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clauses (i) and (ii), Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company held by other persons or entities that the Company is obligated to include pursuant to separate written contractual arrangements with such persons or entities and that can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities.

 

6

 

 

2.1.5 Demand Registration Withdrawal. The Demanding Holders initiating a Demand Registration pursuant to a Registration under subsection 2.1.1 of this Agreement shall have the right to withdraw from such Registration pursuant to such Demand Registration for any or no reason whatsoever upon written notification to the Company of their intention to withdraw from such Registration prior to the effectiveness of the Registration Statement filed with the Commission with respect to the Registration of their Registrable Securities pursuant to such Demand Registration. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, the Company shall be responsible for the Registration Expenses incurred in connection with a Registration pursuant to a Demand Registration prior to its withdrawal under this subsection 2.1.5.

 

2.2 Piggyback Registration.

 

2.2.1 Piggyback Rights. If, at any time on or after the date the Company consummates a Business Combination, the Company proposes to (i) file a Registration Statement under the Securities Act with respect to an offering of equity securities of the Company, or securities or other obligations exercisable or exchangeable for, or convertible into equity securities of the Company, for its own account or for the account of shareholders of the Company, other than a Registration Statement (A) filed in connection with any employee share option or other benefit plan, (B) for an exchange offer or offering of securities solely to the Company’s existing shareholders, (C) for an offering of debt that is convertible into equity securities of the Company or (D) for a dividend reinvestment plan, or (ii) consummate an Underwritten Offering for its own account or for the account of shareholders of the Company, then the Company shall give written notice of such proposed action to all of the Holders of Registrable Securities as soon as practicable (but in the case of filing a Registration Statement, not less than ten (10) days before the anticipated filing date of such Registration Statement), which notice shall (x) describe the amount and type of securities to be included, the intended method(s) of distribution and the name of the proposed managing Underwriter or Underwriters, if any, and (y) offer to all of the Holders of Registrable Securities the opportunity to register the sale of such number of Registrable Securities as such Holders may request in writing within (a) five (5) days in the case of filing a Registration Statement and (b) two (2) days in the case of an Underwritten Offering (unless such offering is an overnight or bought Underwritten Offering, then one (1) day), in each case after receipt of such written notice (such Registration a “Piggyback Registration”). The Company shall, in good faith, cause such Registrable Securities to be included in such Piggyback Registration and shall use its best efforts to cause the managing Underwriter or Underwriters of a proposed Underwritten Offering to permit the Registrable Securities requested by the Holders pursuant to this subsection 2.2.1 to be included in a Piggyback Registration on the same terms and conditions as any similar securities of the Company included in such Piggyback Registration and to permit the sale or other disposition of such Registrable Securities in accordance with the intended method(s) of distribution thereof. All such Holders proposing to include Registrable Securities in an Underwritten Offering under this subsection 2.2.1 shall enter into an underwriting agreement in customary form with the Underwriter(s) selected for such Underwritten Offering by the Company.

 

2.2.2 Reduction of Piggyback Registration. If the managing Underwriter or Underwriters in an Underwritten Offering that is to be a Piggyback Registration, in good faith, advises the Company and the Holders of Registrable Securities participating in the Piggyback Registration in writing that the dollar amount or number of shares of the equity securities of the Company that the Company desires to sell, taken together with (i) the shares of equity securities of the Company, if any, as to which Registration or Underwritten Offering has been demanded pursuant to separate written contractual arrangements with persons or entities other than the Holders of Registrable Securities hereunder, (ii) the Registrable Securities as to which Registration or Underwritten Offering has been requested pursuant to Section 2.2 of this Agreement and (iii) the shares of equity securities of the Company, if any, as to which Registration or Underwritten Offering has been requested pursuant to separate written contractual piggyback registration rights of other shareholders of the Company, exceeds the Maximum Number of Securities, then:

 

(a) If the Registration or Underwritten Offering is undertaken for the Company’s account, the Company shall include in any such Registration or Underwritten Offering (A) first, the Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company that the Company desires to sell, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; (B) second, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clause (A), the Registrable Securities of Holders exercising their rights to register their Registrable Securities pursuant to subsection 2.2.1 of this Agreement, Pro Rata, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; and (C) third, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clauses (A) and (B), Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company, if any, as to which Registration or Underwritten Offering has been requested pursuant to written contractual piggyback registration rights of other shareholders of the Company, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; or

 

7

 

 

(b) If the Registration or Underwritten Offering is pursuant to a request by persons or entities other than the Holders of Registrable Securities, then the Company shall include in any such Registration or Underwritten Offering (A) first, Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company, if any, of such requesting persons or entities, other than the Holders of Registrable Securities, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; (B) second, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clause (A), the Registrable Securities of Holders exercising their rights to register their Registrable Securities pursuant to subsection 2.2.1 of this Agreement, Pro Rata, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; (C) third, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clauses (A) and (B), Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company that the Company desires to sell, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities; and (D) fourth, to the extent that the Maximum Number of Securities has not been reached under the foregoing clauses (A), (B) and (C), Class A Ordinary Shares or other equity securities of the Company for the account of other persons or entities that the Company is obligated to register pursuant to separate written contractual arrangements with such persons or entities, which can be sold without exceeding the Maximum Number of Securities.

 

2.2.3 Piggyback Registration Withdrawal. Any Holder of Registrable Securities shall have the right to withdraw from a Piggyback Registration for any or no reason whatsoever upon written notification to the Company and the Underwriter or Underwriters (if any) of his, her or its intention to withdraw from such Piggyback Registration prior to the effectiveness of the Registration Statement filed with the Commission with respect to such Piggyback Registration. The Company (whether on its own good faith determination or as the result of a request for withdrawal by persons pursuant to separate written contractual obligations) may withdraw a Registration Statement filed with the Commission in connection with a Piggyback Registration at any time prior to the effectiveness of such Registration Statement. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, the Company shall be responsible for the Registration Expenses incurred in connection with the Piggyback Registration prior to its withdrawal under this subsection 2.2.3.

 

2.2.4 Unlimited Piggyback Registration Rights. For purposes of clarity, any Registration or Underwritten Offering effected pursuant to Section 2.2 of this Agreement shall not be counted as an Underwritten Offering pursuant to an Underwritten Demand effected under Section 2.1 of this Agreement.

 

2.3 Restrictions on Registration Rights. If (A) the Holders have requested an Underwritten Offering pursuant to an Underwritten Demand and the Company and the Holders are unable to obtain the commitment of underwriters to firmly underwrite the offer; or (B) the Holders have requested a Demand Registration or an Underwritten Offering pursuant to an Underwritten Demand and in the good faith judgment of the Board such Registration or Underwritten Offering would be seriously detrimental to the Company and the Board concludes as a result that it is essential to defer the filing of such Registration Statement or the undertaking of such Underwritten Offering at such time, then in each case the Company shall furnish to such Holders a certificate signed by the Chairman of the Board stating that in the good faith judgment of the Board it would be seriously detrimental to the Company for such Registration Statement to be filed or to undertake such Underwritten Offering in the near future and that it is therefore essential to defer the filing of such Registration Statement or undertaking of such Underwritten Offering. In such event, the Company shall have the right to defer such filing or offering for a period of not more than thirty (30) days; provided, however, that the Company shall not defer its obligation in this manner more than once in any twelve (12)-month period.

 

8

 

 

Article III
COMPANY PROCEDURES

 

3.1 General Procedures. If at any time on or after the date the Company consummates a Business Combination the Company is required to effect the Registration of Registrable Securities pursuant to this Agreement, the Company shall use its best efforts to effect such Registration to permit the sale of such Registrable Securities in accordance with the intended plan of distribution thereof, and pursuant thereto the Company shall, as expeditiously as possible and to the extent applicable:

 

3.1.1 prepare and file with the Commission as soon as practicable a Registration Statement with respect to such Registrable Securities and use its reasonable best efforts to cause such Registration Statement to become effective and remain effective until all Registrable Securities covered by such Registration Statement have been sold or are no longer outstanding (such period, the “Effectiveness Period”);

 

3.1.2 prepare and file with the Commission such amendments and post-effective amendments to the Registration Statement, and such supplements to the Prospectus, as may be reasonably requested by the Demanding Holders or any Underwriter or as may be required by the rules, regulations or instructions applicable to the registration form used by the Company or by the Securities Act or rules and regulations thereunder to keep the Registration Statement effective until all Registrable Securities covered by such Registration Statement are sold in accordance with the intended plan of distribution set forth in such Registration Statement or supplement to the Prospectus or are no longer outstanding;

 

3.1.3 prior to filing a Registration Statement or Prospectus, or any amendment or supplement thereto, furnish without charge to the Underwriters, if any, and the Holders of Registrable Securities included in such Registration or Underwritten Offering, and such Holders’ legal counsel, copies of such Registration Statement as proposed to be filed, each amendment and supplement to such Registration Statement (in each case including all exhibits thereto and documents incorporated by reference therein), the Prospectus (including each preliminary Prospectus) and such other documents as the Underwriters and the Holders of Registrable Securities included in such Registration or the legal counsel for any such Holders may reasonably request in order to facilitate the disposition of the Registrable Securities owned by such Holders; provided, that the Company will not have any obligation to provide any document pursuant to this clause that is available on the Commission’s EDGAR system;

 

3.1.4 prior to any public offering of Registrable Securities, use its best efforts to (i) register or qualify the Registrable Securities covered by the Registration Statement under such securities or “blue sky” laws of such jurisdictions in the United States as the Holders of Registrable Securities included in such Registration Statement (in light of their intended plan of distribution) may request and (ii) take such action necessary to cause such Registrable Securities covered by the Registration Statement to be registered with or approved by such other governmental authorities as may be necessary by virtue of the business and operations of the Company and do any and all other acts and things that may be necessary or advisable to enable the Holders of Registrable Securities included in such Registration Statement to consummate the disposition of such Registrable Securities in such jurisdictions; provided, however, that the Company shall not be required to qualify generally to do business in any jurisdiction where it would not otherwise be required to qualify or take any action to which it would be subject to general service of process or taxation in any such jurisdiction where it is not then otherwise so subject;

 

9

 

 

3.1.5 cause all such Registrable Securities to be listed on each securities exchange or automated quotation system on which similar securities issued by the Company are then listed;

 

3.1.6 provide a transfer agent or warrant agent, as applicable, and registrar for all such Registrable Securities no later than the effective date of such Registration Statement;

 

3.1.7 advise each seller of such Registrable Securities, promptly after it shall receive notice or obtain knowledge thereof, of the issuance of any stop order by the Commission suspending the effectiveness of such Registration Statement or the initiation or threatening of any proceeding for such purpose and promptly use its reasonable best efforts to prevent the issuance of any stop order or to obtain its withdrawal if such stop order should be issued;

 

3.1.8 during the Effectiveness Period, furnish a conformed copy of each filing of any Registration Statement or Prospectus or any amendment or supplement to such Registration Statement or Prospectus or any document that is to be incorporated by reference into such Registration Statement or Prospectus, promptly after such filing of such documents with the Commission to each seller of such Registrable Securities or its counsel; provided, that the Company will not have any obligation to provide any document pursuant to this clause that is available on the Commission’s EDGAR system;

 

3.1.9 notify the Holders at any time when a Prospectus relating to such Registration Statement is required to be delivered under the Securities Act, of the happening of any event as a result of which the Prospectus included in such Registration Statement, as then in effect, includes a Misstatement, and then to correct such Misstatement as set forth in Section 3.4 of this Agreement;

 

3.1.10 permit a representative of the Holders, the Underwriters, if any, and any attorney or accountant retained by such Holders or Underwriter to participate, at each such person’s own expense, in the preparation of the Registration Statement or the Prospectus, and cause the Company’s officers, directors and employees to supply all information reasonably requested by any such representative, Underwriter, attorney or accountant in connection with the Registration; provided, however, that such representatives or Underwriters enter into a confidentiality agreement, in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Company, prior to the release or disclosure of any such information;

 

3.1.11 obtain a comfort letter from the Company’s independent registered public accountants in the event of an Underwritten Offering, in customary form and covering such matters of the type customarily covered by comfort letters as the managing Underwriter may reasonably request, and reasonably satisfactory to a majority in-interest of the participating Holders;

 

3.1.12 on the date the Registrable Securities are delivered for sale pursuant to such Registration, obtain an opinion, dated such date, of counsel representing the Company for the purposes of such Registration, addressed to the placement agent or sales agent, if any, and the Underwriters, if any, covering such legal matters with respect to the Registration in respect of which such opinion is being given as the placement agent, sales agent, or Underwriter may reasonably request and as are customarily included in such opinions and negative assurance letters, and reasonably satisfactory to such placement agent, sales agent or Underwriter;

 

3.1.13 in the event of any Underwritten Offering, enter into and perform its obligations under an underwriting agreement, in usual and customary form, with the managing Underwriter of such offering;

 

3.1.14 make available to its security holders, as soon as reasonably practicable, an earnings statement covering the period of at least twelve (12) months beginning with the first day of the Company’s first full calendar quarter after the effective date of the Registration Statement which satisfies the provisions of Section 11(a) of the Securities Act and Rule 158 thereunder (or any successor rule promulgated thereafter by the Commission);

 

3.1.15 use its reasonable efforts to make available senior executives of the Company to participate in customary “road show” presentations that may be reasonably requested by the Underwriter in any Underwritten Offering; and

 

3.1.16 otherwise, in good faith, cooperate reasonably with, and take such customary actions as may reasonably be requested by the Holders, in connection with such Registration.

 

10

 

 

3.2 Registration Expenses. The Registration Expenses in respect of all Registrations shall be borne by the Company. It is acknowledged by the Holders that the Holders shall bear all incremental selling expenses relating to the sale of Registrable Securities, such as Underwriters’ commissions and discounts, brokerage fees, Underwriter marketing costs and, other than as set forth in the definition of “Registration Expenses,” all reasonable fees and expenses of any legal counsel representing the Holders.

 

3.3 Requirements for Participation in Underwritten Offerings. No person may participate in any Underwritten Offering for equity securities of the Company pursuant to a Registration initiated by the Company hereunder unless such person (i) agrees to sell such person’s securities on the basis provided in any underwriting arrangements approved by the Company and (ii) completes and executes all customary questionnaires, powers of attorney, indemnities, lock-up agreements, underwriting agreements and other customary documents as may be reasonably required under the terms of such underwriting arrangements.

 

3.4 Suspension of Sales; Adverse Disclosure. Upon receipt of written notice from the Company that a Registration Statement or Prospectus contains a Misstatement, each of the Holders shall forthwith discontinue disposition of Registrable Securities until he, she or it has received copies of a supplemented or amended Prospectus correcting the Misstatement (it being understood that the Company hereby covenants to prepare and file such supplement or amendment as soon as practicable after the time of such notice), or until he, she or it is advised in writing by the Company that the use of the Prospectus may be resumed. If the filing, initial effectiveness or continued use of a Registration Statement in respect of any Registration or Underwritten Offering at any time would require the Company to make an Adverse Disclosure or would require the inclusion in such Registration Statement of financial statements that are unavailable to the Company for reasons beyond the Company’s control, the Company may, upon giving prompt written notice of such action to the Holders, delay the filing or initial effectiveness of, or suspend use of, such Registration Statement for the shortest period of time, but in no event more than thirty (30) days, determined in good faith by the Company to be necessary for such purpose. In the event the Company exercises its rights under the preceding sentences in this Section 3.4, the Holders agree to suspend, immediately upon their receipt of the notices referred to in this Section 3.4, their use of the Prospectus relating to any Registration in connection with any sale or offer to sell Registrable Securities. The Company shall immediately notify the Holders of the expiration of any period during which it exercised its rights under this Section 3.4.

 

3.5 Reporting Obligations. As long as any Holder shall own Registrable Securities, the Company, at all times while it shall be a reporting company under the Exchange Act, covenants to file timely (or obtain extensions in respect thereof and file within the applicable grace period) all reports required to be filed by the Company after the date hereof pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. The Company further covenants that it shall take such further action as any Holder may reasonably request, all to the extent required from time to time to enable such Holder to sell shares of Registrable Securities held by such Holder without registration under the Securities Act within the limitation of the exemptions provided by Rule 144 promulgated under the Securities Act (or any successor rule promulgated thereafter by the Commission), including providing any legal opinions. Upon the request of any Holder, the Company shall deliver to such Holder a written certification of a duly authorized officer as to whether it has complied with such requirements.

 

Article IV
INDEMNIFICATION AND CONTRIBUTION

 

4.1 Indemnification.

 

4.1.1 The Company agrees to indemnify, to the extent permitted by law, each Holder of Registrable Securities, its officers and directors and each person who controls such Holder (within the meaning of the Securities Act) (collectively, the “Holder Indemnified Persons”) against all losses, claims, damages, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and inclusive of all reasonable attorneys’ fees arising out of the enforcement of each such persons’ rights under this Section 4.1) resulting from any untrue or alleged untrue statement of material fact contained in any Registration Statement, Prospectus or preliminary Prospectus or any amendment thereof or supplement thereto or any omission or alleged omission of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, except insofar as the same are caused by or contained in any information furnished in writing to the Company by or on behalf of such Holder Indemnified Person specifically for use therein.

 

11

 

 

4.1.2 In connection with any Registration Statement in which a Holder of Registrable Securities is participating, such Holder shall furnish to the Company in writing such information and affidavits as the Company reasonably requests for use in connection with any such Registration Statement or Prospectus and, to the extent permitted by law, shall, severally and not jointly, indemnify the Company, its directors and officers and agents and each person who controls the Company (within the meaning of the Securities Act) against any losses, claims, damages, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and inclusive of all reasonable attorneys’ fees arising out of the enforcement of each such persons’ rights under this Section 4.1) resulting from any untrue or alleged untrue statement of material fact contained in any Registration Statement, Prospectus or preliminary Prospectus or any amendment thereof or supplement thereto or any omission or alleged omission of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, but only to the extent that the same are made in reliance on and in conformity with information relating to the Holder so furnished in writing to the Company by or on behalf of such Holder specifically for use therein. In no event shall the liability of any selling Holder hereunder be greater in amount than the net proceeds received by such Holder from the sale of Registrable Securities pursuant to such Registration Statement giving rise to such indemnification obligation.

 

4.1.3 Any person entitled to indemnification herein shall (i) give prompt written notice to the indemnifying party of any claim with respect to which it seeks indemnification (provided that the failure to give prompt notice shall not impair any person’s right to indemnification hereunder to the extent such failure has not materially prejudiced the indemnifying party) and (ii) unless in such indemnified party’s reasonable judgment a conflict of interest between such indemnified and indemnifying parties may exist with respect to such claim or there may be reasonable defenses available to the indemnified party that are different from or additional to those available to the indemnifying party, permit such indemnifying party to assume the defense of such claim with counsel reasonably satisfactory to the indemnified party. If such defense is assumed, the indemnifying party shall not be subject to any liability for any settlement made by the indemnified party without its consent (but such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld). An indemnifying party who is not entitled to, or elects not to, assume the defense of a claim shall not be obligated to pay the fees and expenses of more than one counsel for all parties indemnified by such indemnifying party with respect to such claim, unless in the reasonable judgment of any indemnified party a conflict of interest may exist between such indemnified party and any other of such indemnified parties with respect to such claim. No indemnifying party shall, without the consent of the indemnified party, consent to the entry of any judgment or enter into any settlement which cannot be settled in all respects by the payment of money (and such money is so paid by the indemnifying party pursuant to the terms of such settlement) or which settlement does not include as an unconditional term thereof the giving by the claimant or plaintiff to such indemnified party of a release from all liability in respect to such claim or litigation.

 

4.1.4 The indemnification provided for under this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect regardless of any investigation made by or on behalf of the indemnified party or any officer, director or controlling person of such indemnified party and shall survive the transfer of securities.

 

4.1.5 If the indemnification provided under Section 4.1 of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unavailable to an indemnified party in respect of any losses, claims, damages, liabilities and expenses referred to herein, then the indemnifying party, in lieu of indemnifying the indemnified party, shall to the extent permitted by law contribute to the amount paid or payable by the indemnified party as a result of such losses, claims, damages, liabilities and expenses in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect the relative fault of the indemnifying party and the indemnified party, as well as any other relevant equitable considerations. The relative fault of the indemnifying party and indemnified party shall be determined by a court of law by reference to, among other things, whether the untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact or the omission or alleged omission to state a material fact relates to information supplied by such indemnifying party or such indemnified party and the indemnifying party’s and indemnified party’s relative intent, knowledge, access to information and opportunity to correct or prevent such action; provided, however, that the liability of any Holder under this subsection 4.1.5 shall be limited to the amount of the net proceeds received by such Holder in such offering giving rise to such liability. The amount paid or payable by a party as a result of the losses or other liabilities referred to above shall be deemed to include, subject to the limitations set forth in subsections 4.1.1, 4.1.2 and 4.1.3 of this Agreement, any legal or other fees, charges or expenses reasonably incurred by such party in connection with any investigation or proceeding. The parties hereto agree that it would not be just and equitable if contribution pursuant to this subsection 4.1.5 were determined by pro rata allocation or by any other method of allocation, which does not take account of the equitable considerations referred to in this subsection 4.1.5. No person guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation (within the meaning of Section 11(f) of the Securities Act) shall be entitled to contribution pursuant to this subsection 4.1.5 from any person who was not guilty of such fraudulent misrepresentation.

 

12

 

 

Article V
MISCELLANEOUS

 

5.1 Notices. Any notice or communication under this Agreement must be in writing and given by (i) deposit in the United States mail, addressed to the party to be notified, postage prepaid and registered or certified with return receipt requested, (ii) delivery in person or by courier service providing evidence of delivery or (iii) transmission by hand delivery, telecopy, telegram, facsimile or email. Each notice or communication that is mailed, delivered or transmitted in the manner described above shall be deemed sufficiently given, served, sent, and received, in the case of mailed notices, on the third (3rd) business day following the date on which it is mailed, in the case of notices delivered by courier service, hand delivery, telecopy or telegram, at such time as it is delivered to the addressee (with the delivery receipt or the affidavit of messenger) or at such time as delivery is refused by the addressee upon presentation, and in the case of notices delivered by facsimile or email, at such time as it is successfully transmitted to the addressee. Any notice or communication under this Agreement must be addressed, if to the Company or the Sponsor, to: 102 East Main Street, Second Story, Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106, or by email at: kyle@riceinvestmentgroup.com, and, if to any Holder, to the address of such Holder as it appears in the applicable register for the Registrable Securities or such other address as may be designated in writing by such Holder (including on the signature pages hereto). Any party may change its address for notice at any time and from time to time by written notice to the other parties hereto, and such change of address shall become effective thirty (30) days after delivery of such notice as provided in this Section 5.1.

 

5.2 Assignment; No Third Party Beneficiaries.

 

5.2.1 This Agreement and the rights, duties and obligations of the Company hereunder may not be assigned or delegated by the Company in whole or in part.

 

5.2.2 This Agreement and the provisions hereof shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of each of the parties and its successors.

 

5.2.3 This Agreement shall not confer any rights or benefits on any persons that are not parties hereto, other than as expressly set forth in this Agreement and Section 5.2 of this Agreement.

 

5.2.4 No assignment by any party hereto of such party’s rights, duties and obligations hereunder shall be binding upon or obligate the Company unless and until the Company shall have received (i) written notice of such assignment as provided in Section 5.1 of this Agreement and (ii) the written agreement of the assignee, in a form reasonably satisfactory to the Company, to be bound by the terms and provisions of this Agreement (which may be accomplished by an addendum or certificate of joinder to this Agreement). Any transfer or assignment made other than as provided in this Section 5.2 shall be null and void.

 

5.2.5 Prior to the expiration of the Founder Shares Lock-up Period or the Private Placement Lock-up Period, as the case may be, no Holder may assign or delegate such Holder’s rights, duties or obligations under this Agreement, in whole or in part, except in connection with a transfer of Registrable Securities by such Holder to a Permitted Transferee and in accordance with the requirements of Section 5.2.4.

 

5.3 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in multiple counterparts (including facsimile or PDF counterparts), each of which shall be deemed an original, and all of which together shall constitute the same instrument, but only one of which need be produced.

 

5.4 Governing Law; Venue. NOTWITHSTANDING THE PLACE WHERE THIS AGREEMENT MAY BE EXECUTED BY ANY OF THE PARTIES HERETO, THE PARTIES EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK AS APPLIED TO AGREEMENTS AMONG NEW YORK RESIDENTS ENTERED INTO AND TO BE PERFORMED ENTIRELY WITHIN NEW YORK, WITHOUT REGARD TO THE CONFLICT OF LAW PROVISIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION.

 

13

 

 

5.5 Amendments and Modifications. Upon the written consent of the Company and the Holders of at least a majority in interest of the Registrable Securities at the time in question, compliance with any of the provisions, covenants and conditions set forth in this Agreement may be waived, or any of such provisions, covenants or conditions may be amended or modified; provided, however, that notwithstanding the foregoing, any amendment hereto or waiver hereof that adversely affects one Holder, solely in his, her or its capacity as a holder of the capital shares of the Company, in a manner that is materially different from the other Holders (in such capacity) shall require the consent of the Holder so affected. No course of dealing between any Holder or the Company and any other party hereto or any failure or delay on the part of a Holder or the Company in exercising any rights or remedies under this Agreement shall operate as a waiver of any rights or remedies of any Holder or the Company. No single or partial exercise of any rights or remedies under this Agreement by a party shall operate as a waiver or preclude the exercise of any other rights or remedies hereunder or thereunder by such party.

 

5.6 Other Registration Rights. The Company represents and warrants that no person, other than a Holder of Registrable Securities and other than the holders of warrants issued to public investors pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, between the Company, OpCo and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, has any right to require the Company to register any securities of the Company for sale or to include such securities of the Company in any Registration filed by the Company for the sale of securities for its own account or for the account of any other person. Further, the Company represents and warrants that this Agreement supersedes any other registration rights agreement or agreement with similar terms and conditions and in the event of a conflict between any such agreement or agreements and this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall prevail.

 

5.7 Term. This Agreement shall terminate upon the earlier of (i) the tenth (10th) anniversary of the date of this Agreement and (ii) with respect to any Holder, the date as of which such Holder ceases to hold any Registrable Securities. The provisions of Article IV shall survive any termination.

 

[SIGNATURE PAGES FOLLOW]

 

14

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Agreement to be executed as of the date first written above.

 

  COMPANY:
  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II,
  a Cayman Islands exempt company
   
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

  HOLDERS:
  RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC
   
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

   
  Jide Famuagun
   
   
  Carrie M. Fox
   
   
  James Lytal

 

[Signature Page to Registration Rights Agreement]

 

 

 

Exhibit 10.3

 

PRIVATE PLACEMENT WARRANTS AND WARRANT RIGHTS PURCHASE AGREEMENT

 

THIS PRIVATE PLACEMENT WARRANTS AND WARRANT RIGHTS PURCHASE AGREEMENT, dated as of [●], 2021 (as it may from time to time be amended, this “Agreement”), is entered into by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Opco” and, together with the Company, each a “SPAC Party,” and collectively the “SPAC Parties”) and Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Purchaser” and together with the SPAC Parties, the “Parties”).

 

WHEREAS, the Company intends to consummate an initial public offering of the Company’s units (the “Public Offering”), each unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”), and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant (the “Public Warrants”) as set forth in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), File Number 333-254080 (the “Registration Statement”), under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share; and

 

WHEREAS, the Purchaser has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 9,000,000 warrants (or up to 9,750,000 warrants if the over-allotment option in connection with the Public Offering is exercised in full) (the “Private Placement Warrants”) and Warrant Rights (as defined below) with respect to an equal number of Opco Warrants (as defined below), with each whole Private Placement Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share; and

 

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Warrant Agreement (as defined below) the Company will hold warrants of Opco (“Opco Warrants”), each of which entitles the holder to acquire one Class A Unit of Opco (and a corresponding Class B ordinary share, par value $0.0001 per share of the Company (the “Class B Ordinary Shares”)), and the Company will have the right to transfer to any person certain non-exclusive rights in the Opco Warrants as described in the Warrant Agreement (the “Warrant Rights”).

 

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises contained in this Agreement and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties to this Agreement hereby, intending legally to be bound, agree as follows:

 

AGREEMENT

 

Section 1. Authorization, Purchase and Sale; Terms of the Private Placement Warrants.

 

A. Authorization of the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights. The SPAC Parties have duly authorized the issuance and sale of the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights to the Purchaser.

 

 

 

 

B. Purchase and Sale of the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights.

 

(i) On the date of the consummation of the Public Offering or on such earlier time and date as may be mutually agreed by the Parties (the “Initial Closing Date”), the Company shall issue and sell to the Purchaser, and the Purchaser shall purchase from the Company, 9,000,000 Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights with respect to an equal number of Opco Warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant and Warrant Right, for an aggregate purchase price of $9,000,000 (the “Purchase Price”). The Purchaser shall pay the Purchase Price by wire transfer of immediately available funds to Opco (which Opco will receive on behalf of the Company and in consideration for the issuance by Opco to the Company of an equal number of Opco Warrants) at least one (1) business day prior to the Initial Closing Date. On the Initial Closing Date, upon the payment by the Purchaser of the Purchase Price, the SPAC Parties shall, at their option, deliver a certificate evidencing the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights purchased on such date duly registered in the Purchaser’s name to the Purchaser, or effect such delivery in book-entry form.

 

(ii) On the date of the closing of the over-allotment option in connection with the Public Offering or on such earlier time and date as may be mutually agreed by the Parties (each such date, an “Over-allotment Closing Date”, and each Over-allotment Closing Date (if any) and the Initial Closing Date being sometimes referred to herein as a “Closing Date”), the Company shall issue and sell to the Purchaser, and the Purchaser shall purchase from the Company, up to 500,000 Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights with respect to an equal number of Opco Warrants (or, to the extent the option to purchase additional units is not exercised in full, a lesser number of Private Placement Warrants in proportion to the portion of the option that is exercised) at a price of $1.00 per warrant and Warrant Right, for an aggregate purchase price of up to $750,000 (if the over-allotment option in connection with the Public Offering is exercised in full) (the “Over-allotment Purchase Price”). The Purchaser shall pay the Over allotment Purchase Price by wire transfer of immediately available funds to Opco (which Opco will receive on behalf of the Company and in consideration for the issuance by Opco to the Company of an equal number of Opco Warrants) at least one (1) business day prior to the Over-Allotment Closing Date. On the Over-allotment Closing Date, upon the payment by the Purchaser of the Over-allotment Purchase Price, the SPAC Parties shall, at their option, deliver a certificate evidencing the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights purchased on such date duly registered in the Purchaser’s name to the Purchaser, or effect such delivery in book-entry form.

 

C. Terms of the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights.

 

(i) Each Private Placement Warrant and Warrant Right shall have the terms set forth in a Warrant Agreement to be entered into by the Company and a warrant agent, in connection with the Public Offering (the “Warrant Agreement”).

 

(ii) At the time of the closing of the Public Offering, the Company and the Purchaser shall enter into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to which the Company will grant certain registration rights to the Purchaser relating to the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A Ordinary Shares underlying the Private Placement Warrants and, if applicable, the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exchange of the Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares) underlying the Warrant Rights.

 

2

 

 

Section 2. Representations and Warranties of the SPAC Parties. As a material inducement to the Purchaser to enter into this Agreement and purchase the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights, each SPAC Party, jointly and severally, hereby represents and warrants to the Purchaser (which representations and warranties shall survive each Closing Date) that:

 

A. Incorporation and Corporate Power. Each SPAC Party is, as applicable, a corporation or limited liability company duly incorporated, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the Cayman Islands and is qualified to do business in every jurisdiction in which the failure to so qualify would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the financial condition, operating results or assets of such SPAC Party. Each SPAC Party possesses all requisite corporate or limited liability company power and authority necessary to carry out the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and the Warrant Agreement.

 

B. Authorization; No Breach.

 

(i) The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement, the Private Placement Warrants and the Warrant Rights have been duly authorized by the SPAC Parties as of the Closing Date. This Agreement constitutes the valid and binding obligation of each SPAC Party, enforceable in accordance with its terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent conveyance, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equitable principles (whether considered in a proceeding in equity or law). Upon issuance in accordance with, and payment pursuant to, the terms of the Warrant Agreement and this Agreement, the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights will constitute valid and binding obligations of the SPAC Parties, enforceable in accordance with their terms as of the Closing Date, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent conveyance, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equitable principles (whether considered in a proceeding in equity or law).

 

(ii) The execution and delivery by the SPAC Parties of this Agreement, the Private Placement Warrants, and the Warrant Rights, the issuance and sale of the Private Placement Warrants and the Warrant Rights, the issuance of the Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco (and corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares) upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants or Warrant Rights, as applicable, and the fulfillment of and compliance with the respective terms hereof and thereof by the SPAC Parties, as applicable, do not and will not as of the Closing Date (a) conflict with or result in a breach of the terms, conditions or provisions of, (b) constitute a default under, (c) result in the creation of any lien, security interest, charge or encumbrance upon the any SPAC Party’s capital shares, membership interests or assets under, (d) result in a violation of, or (e) require any authorization, consent, approval, exemption or other action by or notice or declaration to, or filing with, any court or administrative or governmental body or agency pursuant to any organizational document of the SPAC Parties (including any memorandum, and articles of association or limited liability company agreement), or any material law, statute, rule or regulation to which a SPAC Party is subject, or any agreement, order, judgment or decree to which any SPAC Party is subject, except for any filings required after the date hereof under federal or state securities laws.

 

3

 

 

C. Title to Securities. Upon issuance in accordance with, and payment pursuant to, the terms hereof and the Warrant Agreement, the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. On the date of issuance of the Private Placement Warrants, the Class A Common Shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants shall have been reserved for issuance. Upon issuance in accordance with, and payment pursuant to, the terms hereof and the Warrant Agreement, and upon registration in the Company’s register of members, the Purchaser will have good title to the Private Placement Warrants, Warrant Rights and the Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco (and the corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares), as applicable, issuable upon exercise of such Private Placement Warrants or Warrant Rights, as applicable, free and clear of all liens, claims and encumbrances of any kind, other than (i) transfer restrictions hereunder, the Warrant Agreement, the governing documents of the Company and Opco, as applicable, and under the other agreements contemplated hereby, (ii) transfer restrictions under federal and state securities laws, and (iii) liens, claims or encumbrances imposed due to the actions of the Purchaser.

 

D. Governmental Consents. No permit, consent, approval or authorization of, or declaration to or filing with, any governmental authority is required in connection with the execution, delivery and performance by the SPAC Parties of this Agreement or the consummation by the SPAC Parties of any other transactions contemplated hereby.

 

E. Regulation D Qualification. None of the SPAC Parties, to their actual knowledge, any of their affiliates, members, officers, directors or beneficial shareholders of 20% or more of their outstanding securities, has experienced a disqualifying event as enumerated pursuant to Rule 506(d) of Regulation D under the Securities Act.

 

Section 3. Representations and Warranties of the Purchaser. As a material inducement to the SPAC Parties to enter into this Agreement and issue and sell the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights to the Purchaser, the Purchaser hereby represents and warrants to the SPAC Parties (which representations and warranties shall survive each Closing Date) that:

 

A. Organization and Requisite Authority. The Purchaser possesses all requisite power and authority necessary to carry out the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

 

B. Authorization; No Breach.

 

(i) This Agreement constitutes a valid and binding obligation of the Purchaser, enforceable in accordance with its terms, subject to bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent conveyance, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general applicability relating to or affecting creditors’ rights and to general equitable principles (whether considered in a proceeding in equity or law).

 

4

 

 

(ii) The execution and delivery by the Purchaser of this Agreement and the fulfillment of and compliance with the terms hereof by the Purchaser does not and shall not as of each Closing Date (a) conflict with or result in a breach by the Purchaser of the terms, conditions or provisions of, (b) constitute a default under, (c) result in the creation of any lien, security interest, charge or encumbrance upon the Purchaser’s equity or assets under, (d) result in a violation of, or (e) require authorization, consent, approval, exemption or other action by or notice or declaration to, or filing with, any court or administrative or governmental body or agency pursuant to the Purchaser’s organizational documents in effect on the date hereof or as may be amended prior to completion of the contemplated Public Offering, or any material law, statute, rule or regulation to which the Purchaser is subject, or any agreement, instrument, order, judgment or decree to which the Purchaser is subject, except for any filings required after the date hereof under federal or state securities laws.

 

C. Investment Representations.

 

(i) The Purchaser is acquiring the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights and, upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants or Warrant Rights, the Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco (and the corresponding Class B Ordinary Shares), as applicable, issuable upon such exercise (collectively, the “Securities”), for the Purchaser’s own account, for investment purposes only and not with a view towards, or for resale in connection with, any public sale or distribution thereof.

 

(ii) The Purchaser is an “accredited investor” as such term is defined in Rule 501(a)(3) of Regulation D, and the Purchaser has not experienced a disqualifying event as enumerated pursuant to Rule 506(d) of Regulation D under the Securities Act.

 

(iii) The Purchaser understands that the Securities are being offered and will be sold to it in reliance on specific exemptions from the registration requirements of the United States federal and state securities laws and that the SPAC Parties are relying upon the truth and accuracy of, and the Purchaser’s compliance with, the representations and warranties of the Purchaser set forth herein in order to determine the availability of such exemptions and the eligibility of the Purchaser to acquire such Securities.

 

(iv) The Purchaser did not decide to enter into this Agreement as a result of any general solicitation or general advertising within the meaning of Rule 502(c) under the Securities Act.

 

(v) The Purchaser has been furnished with all materials relating to the business, finances and operations of the SPAC Parties and materials relating to the offer and sale of the Securities which have been requested by the Purchaser. The Purchaser has been afforded the opportunity to ask questions of the executive officers and directors of the SPAC Parties. The Purchaser understands that its investment in the Securities involves a high degree of risk and it has sought such accounting, legal and tax advice as it has considered necessary to make an informed investment decision with respect to the acquisition of the Securities.

 

(vi) The Purchaser understands that no United States federal or state agency or any other government or governmental agency has passed on or made any recommendation or endorsement of the Securities or the fairness or suitability of the investment in the Securities by the Purchaser nor have such authorities passed upon or endorsed the merits of the offering of the Securities.

 

5

 

 

(vii) The Purchaser understands that: (a) the Securities have not been and are not being registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and may not be offered for sale, sold, assigned or transferred unless (1) subsequently registered thereunder or (2) sold in reliance on an exemption therefrom; and (b) except as specifically set forth in the Registration Rights Agreement, neither the Company nor any other person is under any obligation to register the Securities under the Securities Act or any state securities laws or to comply with the terms and conditions of any exemption thereunder. In this regard, the Purchaser understands that the SEC has taken the position that promoters or affiliates of a blank check company and their transferees, both before and after an initial Business Combination (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement), are deemed to be “underwriters” under the Securities Act when reselling the securities of a blank check company. Based on that position, Rule 144 adopted pursuant to the Securities Act would not be available for resale transactions of the Securities despite technical compliance with the requirements of such Rule, and the Securities can be resold only through a registered offering or in reliance upon another exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

 

(viii) The Purchaser has such knowledge and experience in financial and business matters, knowledge of the high degree of risk associated with investments in the securities of companies in the development stage such as the SPAC Parties, is capable of evaluating the merits and risks of an investment in the Securities and is able to bear the economic risk of an investment in the Securities in the amount contemplated hereunder for an indefinite period of time. The Purchaser has adequate means of providing for its current financial needs and contingencies and will have no current or anticipated future needs for liquidity which would be jeopardized by the investment in the Securities. The Purchaser can afford a complete loss of its investment in the Securities.

 

(ix) The Purchaser understands that the Private Placement Warrants shall bear the legend substantially in the form set forth in the Warrant Agreement.

 

Section 4. Conditions of the Purchaser’s Obligations. The obligations of the Purchaser to purchase and pay for the Private Placement Warrants and Warrant Rights are subject to the fulfillment, on or before each Closing Date, of each of the following conditions:

 

A. Representations and Warranties. The representations and warranties of the SPAC Parties contained in Section 2 shall be true and correct at and as of such Closing Date as though then made.

 

B. Performance. Each SPAC Party shall have performed and complied with all agreements, obligations and conditions contained in this Agreement that are required to be performed or complied with by it on or before such Closing Date.

 

C. No Injunction. No litigation, statute, rule, regulation, executive order, decree, ruling or injunction shall have been enacted, entered, promulgated or endorsed by or in any court or governmental authority of competent jurisdiction or any self-regulatory organization having authority over the matters contemplated hereby, which prohibits the consummation of any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or the Warrant Agreement.

 

6

 

 

D. Warrant Agreement and Registration Rights Agreement. The SPAC Parties shall have entered into the Warrant Agreement, in the form of Exhibit A hereto, and the Registration Rights Agreement, in the form of Exhibit B hereto, in each case with a warrant agent on terms satisfactory to the Purchaser.

 

Section 5. Conditions of the SPAC Parties’ Obligations. The obligations of the SPAC Parties to the Purchaser under this Agreement are subject to the fulfillment, on or before each Closing Date, of each of the following conditions:

 

A. Representations and Warranties. The representations and warranties of the Purchaser contained in Section 3 shall be true and correct at and as of such Closing Date as though then made.

 

B. Performance. The Purchaser shall have performed and complied with all agreements, obligations and conditions contained in this Agreement that are required to be performed or complied with by the Purchaser on or before such Closing Date.

 

C. Consents. The SPAC Parties shall have obtained the consent of its Board of Directors or Managing Member, as applicable, authorizing the execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the Warrant Agreement and the issuance and sale of the Private Placement Warrants hereunder and Warrant Rights.

 

D. No Injunction. No litigation, statute, rule, regulation, executive order, decree, ruling or injunction shall have been enacted, entered, promulgated or endorsed by or in any court or governmental authority of competent jurisdiction or any self-regulatory organization having authority over the matters contemplated hereby, which prohibits the consummation of any of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or the Warrant Agreement.

 

E. Warrant Agreement. The SPAC Parties shall have entered into the Warrant Agreement with a warrant agent on terms satisfactory to the SPAC Parties.

 

Section 6. Miscellaneous.

 

A. Successors and Assigns. Except as otherwise expressly provided herein, all covenants and agreements contained in this Agreement by or on behalf of any of the parties hereto shall bind and inure to the benefit of the respective successors of the parties hereto whether so expressed or not. Notwithstanding the foregoing or anything to the contrary herein, the parties may not assign this Agreement, other than assignments by the Purchaser to affiliates thereof (including, without limitation, one or more of its members).

 

7

 

 

B. Severability. Whenever possible, each provision of this Agreement shall be interpreted in such manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision of this Agreement is held to be prohibited by or invalid under applicable law, such provision shall be ineffective only to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity, without invalidating the remainder of this Agreement.

 

C. Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed simultaneously in two or more counterparts, none of which need contain the signatures of more than one party, but all such counterparts taken together shall constitute one and the same agreement. Signatures to this Agreement transmitted via facsimile or e-mail shall be valid and effective to bind the party so signing (including any electronic signature covered by the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the Electronic Signatures and Records Act or other applicable law, e.g., www.docusign.com).

 

D. Descriptive Headings; Interpretation. The descriptive headings of this Agreement are inserted for convenience only and do not constitute a substantive part of this Agreement. The use of the word “including” in this Agreement shall be by way of example rather than by limitation.

 

E. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be deemed to be a contract made under the laws of the State of New York and for all purposes shall be construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to conflicts of law principles that would result in the application of the laws of another jurisdiction.

 

F. Amendments. This Agreement may not be amended, modified or waived as to any particular provision, except by a written instrument executed by all parties hereto.

 

[Signature page follows]

 

8

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Agreement to be effective as of the date first set forth above.

 

    SPAC PARTIES
   
  COMPANY:
   
  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
   
  By:                     
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
   
  OPCO:
   
  RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC
   
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
   
  PURCHASER:
   
  RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC
   
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

9

 

 

EXHIBIT A

 

Warrant Agreement

 

 

 

 

EXHIBIT B

 

Registration Rights Agreement

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 10.4

 

INDEMNITY AGREEMENT

 

THIS INDEMNITY AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”) is made as of [●], 2021, by and between Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), and                             (“Indemnitee”).

 

WHEREAS, highly competent persons have become more reluctant to serve publicly-held corporations as directors, officers or in other capacities unless they are provided with adequate protection through insurance or adequate indemnification against inordinate risks of claims and actions against them arising out of their service to and activities on behalf of such corporations;

 

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) has determined that, in order to attract and retain qualified individuals, the Company will attempt to maintain on an ongoing basis, at its sole expense, liability insurance to protect persons serving the Company and its subsidiaries from certain liabilities. The amended and restated memorandum and articles of association of the Company (the “Articles”) provide for the indemnification of the officers and directors of the Company. Indemnitee may also be entitled to indemnification pursuant to applicable Cayman Islands law. The Articles provide that the indemnification provisions set forth therein are not exclusive, and thereby contemplate that contracts may be entered into between the Company and members of the Board, officers and other persons with respect to indemnification, hold harmless, exoneration, advancement and reimbursement rights;

 

WHEREAS, the uncertainties relating to such insurance and to indemnification have increased the difficulty of attracting and retaining such persons;

 

WHEREAS, the Board has determined that the increased difficulty in attracting and retaining such persons is detrimental to the best interests of the Company’s shareholders and that the Company should act to assure such persons that there will be increased certainty of such protection in the future;

 

WHEREAS, it is reasonable, prudent and necessary for the Company contractually to obligate itself to indemnify, hold harmless, exonerate and to advance expenses on behalf of, such persons to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law so that they will serve or continue to serve the Company free from undue concern that they will not be so protected against liabilities;

 

WHEREAS, this Agreement is a supplement to and in furtherance of the Articles of the Company and any resolutions adopted pursuant thereto, and shall not be deemed a substitute therefor, nor to diminish or abrogate any rights of Indemnitee thereunder; and

 

WHEREAS, Indemnitee may not be willing to serve as an officer or director without adequate protection, and the Company desires Indemnitee to serve in such capacity. Indemnitee is willing to serve, continue to serve and to take on additional service for or on behalf of the Company on the condition that he or she be so indemnified.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and the covenants contained herein and subject to the provisions of the letter agreement dated as of [●], 2021, the Company and Indemnitee do hereby covenant and agree as follows:

 

 

 

 

1. SERVICES TO THE COMPANY

 

In consideration of the Company’s covenants and obligations hereunder, Indemnitee will serve or continue to serve as an officer, director, advisor, key employee or in any other capacity of the Company, as applicable, for so long as Indemnitee is duly elected or appointed or retained or until Indemnitee tenders his or her resignation or until Indemnitee is removed. The foregoing notwithstanding, this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect after Indemnitee has ceased to serve as a director, officer, advisor, key employee or in any other capacity of the Company, as provided in Section 17. This Agreement, however, shall not impose any obligation on Indemnitee or the Company to continue Indemnitee’s service to the Company beyond any period otherwise required by law or by other agreements or commitments of the parties, if any.

 

2. DEFINITIONS

 

As used in this Agreement:

 

(a) References to “agent” shall mean any person who is or was a director, officer or employee of the Company or a Subsidiary of the Company or other person authorized by the Company to act for the Company, to include such person serving in such capacity as a director, officer, employee, advisor, fiduciary or other official of another corporation, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, trust or other enterprise at the request of, for the convenience of, or to represent the interests of the Company or a Subsidiary of the Company.

 

(b) The terms “Beneficial Owner” and “Beneficial Ownership” shall have the meanings set forth in Rule 13d-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act as in effect on the date hereof.

 

(c) Delaware Court” shall mean the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.

 

(d) A “Change in Control” shall be deemed to occur upon the earliest to occur after the date of this Agreement of any of the following events:

 

(i) Acquisition of Shares by Third Party. Any Person, other than an affiliate of Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC (the “Sponsor”), is or becomes the Beneficial Owner, directly or indirectly, of securities of the Company representing fifteen percent (15%) or more of the combined voting power of the Company’s then outstanding securities entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, unless (1) the change in the relative Beneficial Ownership of the Company’s securities by any Person results solely from a reduction in the aggregate number of outstanding shares of securities entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, or (2) such acquisition was approved in advance by the Continuing Directors and such acquisition would not constitute a Change in Control under part (iii) of this definition;

 

(ii) Change in Board of Directors. Individuals who, as of the date hereof, constitute the Board, and any new director whose election by the Board or nomination for election by the Company’s shareholders was approved by a vote of at least two thirds of the directors then still in office who were directors on the date hereof or whose election or nomination for election was previously so approved (collectively, the “Continuing Directors”), cease for any reason to constitute at least a majority of the members of the Board;

 

2

 

 

(iii) Corporate Transactions. The effective date of a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination, involving the Company and one or more businesses (a “Business Combination”), in each case, unless, following such Business Combination: (1) all or substantially all of the individuals and entities who were the Beneficial Owners of securities entitled to vote generally in the election of directors immediately prior to such Business Combination beneficially own, directly or indirectly, more than 51% of the combined voting power of the then outstanding securities of the Company entitled to vote generally in the election of directors resulting from such Business Combination (including, without limitation, a corporation which as a result of such transaction owns the Company or all or substantially all of the Company’s assets either directly or through one or more Subsidiaries) in substantially the same proportions as their ownership immediately prior to such Business Combination, of the securities entitled to vote generally in the election of directors; (2) other than an affiliate of the Sponsor, no Person (excluding any corporation resulting from such Business Combination) is the Beneficial Owner, directly or indirectly, of 15% or more of the combined voting power of the then outstanding securities entitled to vote generally in the election of directors of the surviving corporation except to the extent that such ownership existed prior to the Business Combination; and (3) at least a majority of the board of directors of the corporation resulting from such Business Combination were Continuing Directors at the time of the execution of the initial agreement, or of the action of the Board, providing for such Business Combination;

 

(iv) Liquidation. The approval by the shareholders of the Company of a complete liquidation of the Company or an agreement or series of agreements for the sale or disposition by the Company of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets, other than factoring the Company’s current receivables or escrows due (or, if such approval is not required, the decision by the Board to proceed with such a liquidation, sale, or disposition in one transaction or a series of related transactions); or

 

(v) Other Events. There occurs any other event of a nature that would be required to be reported in response to Item 6(e) of Schedule 14A of Regulation 14A (or a response to any similar item on any similar schedule or form) promulgated under the Exchange Act, whether or not the Company is then subject to such reporting requirement.

 

(e) Corporate Status” describes the status of a person who is or was a director, officer, trustee, general partner, manager, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent of the Company or of any other Enterprise which such person is or was serving at the request of the Company.

 

(f) Disinterested Director” shall mean a director of the Company who is not and was not a party to the Proceeding in respect of which indemnification is sought by Indemnitee.

 

3

 

 

(g) Enterprise” shall mean the Company and any other corporation, constituent corporation (including any constituent of a constituent) absorbed in a consolidation or merger to which the Company (or any of its wholly owned subsidiaries) is a party, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise of which Indemnitee is or was serving at the request of the Company as a director, officer, trustee, general partner, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent.

 

(h) Exchange Act” shall mean the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

 

(i) Expenses” shall include all direct and indirect costs, fees and expenses of any type or nature whatsoever, including, without limitation, all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, retainers, court costs, transcript costs, fees of experts, witness fees, travel expenses, fees of private investigators and professional advisors, duplicating costs, printing and binding costs, telephone charges, postage, delivery service fees, fax transmission charges, secretarial services and all other disbursements, obligations or expenses in connection with prosecuting, defending, preparing to prosecute or defend, investigating, being or preparing to be a witness in, settlement or appeal of, or otherwise participating in, a Proceeding, including reasonable compensation for time spent by the Indemnitee for which he or she is not otherwise compensated by the Company or any third party. Expenses also shall include Expenses incurred in connection with any appeal resulting from any Proceeding, including without limitation the principal, premium, security for, and other costs relating to any cost bond, supersedeas bond, or other appeal bond or its equivalent. Expenses, however, shall not include amounts paid in settlement by Indemnitee or the amount of judgments or fines against Indemnitee.

 

(j) References to “fines” shall include any excise tax assessed on Indemnitee with respect to any employee benefit plan.

 

(k) References to “serving at the request of the Company” shall include any service as a director, officer, employee, agent or fiduciary of the Company which imposes duties on, or involves services by, such director, officer, employee, agent or fiduciary with respect to an employee benefit plan, its participants or beneficiaries; and if Indemnitee acted in good faith and in a manner Indemnitee reasonably believed to be in the best interests of the participants and beneficiaries of an employee benefit plan, Indemnitee shall be deemed to have acted in a manner “not opposed to the best interests of the Company” as referred to in this Agreement.

 

(l) Independent Counsel” shall mean a law firm or a member of a law firm with significant experience in matters of corporate law and that neither presently is, nor in the past five years has been, retained to represent: (i) the Company or Indemnitee in any matter material to either such party (other than with respect to matters concerning Indemnitee under this Agreement, or of other indemnitees under similar indemnification agreements); or (ii) any other party to the Proceeding giving rise to a claim for indemnification hereunder. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the term “Independent Counsel” shall not include any person who, under the applicable standards of professional conduct then prevailing, would have a conflict of interest in representing either the Company or Indemnitee in an action to determine Indemnitee’s rights under this Agreement.

 

4

 

 

(m) The term “Person” shall have the meaning as set forth in Sections 13(d) and 14(d) of the Exchange Act as in effect on the date hereof; provided, however, that “Person” shall exclude: (i) the Company; (ii) any Subsidiaries of the Company; (iii) any employment benefit plan of the Company or of a Subsidiary of the Company or of any corporation owned, directly or indirectly, by the shareholders of the Company in substantially the same proportions as their ownership of shares of the Company; and (iv) any trustee or other fiduciary holding securities under an employee benefit plan of the Company or of a Subsidiary of the Company or of a corporation owned directly or indirectly by the shareholders of the Company in substantially the same proportions as their ownership of shares of the Company.

 

(n) The term “Proceeding” shall include any threatened, pending or completed action, suit, arbitration, mediation, alternate dispute resolution mechanism, investigation, inquiry, administrative hearing or any other actual, threatened or completed proceeding, whether brought in the right of the Company or otherwise and whether of a civil (including intentional or unintentional tort claims), criminal, administrative or investigative or related nature, in which Indemnitee was, is, will or might be involved as a party or otherwise by reason of the fact that Indemnitee is or was a director or officer of the Company, by reason of any action (or failure to act) taken by him or her or of any action (or failure to act) on his or her part while acting as a director or officer of the Company, or by reason of the fact that he or she is or was serving at the request of the Company as a director, officer, trustee, general partner, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent of any other Enterprise, in each case whether or not serving in such capacity at the time any liability or expense is incurred for which indemnification, reimbursement, or advancement of expenses can be provided under this Agreement.

 

(o) The term “Subsidiary,” with respect to any Person, shall mean any corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust or other entity of which a majority of the voting power of the voting equity securities or equity interest is owned, directly or indirectly, by that Person.

 

(p) The phrase “to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law” shall include, but not be limited to: (a) to the fullest extent authorized or permitted by the provision of applicable Cayman Islands law that authorizes or contemplates additional indemnification by agreement, or the corresponding provision of any amendment to or replacement of applicable Cayman Islands law, and (b) to the fullest extent authorized or permitted by any amendments to or replacements of applicable Cayman Islands law adopted after the date of this Agreement that increase the extent to which a corporation may indemnify its officers and directors.

 

5

 

 

3. INDEMNITY IN THIRD-PARTY PROCEEDINGS

 

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Company shall indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee in accordance with the provisions of this Section 3 if Indemnitee was, is, or is threatened to be made, a party to or a participant (as a witness, deponent or otherwise) in any Proceeding, other than a Proceeding by or in the right of the Company to procure a judgment in its favor, by reason of Indemnitee’s Corporate Status. Pursuant to this Section 3, Indemnitee shall be indemnified, held harmless and exonerated against all Expenses, judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties and amounts paid in settlement (including all interest, assessments and other charges paid or payable in connection with or in respect of such Expenses, judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties and amounts paid in settlement) actually, and reasonably incurred by Indemnitee or on his or her behalf in connection with such Proceeding or any claim, issue or matter therein, if Indemnitee acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company and, in the case of a criminal Proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was unlawful; provided, in no event shall Indemnitee be entitled to be indemnified, held harmless or advanced any amounts hereunder in respect of any Expenses, judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties and amounts paid in settlement (if any) that Indemnitee may incur by reason of his or her own actual fraud or intentional misconduct. Indemnitee shall not be found to have committed actual fraud or intentional misconduct for any purpose of this Agreement unless or until a court of competent jurisdiction shall have made a finding to that effect.

 

4. INDEMNITY IN PROCEEDINGS BY OR IN THE RIGHT OF THE COMPANY

 

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Company shall indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee in accordance with the provisions of this Section 4 if Indemnitee was, is, or is threatened to be made, a party to or a participant (as a witness, deponent or otherwise) in any Proceeding by or in the right of the Company to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of Indemnitee’s Corporate Status. Pursuant to this Section 4, Indemnitee shall be indemnified, held harmless and exonerated against all Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him or her or on his or her behalf in connection with such Proceeding or any claim, issue or matter therein, if Indemnitee acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company. No indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration for Expenses shall be made under this Section 4 in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which Indemnitee shall have been finally adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be liable to the Company, unless and only to the extent that any court in which the Proceeding was brought or the Delaware Court shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, Indemnitee is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, to be held harmless or to exoneration.

 

5. INDEMNIFICATION FOR EXPENSES OF A PARTY WHO IS WHOLLY OR PARTLY SUCCESSFUL

 

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Agreement, but subject to Section 27, to the extent that Indemnitee was or is, by reason of Indemnitee’s Corporate Status, a party to (or a participant in) and is successful, on the merits or otherwise, in any Proceeding or in defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, in whole or in part, the Company shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee against all Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection therewith. If Indemnitee is not wholly successful in such Proceeding but is successful, on the merits or otherwise, as to one or more but less than all claims, issues or matters in such Proceeding, the Company shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee against all Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him or her or on his or her behalf in connection with each successfully resolved claim, issue or matter. If Indemnitee is not wholly successful in such Proceeding, the Company also shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee against all Expenses reasonably incurred in connection with a claim, issue or matter related to any claim, issue, or matter on which Indemnitee was successful. For purposes of this Section 5 and without limitation, the termination of any claim, issue or matter in such a Proceeding by dismissal, with or without prejudice, shall be deemed to be a successful result as to such claim, issue or matter.

 

6

 

 

6. INDEMNIFICATION FOR EXPENSES OF A WITNESS

 

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, but subject to Section 27, to the extent that Indemnitee is, by reason of his or her Corporate Status, a witness or deponent in any Proceeding to which Indemnitee is not a party or threatened to be made a party, he or she shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be indemnified, held harmless and exonerated against all Expenses actually and reasonably incurred by him or her or on his or her behalf in connection therewith.

 

7. ADDITIONAL INDEMNIFICATION, HOLD HARMLESS AND EXONERATION RIGHTS

 

Notwithstanding any limitation in Sections 3, 4 or 5, but subject to Section 27, the Company shall, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee if Indemnitee is a party to or threatened to be made a party to any Proceeding (including a Proceeding by or in the right of the Company to procure a judgment in its favor) against all Expenses, judgments, fines, penalties and amounts paid in settlement (including all interest, assessments and other charges paid or payable in connection with or in respect of such Expenses, judgments, fines, penalties and amounts paid in settlement) actually and reasonably incurred by Indemnitee in connection with the Proceeding. No indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration rights shall be available under this Section 7 on account of Indemnitee’s conduct which constitutes a breach of Indemnitee’s duty of loyalty to the Company or its shareholders or is an act or omission not in good faith or which involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of the law.

 

8. CONTRIBUTION IN THE EVENT OF JOINT LIABILITY

 

(a) To the fullest extent permissible under applicable law, if the indemnification, hold harmless and/or exoneration rights provided for in this Agreement are unavailable to Indemnitee in whole or in part for any reason whatsoever, the Company, in lieu of indemnifying, holding harmless or exonerating Indemnitee, shall pay, in the first instance, the entire amount incurred by Indemnitee, whether for judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties, amounts paid or to be paid in settlement and/or for Expenses, in connection with any Proceeding without requiring Indemnitee to contribute to such payment, and the Company hereby waives and relinquishes any right of contribution it may have at any time against Indemnitee.

 

(b) The Company shall not enter into any settlement of any Proceeding in which the Company is jointly liable with Indemnitee (or would be if joined in such Proceeding) unless such settlement provides for a full and final release of all claims asserted against Indemnitee.

 

(c) The Company hereby agrees to fully indemnify, hold harmless and exonerate Indemnitee from any claims for contribution which may be brought by officers, directors or employees of the Company other than Indemnitee who may be jointly liable with Indemnitee. Indemnitee shall seek payments or advances from the Company only to the extent that such payments or advances are unavailable from any insurance policy of the Company covering Indemnitee.

 

7

 

 

9. EXCLUSIONS

 

Notwithstanding any provision in this Agreement, but subject to Section 27, the Company shall not be obligated under this Agreement to make any indemnification, advance Expenses, hold harmless or exoneration payment in connection with any claim made against Indemnitee:

 

(a) for which payment has actually been received by or on behalf of Indemnitee under any insurance policy or other indemnity or advancement provision, except with respect to any excess beyond the amount actually received under any insurance policy, contract, agreement, other indemnity or advancement provision or otherwise;

 

(b) for an accounting of profits made from the purchase and sale (or sale and purchase) by Indemnitee of securities of the Company within the meaning of Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act (or any successor rule) or similar provisions of state statutory law or common law; or

 

(c) except as otherwise provided in Sections 14(f) and (g) hereof, prior to a Change in Control, in connection with any Proceeding (or any part of any Proceeding) initiated by Indemnitee, including any Proceeding (or any part of any Proceeding) initiated by Indemnitee against the Company or its directors, officers, employees or other indemnitees, unless (i) the Board authorized the Proceeding (or any part of any Proceeding) prior to its initiation or (ii) the Company provides the indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration payment, in its sole discretion, pursuant to the powers vested in the Company under applicable law.

 

10. ADVANCES OF EXPENSES; DEFENSE OF CLAIM

 

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, but subject to Section 27, and to the fullest extent not prohibited by applicable law, the Company shall pay the Expenses incurred by Indemnitee (or reasonably expected by Indemnitee to be incurred by Indemnitee within three months) in connection with any Proceeding within ten (10) days after the receipt by the Company of a statement or statements requesting such advances from time to time, prior to the final disposition of any Proceeding. Advances shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be unsecured and interest free. Advances shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be made without regard to Indemnitee’s ability to repay the Expenses and without regard to Indemnitee’s ultimate entitlement to be indemnified, held harmless or exonerated under the other provisions of this Agreement. Advances shall include any and all reasonable Expenses incurred pursuing a Proceeding to enforce this right of advancement, including Expenses incurred preparing and forwarding statements to the Company to support the advances claimed. To the fullest extent required by applicable law, such payments of Expenses in advance of the final disposition of the Proceeding shall be made only upon the Company’s receipt of an undertaking, by or on behalf of Indemnitee, to repay the advanced amounts to the extent that it is ultimately determined that Indemnitee is not entitled to be indemnified by the Company under the provisions of this Agreement, the Articles, applicable law or otherwise. If it shall be determined by a final judgment or other final adjudication that Indemnitee was not so entitled to indemnification, any advancement shall be returned to the Company (without interest) by the Indemnitee. This Section 10(a) shall not apply to any claim made by Indemnitee for which an indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration payment is excluded pursuant to Section 9, but shall apply to any Proceeding referenced in Section 9(b) prior to a final determination that Indemnitee is liable therefor.

 

8

 

 

(b) The Company will be entitled to participate in the Proceeding at its own expense.

 

(c) The Company shall not settle any action, claim or Proceeding (in whole or in part) which would impose any Expense, judgment, fine, penalty or limitation on Indemnitee without Indemnitee’s prior written consent.

 

11. PROCEDURE FOR NOTIFICATION AND APPLICATION FOR INDEMNIFICATION

 

(a) Indemnitee agrees to notify promptly the Company in writing upon being served with any summons, citation, subpoena, complaint, indictment, information or other document relating to any Proceeding, claim, issue or matter therein which may be subject to indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration rights, or advancement of Expenses covered hereunder. The failure of Indemnitee to so notify the Company shall not relieve the Company of any obligation which it may have to Indemnitee under this Agreement, or otherwise.

 

(b) Indemnitee may deliver to the Company a written application to indemnify, hold harmless or exonerate Indemnitee in accordance with this Agreement. Such application(s) may be delivered from time to time and at such time(s) as Indemnitee deems appropriate in his or her sole discretion. Following such a written application for indemnification by Indemnitee, Indemnitee’s entitlement to indemnification shall be determined according to Section 12(a) of this Agreement.

 

12. PROCEDURE UPON APPLICATION FOR INDEMNIFICATION

 

(a) A determination, if required by applicable law, with respect to Indemnitee’s entitlement to indemnification shall be made in the specific case by one of the following methods, which shall be at the election of Indemnitee: (i) by a majority vote of the Disinterested Directors, even though less than a quorum of the Board, (ii) by a committee of such directors designated by majority vote of such directors, (iii) if there are no Disinterested Directors or if such directors so direct, by Independent Counsel in a written opinion to the Board, a copy of which shall be delivered to Indemnitee, or (iv) by vote of the shareholders by ordinary resolution. The Company promptly will advise Indemnitee in writing with respect to any determination that Indemnitee is or is not entitled to indemnification, including a description of any reason or basis for which indemnification has been denied. If it is so determined that Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification, payment to Indemnitee shall be made within ten (10) days after such determination. Indemnitee shall reasonably cooperate with the person, persons or entity making such determination with respect to Indemnitee’s entitlement to indemnification, including providing to such person, persons or entity upon reasonable advance request any documentation or information which is not privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure and which is reasonably available to Indemnitee and reasonably necessary to such determination. Any costs or Expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and disbursements) incurred by Indemnitee in so cooperating with the person, persons or entity making such determination shall be borne by the Company (irrespective of the determination as to Indemnitee’s entitlement to indemnification) and the Company hereby agrees to indemnify and to hold Indemnitee harmless therefrom.

 

9

 

 

(b) In the event the determination of entitlement to indemnification is to be made by Independent Counsel pursuant to Section 12(a) hereof, the Independent Counsel shall be selected as provided in this Section 12(b). The Independent Counsel shall be selected by Indemnitee (unless Indemnitee shall request that such selection be made by the Board), and Indemnitee shall give written notice to the Company advising it of the identity of the Independent Counsel so selected and certifying that the Independent Counsel so selected meets the requirements of “Independent Counsel” as defined in Section 2 of this Agreement. If the Independent Counsel is selected by the Board, the Company shall give written notice to Indemnitee advising him or her of the identity of the Independent Counsel so selected and certifying that the Independent Counsel so selected meets the requirements of “Independent Counsel” as defined in Section 2 of this Agreement. In either event, Indemnitee or the Company, as the case may be, may, within ten (10) days after such written notice of selection shall have been received, deliver to the Company or to Indemnitee, as the case may be, a written objection to such selection; provided, however, that such objection may be asserted only on the ground that the Independent Counsel so selected does not meet the requirements of “Independent Counsel” as defined in Section 2 of this Agreement, and the objection shall set forth with particularity the factual basis of such assertion. Absent a proper and timely objection, the person so selected shall act as Independent Counsel. If such written objection is so made and substantiated, the Independent Counsel so selected may not serve as Independent Counsel unless and until such objection is withdrawn or a court of competent jurisdiction has determined that such objection is without merit. If, within twenty (20) days after submission by Indemnitee of a written request for indemnification pursuant to Section 11(b) hereof, no Independent Counsel shall have been selected and not objected to, either the Company or Indemnitee may petition the Delaware Court for resolution of any objection which shall have been made by the Company or Indemnitee to the other’s selection of Independent Counsel and/or for the appointment as Independent Counsel of a person selected by the Delaware Court, and the person with respect to whom all objections are so resolved or the person so appointed shall act as Independent Counsel under Section 12(a) hereof. Upon the due commencement of any judicial proceeding or arbitration pursuant to Section 14(a) of this Agreement, Independent Counsel shall be discharged and relieved of any further responsibility in such capacity (subject to the applicable standards of professional conduct then prevailing).

 

(c) The Company agrees to pay the reasonable fees and expenses of Independent Counsel and to fully indemnify and hold harmless such Independent Counsel against any and all Expenses, claims, liabilities and damages arising out of or relating to this Agreement or its engagement pursuant hereto.

 

13. PRESUMPTIONS AND EFFECT OF CERTAIN PROCEEDINGS

 

(a) In making a determination with respect to entitlement to indemnification hereunder, the person, persons or entity making such determination shall presume that Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification under this Agreement if Indemnitee has submitted a request for indemnification in accordance with Section 11(b) of this Agreement, and the Company shall have the burden of proof to overcome that presumption in connection with the making by any person, persons or entity of any determination contrary to that presumption. Neither the failure of the Company (including by the Disinterested Directors or Independent Counsel) to have made a determination prior to the commencement of any action pursuant to this Agreement that indemnification is proper in the circumstances because Indemnitee has met the applicable standard of conduct, nor an actual determination by the Company (including by the Disinterested Directors or Independent Counsel) that Indemnitee has not met such applicable standard of conduct, shall be a defense to the action or create a presumption that Indemnitee has not met the applicable standard of conduct.

 

10

 

 

(b) If the person, persons or entity empowered or selected under Section 12 of this Agreement to determine whether Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification shall not have made a determination within thirty (30) days after receipt by the Company of the request therefor, the requisite determination of entitlement to indemnification shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be deemed to have been made and Indemnitee shall be entitled to such indemnification, absent (i) a misstatement by Indemnitee of a material fact, or an omission of a material fact necessary to make Indemnitee’s statement not materially misleading, in connection with the request for indemnification, or (ii) a final judicial determination that any or all such indemnification is expressly prohibited under applicable law; provided, however, that such 30-day period may be extended for a reasonable time, not to exceed an additional fifteen (15) days, if the person, persons or entity making the determination with respect to entitlement to indemnification in good faith requires such additional time for the obtaining or evaluating of documentation and/or information relating thereto.

 

(c) The termination of any Proceeding or of any claim, issue or matter therein, by judgment, order, settlement or conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, shall not (except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement) of itself adversely affect the right of Indemnitee to indemnification or create a presumption that Indemnitee did not act in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company or, with respect to any criminal Proceeding, that Indemnitee had reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was unlawful.

 

(d) For purposes of any determination of good faith, Indemnitee shall be deemed to have acted in good faith if Indemnitee’s action is based on the records or books of account of the Enterprise, including financial statements, or on information supplied to Indemnitee by the directors, manager, or officers of the Enterprise in the course of their duties, or on the advice of legal counsel for the Enterprise, its Board, any committee of the Board or any director, trustee, general partner, manager or managing member, or on information or records given or reports made to the Enterprise, its Board, any committee of the Board or any director, trustee, general partner, manager or managing member, by an independent certified public accountant or by an appraiser or other expert selected by the Enterprise, its Board, any committee of the Board or any director, trustee, general partner, manager or managing member. The provisions of this Section 13(d) shall not be deemed to be exclusive or to limit in any way the other circumstances in which Indemnitee may be deemed or found to have met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in this Agreement.

 

(e) The knowledge and/or actions, or failure to act, of any other director, officer, trustee, partner, manager, managing member, fiduciary, agent or employee of the Enterprise shall not be imputed to Indemnitee for purposes of determining the right to indemnification under this Agreement.

 

11

 

 

14. REMEDIES OF INDEMNITEE

 

(a) In the event that (i) a determination is made pursuant to Section 12 of this Agreement that Indemnitee is not entitled to indemnification under this Agreement, (ii) advancement of Expenses, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, is not timely made pursuant to Section 10 of this Agreement, (iii) no determination of entitlement to indemnification shall have been made pursuant to Section 12(a) of this Agreement within thirty (30) days after receipt by the Company of the request for indemnification, (iv) payment of indemnification is not made pursuant to Sections 5, 6, 7 or the last sentence of Section 12(a) of this Agreement within ten (10) days after receipt by the Company of a written request therefor, (v) a contribution payment is not made in a timely manner pursuant to Section 8 of this Agreement, (vi) payment of indemnification pursuant to Section 3 or 4 of this Agreement is not made within ten (10) days after a determination has been made that Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification, or (vii) payment to Indemnitee pursuant to any hold harmless or exoneration rights under this Agreement or otherwise is not made in accordance with this Agreement within ten (10) days after receipt by the Company of a written request therefor, Indemnitee shall be entitled to an adjudication by the Delaware Court to such indemnification, hold harmless, exoneration, contribution or advancement rights. Alternatively, Indemnitee, at his or her option, may seek an award in arbitration to be conducted by a single arbitrator pursuant to the Commercial Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures of the American Arbitration Association. Except as set forth herein, the Commercial Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures of the American Arbitration Association shall apply to any such arbitration. The Company shall not oppose Indemnitee’s right to seek any such adjudication or award in arbitration.

 

(b) In the event that a determination shall have been made pursuant to Section 12(a) of this Agreement that Indemnitee is not entitled to indemnification, any judicial proceeding or arbitration commenced pursuant to this Section 14 shall be conducted in all respects as a de novo trial, or arbitration, on the merits and Indemnitee shall not be prejudiced by reason of that adverse determination.

 

(c) In any judicial proceeding or arbitration commenced pursuant to this Section 14, Indemnitee shall be presumed to be entitled to be indemnified, held harmless, exonerated to receive advancement of Expenses under this Agreement and the Company shall have the burden of proving Indemnitee is not entitled to be indemnified, held harmless, exonerated and to receive advancement of Expenses, as the case may be, and the Company may not refer to or introduce into evidence any determination pursuant to Section 12(a) of this Agreement adverse to Indemnitee for any purpose. If Indemnitee commences a judicial proceeding or arbitration pursuant to this Section 14, Indemnitee shall not be required to reimburse the Company for any advances pursuant to Section 10 until a final determination is made with respect to Indemnitee’s entitlement to indemnification (as to which all rights of appeal have been exhausted or lapsed).

 

(d) If a determination shall have been made pursuant to Section 12(a) of this Agreement that Indemnitee is entitled to indemnification, the Company shall be bound by such determination in any judicial proceeding or arbitration commenced pursuant to this Section 14, absent (i) a misstatement by Indemnitee of a material fact, or an omission of a material fact necessary to make Indemnitee’s statement not materially misleading, in connection with the request for indemnification, or (ii) a prohibition of such indemnification under applicable law.

 

(e) The Company shall be precluded from asserting in any judicial proceeding or arbitration commenced pursuant to this Section 14 that the procedures and presumptions of this Agreement are not valid, binding and enforceable and shall stipulate in any such court or before any such arbitrator that the Company is bound by all the provisions of this Agreement.

 

12

 

 

(f) The Company shall indemnify and hold harmless Indemnitee to the fullest extent permitted by law against all Expenses and, if requested by Indemnitee, shall (within ten (10) days after the Company’s receipt of such written request) pay to Indemnitee, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, such Expenses which are incurred by Indemnitee in connection with any judicial proceeding or arbitration brought by Indemnitee: (i) to enforce his or her rights under, or to recover damages for breach of, this Agreement or any other indemnification, hold harmless, exoneration, advancement or contribution agreement or provision of the Articles now or hereafter in effect; or (ii) for recovery or advances under any insurance policy maintained by any person for the benefit of Indemnitee, regardless of the outcome and whether Indemnitee ultimately is determined to be entitled to such indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration right, advancement, contribution or insurance recovery, as the case may be (unless such judicial proceeding or arbitration was not brought by Indemnitee in good faith).

 

(g) Interest shall be paid by the Company to Indemnitee at the legal rate under New York law for amounts which the Company indemnifies, holds harmless or exonerates, or advances, or is obliged to indemnify, hold harmless or exonerate or advance for the period commencing with the date on which Indemnitee requests indemnification, to be held harmless, exonerated, contribution, reimbursement or advancement of any Expenses and ending with the date on which such payment is made to Indemnitee by the Company.

 

15. SECURITY

 

Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, but subject to Section 27, to the extent requested by Indemnitee and approved by the Board, the Company may at any time and from time to time provide security to Indemnitee for the Company’s obligations hereunder through an irrevocable bank line of credit, funded trust or other collateral. Any such security, once provided to Indemnitee, may not be revoked or released without the prior written consent of Indemnitee.

 

16. NON-EXCLUSIVITY; SURVIVAL OF RIGHTS; INSURANCE; SUBROGATION; PRIORITY OF OBLIGATIONS

 

(a) The rights of Indemnitee as provided by this Agreement shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which Indemnitee may at any time be entitled under applicable law, the Articles, any agreement, a vote of shareholders or a resolution of directors, or otherwise. No amendment, alteration or repeal of this Agreement or of any provision hereof shall limit or restrict any right of Indemnitee under this Agreement in respect of any Proceeding (regardless of when such Proceeding is first threatened, commenced or completed) or claim, issue or matter therein arising out of, or related to, any action taken or omitted by such Indemnitee in his or her Corporate Status prior to such amendment, alteration or repeal. To the extent that a change in applicable law, whether by statute or judicial decision, permits greater indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration rights or advancement of Expenses than would be afforded currently under the Articles or this Agreement, then this Agreement (without any further action by the parties hereto) shall automatically be deemed to be amended to require that the Company indemnifies the Indemnitee to the fullest extent permitted by law. No right or remedy herein conferred is intended to be exclusive of any other right or remedy, and every other right and remedy shall be cumulative and in addition to every other right and remedy given hereunder or now or hereafter existing at law or in equity or otherwise. The assertion or employment of any right or remedy hereunder, or otherwise, shall not prevent the concurrent assertion or employment of any other right or remedy.

 

13

 

 

(b) The Articles permit the Company to purchase and maintain insurance or furnish similar protection or make other arrangements including, but not limited to, providing a trust fund, letter of credit, or surety bond (“Indemnification Arrangements”) on behalf of Indemnitee against any liability asserted against him or her or incurred by or on behalf of him or in such capacity as a director, officer, employee or agent of the Company, or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not the Company would have the power to indemnify him or her against such liability under the provisions of this Agreement and the Articles. The purchase, establishment, and maintenance of any such Indemnification Arrangement shall not in any way limit or affect the rights and obligations of the Company or of Indemnitee under this Agreement except as expressly provided herein, and the execution and delivery of this Agreement by the Company and Indemnitee shall not in any way limit or affect the rights and obligations of the Company or the other party or parties thereto under any such Indemnification Arrangement.

 

(c) To the extent that the Company maintains an insurance policy or policies providing liability insurance for directors, officers, trustees, partners, managers, managing members, fiduciaries, employees, or agents of the Company or of any other Enterprise which such person serves at the request of the Company, Indemnitee shall be covered by such policy or policies in accordance with its or their terms to the maximum extent of the coverage available for any such director, officer, trustee, partner, managers, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent under such policy or policies. If, at the time the Company receives notice from any source of a Proceeding as to which Indemnitee is a party or a participant (as a witness, deponent or otherwise), the Company has director and officer liability insurance in effect, the Company shall give prompt notice of such Proceeding to the insurers in accordance with the procedures set forth in the respective policies. The Company shall thereafter use commercially reasonable efforts to cause such insurers to pay, on behalf of Indemnitee, all amounts payable as a result of such Proceeding in accordance with the terms of such policies.

 

(d) In the event of any payment under this Agreement, the Company, to the fullest extent permitted by law, shall be subrogated to the extent of such payment to all of the rights of recovery of Indemnitee, who shall execute all papers required and take all action necessary to secure such rights, including execution of such documents as are necessary to enable the Company to bring suit to enforce such rights. No such payment by the Company shall be deemed to relieve any insurer of its obligations.

 

(e) The Company’s obligation to indemnify, hold harmless, exonerate or advance Expenses hereunder to Indemnitee who is or was serving at the request of the Company as a director, officer, trustee, partner, manager, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent of any other Enterprise shall be reduced by any amount Indemnitee has actually received as indemnification, hold harmless or exoneration payments or advancement of expenses from such Enterprise. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement to the contrary, but subject to Section 27, (i) Indemnitee shall have no obligation to reduce, offset, allocate, pursue or apportion any indemnification, hold harmless, exoneration, advancement, contribution or insurance coverage among multiple parties possessing such duties to Indemnitee prior to the Company’s satisfaction and performance of all its obligations under this Agreement, and (ii) the Company shall perform fully its obligations under this Agreement without regard to whether Indemnitee holds, may pursue or has pursued any indemnification, advancement, hold harmless, exoneration, contribution or insurance coverage rights against any person or entity other than the Company.

 

14

 

 

(f) Notwithstanding anything contained herein, the Company is the primary indemnitor, and any indemnification or advancement obligation of the Sponsor or its affiliates or members or any other Person is secondary.

 

17. DURATION OF AGREEMENT

 

All agreements and obligations of the Company contained herein shall continue during the period Indemnitee serves as a director or officer of the Company or as a director, officer, trustee, partner, manager, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent of any other corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other Enterprise which Indemnitee serves at the request of the Company and shall continue thereafter so long as Indemnitee shall be subject to any possible Proceeding (including any rights of appeal thereto and any Proceeding commenced by Indemnitee pursuant to Section 14 of this Agreement) by reason of his or her Corporate Status, whether or not he or she is acting in any such capacity at the time any liability or expense is incurred for which indemnification or advancement can be provided under this Agreement.

 

18. SEVERABILITY

 

If any provision or provisions of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason whatsoever: (a) the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions of this Agreement (including, without limitation, each portion of any Section, paragraph or sentence of this Agreement containing any such provision held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that is not itself invalid, illegal or unenforceable) shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby and shall remain enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law; (b) such provision or provisions shall be deemed reformed to the extent necessary to conform to applicable law and to give the maximum effect to the intent of the parties hereto; and (c) to the fullest extent possible, the provisions of this Agreement (including, without limitation, each portion of any Section, paragraph or sentence of this Agreement containing any such provision held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that is not itself invalid, illegal or unenforceable) shall be construed so as to give effect to the intent manifested thereby.

 

19. ENFORCEMENT AND BINDING EFFECT

 

(a) The Company expressly confirms and agrees that it has entered into this Agreement and assumed the obligations imposed on it hereby in order to induce Indemnitee to serve as a director, officer or key employee of the Company, and the Company acknowledges that Indemnitee is relying upon this Agreement in serving as a director, officer or key employee of the Company.

 

(b) Without limiting any of the rights of Indemnitee under the Articles of the Company as they may be amended from time to time, this Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings, oral, written and implied, between the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof.

 

(c) The indemnification, hold harmless, exoneration and advancement of expenses rights provided by or granted pursuant to this Agreement shall be binding upon and be enforceable by the parties hereto and their respective successors and assigns (including any direct or indirect successor by purchase, merger, consolidation or otherwise to all or substantially all of the business and/or assets of the Company), shall continue as to an Indemnitee who has ceased to be a director, officer, employee or agent of the Company or a director, officer, trustee, general partner, manager, managing member, fiduciary, employee or agent of any other Enterprise at the Company’s request, and shall inure to the benefit of Indemnitee and his or her spouse, assigns, heirs, devisees, executors and administrators and other legal representatives.

 

15

 

 

(d) The Company shall require and cause any successor (whether direct or indirect by purchase, merger, consolidation or otherwise) to all, substantially all or a substantial part, of the business and/or assets of the Company, by written agreement in form and substance satisfactory to Indemnitee, expressly to assume and agree to perform this Agreement in the same manner and to the same extent that the Company would be required to perform if no such succession had taken place.

 

(e) The Company and Indemnitee agree herein that a monetary remedy for breach of this Agreement, at some later date, may be inadequate, impracticable and difficult of proof, and further agree that such breach may cause Indemnitee irreparable harm. Accordingly, the parties hereto agree that Indemnitee may, to the fullest extent permitted by law, enforce this Agreement by seeking, among other things, injunctive relief and/or specific performance hereof, without any necessity of showing actual damage or irreparable harm and that by seeking injunctive relief and/or specific performance, Indemnitee shall not be precluded from seeking or obtaining any other relief to which he or she may be entitled. The Company and Indemnitee further agree that Indemnitee shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be entitled to such specific performance and injunctive relief, including temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions and permanent injunctions, without the necessity of posting bonds or other undertaking in connection therewith. The Company acknowledges that in the absence of a waiver, a bond or undertaking may be required of Indemnitee by a court of competent jurisdiction, and the Company hereby waives any such requirement of such a bond or undertaking to the fullest extent permitted by law.

 

20. MODIFICATION AND WAIVER

 

No supplement, modification or amendment of this Agreement shall be binding unless executed in writing by the parties hereto. No waiver of any of the provisions of this Agreement shall be deemed or shall constitute a waiver of any other provisions of this Agreement nor shall any waiver constitute a continuing waiver.

 

21. NOTICES

 

All notices, requests, demands and other communications under this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given (i) if delivered by hand and receipted for by the party to whom said notice or other communication shall have been directed, or (ii) if mailed by certified or registered mail with postage prepaid, on the third (3rd) business day after the date on which it is so mailed:

 

(a) If to Indemnitee, at the address indicated on the signature page of this Agreement, or such other address as Indemnitee shall provide in writing to the Company.

 

(b) If to the Company, to:

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, PA 15106

Attention: Kyle Derham

 

With a copy, which shall not constitute notice, to:

 

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

609 Main Street

Houston, Texas 77002
Attn: Matthew Pacey

Lanchi Huynh

 

or to any other address as may have been furnished to Indemnitee in writing by the Company.

 

16

 

 

22. APPLICABLE LAW AND CONSENT TO JURISDICTION

 

This Agreement and the legal relations among the parties shall be governed by, and construed and enforced in accordance with, the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. Except with respect to any arbitration commenced by Indemnitee pursuant to Section 14(a) of this Agreement, to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company and Indemnitee hereby irrevocably and unconditionally: (a) agree that any action or proceeding arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be brought only in the Delaware Court and not in any other state or federal court in the United States of America or any court in any other country; (b) consent to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Delaware Court for purposes of any action or proceeding arising out of or in connection with this Agreement; (c) waive any objection to the laying of venue of any such action or proceeding in the Delaware Court; and (d) waive, and agree not to plead or to make, any claim that any such action or proceeding brought in the Delaware Court has been brought in an improper or inconvenient forum, or is subject (in whole or in part) to a jury trial. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the parties hereby agree that the mailing of process and other papers in connection with any such action or proceeding in the manner provided by Section 21 or in such other manner as may be permitted by law, shall be valid and sufficient service thereof.

 

23. IDENTICAL COUNTERPARTS

 

This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall for all purposes be deemed to be an original but all of which together shall constitute one and the same Agreement. Only one such counterpart signed by the party against whom enforceability is sought needs to be produced to evidence the existence of this Agreement. Signatures to this Agreement transmitted via facsimile or e-mail shall be valid and effective to bind the party so signing (including any electronic signature covered by the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the Electronic Signatures and Records Act or other applicable law, e.g., www.docusign.com).

 

24. MISCELLANEOUS

 

The headings of the paragraphs of this Agreement are inserted for convenience only and shall not be deemed to constitute part of this Agreement or to affect the construction thereof.

 

25. PERIOD OF LIMITATIONS

 

No legal action shall be brought and no cause of action shall be asserted by or in the right of the Company against Indemnitee, Indemnitee’s spouse, heirs, executors or personal or legal representatives after the expiration of two years from the date of accrual of such cause of action, and any claim or cause of action of the Company shall be extinguished and deemed released unless asserted by the timely filing of a legal action within such two-year period; provided, however, that if any shorter period of limitations is otherwise applicable to any such cause of action such shorter period shall govern.

 

17

 

 

26. ADDITIONAL ACTS

 

If for the validation of any of the provisions in this Agreement any act, resolution, approval or other procedure is required to the fullest extent permitted by law, the Company undertakes to cause such act, resolution, approval or other procedure to be affected or adopted in a manner that will enable the Company to fulfill its obligations under this Agreement.

 

27. WAIVER OF CLAIMS TO TRUST ACCOUNT

 

Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, Indemnitee hereby agrees that it does not have any right, title, interest or claim of any kind (each, a “Claim”) in or to any monies in the trust account established in connection with the Company’s initial public offering for the benefit of the Company and holders of shares issued in such offering, and hereby waives any Claim it may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to the Company and will not seek recourse against such trust account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, Indemnitee acknowledges and agrees that any indemnification provided hereto will only be able to be satisfied by the Company if (i) the Company has sufficient funds outside of the Trust Account to satisfy its obligations hereunder or (ii) the Company consummates a Business Combination.

 

28. MAINTENANCE OF INSURANCE

 

The Company shall use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain and maintain in effect during the entire period for which the Company is obligated to indemnify the Indemnitee under this Agreement, one or more policies of insurance with reputable insurance companies to provide the officers/directors of the Company with coverage for losses from wrongful acts and omissions and to ensure the Company’s performance of its indemnification obligations under this Agreement. The Indemnitee shall be covered by such policy or policies in accordance with its or their terms to the maximum extent of the coverage available for any such director or officer under such policy or policies. In all such insurance policies, the Indemnitee shall be named as an insured in such a manner as to provide the Indemnitee with the same rights and benefits as are accorded to the most favorably insured of the Company’s directors and officers.

 

[SIGNATURE PAGE FOLLOWS]

 

18

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Indemnity Agreement to be signed as of the day and year first above written.

 

  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
   
  By:  
  Name: J. Kyle Derham
  Title: Chief Financial Officer

 

[Signature Page to Indemnity Agreement]

 

 

 

 

  INDEMNITEE
   
   
  Name:  

 

 

[Signature Page to Indemnity Agreement]

 

 

Exhibit 10.5

 

RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC
102 East Main Street, Second Story
Carnegie, PA 15106

 

[●], 2021

 

Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, PA 15106

 

Re:      Administrative Services Agreement

 

Gentlemen:

 

This letter agreement by and between Rice Acquisition Corp. II (the “Company”), Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (“Opco”) and Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC (“Sponsor”), dated as of the date hereof, will confirm our agreement that, commencing on the date the securities of the Company are first listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “Listing Date”), pursuant to a Registration Statement on Form S-1 and prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Registration Statement”) and continuing until the earlier of the consummation by the Company of an initial business combination or the Company’s liquidation (in each case as described in the Registration Statement) (such earlier date hereinafter referred to as the “Termination Date”):

 

(i) Sponsor shall make available to the Company, at 102 East Main Street, Second Story, Carnegie, PA 15106 (or any successor location of Sponsor), certain office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services as may be reasonably required by the Company and Opco. In exchange therefor, the Company shall cause Opco to pay Sponsor the sum of $10,000 per month on the Listing Date and continuing monthly thereafter until the Termination Date; and

 

(ii) Sponsor hereby irrevocably waives any and all right, title, interest, causes of action and claims of any kind (each, a “Claim”) in or to, and any and all right to seek payment of any amounts due to it out of, the trust account established for the benefit of the public shareholders of the Company and the holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than the Company) of Opco and into which substantially all of the proceeds of the Company’s initial public offering will be deposited (the “Trust Account”), and hereby irrevocably waives any Claim it may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, this letter agreement, which Claim would reduce, encumber or otherwise adversely affect the Trust Account or any monies or other assets in the Trust Account, and further agrees not to seek recourse, reimbursement, payment or satisfaction of any Claim against the Trust Account or any monies or other assets in the Trust Account for any reason whatsoever.

 

This letter agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding of the parties hereto in respect of its subject matter and supersedes all prior understandings, agreements, or representations by or among the parties hereto, written or oral, to the extent they relate in any way to the subject matter hereof or the transactions contemplated hereby.

 

 

 

 

This letter agreement may not be amended, modified or waived as to any particular provision, except by a written instrument executed by the parties hereto.

 

No party hereto may assign either this letter agreement or any of its rights, interests, or obligations hereunder without the prior written approval of the other party. Any purported assignment in violation of this paragraph shall be void and ineffectual and shall not operate to transfer or assign any interest or title to the purported assignee.

 

This letter agreement, the entire relationship of the parties hereto, and any litigation between the parties (whether grounded in contract, tort, statute, law or equity) shall be governed by, construed in accordance with, and interpreted pursuant to the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to its choice of laws principles.

 

[Signature page follows]

 

2

 

 

  Very truly yours,
     
  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
  RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC
     
  By:  
  Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

AGREED TO ACCEPTED BY:  
     
RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC  
     
By:    
Name: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  
Title: Chief Executive Officer  

 

[Signature Page to Administrative Services Agreement]

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 10.8

 

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106

 

February 26, 2021

 

Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106

 

RE: Securities Subscription Agreement

 

Gentlemen:

 

This agreement (this “Agreement”) is entered into on February 26, 2021 by and between Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Subscriber” or “you”), and Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (the “Company”). Pursuant to the terms hereof, the Company hereby accepts the offer the Subscriber has made to subscribe for and purchase 7,186,500 Class B Units (the “Units”) of the Company. The Company and the Subscriber’s agreements regarding such Units are as follows:

 

1.1 Subscriber’s Representations, Warranties and Agreements. To induce the Company to issue the Units to the Subscriber, the Subscriber hereby represents and warrants to the Company and agrees with the Company as follows:

 

1.1.1 No Government Recommendation or Approval. The Subscriber understands that no federal or state agency has passed upon or made any recommendation or endorsement of the offering of the Units.

 

1.1.2 No Conflicts. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the consummation by the Subscriber of the transactions contemplated hereby do not violate, conflict with or constitute a default under (i) the exempted limited partnership agreement of the Subscriber, (ii) any agreement, indenture or instrument to which the Subscriber is a party or (iii) any law, statute, rule or regulation to which the Subscriber is subject, or any agreement, order, judgment or decree to which the Subscriber is subject.

 

1.1.3 Registration and Authority. The Subscriber is a Delaware limited liability company, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the State of Delaware and possesses all requisite power and authority necessary to carry out the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. Upon execution and delivery by you, this Agreement will be a legal, valid and binding agreement of Subscriber, enforceable against Subscriber in accordance with its terms, except as such enforceability may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent conveyance or similar laws affecting the enforcement of creditors’ rights generally and subject to general principles of equity (regardless of whether enforcement is sought in a proceeding at law or in equity).

 

 

 

 

1.1.4 Experience, Financial Capability and Suitability. Subscriber is: (i) sophisticated in financial matters and is able to evaluate the risks and benefits of the investment in the Units and (ii) able to bear the economic risk of its investment in the Units for an indefinite period of time because the Units have not been registered under the Securities Act (as defined below) and therefore cannot be sold unless subsequently registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from such registration is available. Subscriber is capable of evaluating the merits and risks of its investment in the Company and has the capacity to protect its own interests. Subscriber must bear the economic risk of this investment until the Units are sold pursuant to: (i) an effective registration statement under the Securities Act or (ii) an exemption from registration available with respect to such sale. Subscriber is able to bear the economic risks of an investment in the Units and to afford a complete loss of Subscriber’s investment in the Units.

 

1.1.5 Access to Information; Independent Investigation. Prior to the execution of this Agreement, the Subscriber has had the opportunity to ask questions of and receive answers from representatives of the Company concerning an investment in the Company, as well as the finances, operations, business and prospects of the Company, and the opportunity to obtain additional information to verify the accuracy of all information so obtained. In determining whether to make this investment, Subscriber has relied solely on Subscriber’s own knowledge and understanding of the Company and its business based upon Subscriber’s own due diligence investigation and the information furnished pursuant to this paragraph. Subscriber understands that no person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations which were not furnished pursuant to this Section 2 and Subscriber has not relied on any other representations or information in making its investment decision, whether written or oral, relating to the Company, its operations and/or its prospects.

 

1.1.6 Regulation D Offering. Subscriber represents that it is an “accredited investor” as such term is defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and acknowledges the sale contemplated hereby is being made in reliance on a private placement exemption to “accredited investors” within the meaning of Section 501(a) of Regulation D under the Securities Act or similar exemptions under federal and state law.

 

1.1.7 Investment Purposes. The Subscriber is purchasing the Units solely for investment purposes, for the Subscriber’s own account and not for the account or benefit of any other person, and not with a view towards the distribution or dissemination thereof. The Subscriber did not decide to enter into this Agreement as a result of any general solicitation or general advertising within the meaning of Rule 502 under the Securities Act.

 

1.1.8 Restrictions on Transfer; Shell Company. Subscriber understands the Units are being offered in a transaction not involving a public offering within the meaning of the Securities Act. Subscriber understands the Units will be “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144(a)(3) under the Securities Act, and Subscriber understands that the certificates representing the Units will contain a legend in respect of such restrictions. If in the future the Subscriber decides to offer, resell, pledge or otherwise transfer the Units, such Units may be offered, resold, pledged or otherwise transferred only pursuant to: (i) registration under the Securities Act, or (ii) an available exemption from registration. Subscriber agrees that if any transfer of its Units or any interest therein is proposed to be made, as a condition precedent to any such transfer, Subscriber may be required to deliver to the Company an opinion of counsel satisfactory to the Company. Absent registration or an exemption, the Subscriber agrees not to resell the Units. Subscriber further acknowledges that because the Company is a shell company, Rule 144 may not be available to the Subscriber for the resale of the Units until one year following consummation of the initial business combination of the Company, despite technical compliance with the requirements of Rule 144 and the release or waiver of any contractual transfer restrictions.

 

1.1.9 No Governmental Consents. No governmental, administrative or other third party consents or approvals are required or necessary on the part of Subscriber in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

 

2

 

 

1.2 Company’s Representations, Warranties and Agreements. To induce the Subscriber to purchase the Units, the Company hereby represents and warrants to the Subscriber and agrees with the Subscriber as follows:

 

1.2.1 Incorporation and Corporate Power. The Company is a Cayman Islands limited liability company and is qualified to do business in every jurisdiction in which the failure to so qualify would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the financial condition, operating results or assets of the Company. The Company possesses all requisite limited liability company and authority necessary to carry out the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. Upon execution and delivery by the Company, this Agreement will be a legal, valid and binding agreement of the Company, enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, except as such enforceability may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, fraudulent conveyance or similar laws affecting the enforcement of creditors’ rights generally and subject to general principles of equity (regardless of whether enforcement is sought in a proceeding at law or in equity).

 

1.2.2 No Conflicts. The execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement and the consummation by the Company of the transactions contemplated hereby do not violate, conflict with or constitute a default under (i) the memorandum and articles of association of the Company, (ii) any agreement, indenture or instrument to which the Company is a party or (iii) any law, statute, rule or regulation to which the Company is subject, or any agreement, order, judgment or decree to which the Company is subject.

 

1.2.3 Title to Securities. Upon issuance in accordance with, and payment pursuant to, the terms hereof, and registration in the Company’s register of members, the Units will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable. Upon issuance in accordance with, and payment pursuant to, the terms hereof, and registration in the Company’s register of members, the Subscriber will have or receive good title to the Units, free and clear of all liens, claims and encumbrances of any kind, other than (a) transfer restrictions hereunder and other agreements to which the Units may be subject, (b) transfer restrictions under federal and state securities laws, and (c) liens, claims or encumbrances imposed due to the actions of the Subscriber.

 

1.2.4 No Adverse Actions. There are no actions, suits, investigations or proceedings pending, threatened against or affecting the Company which: (i) seek to restrain, enjoin, prevent the consummation of or otherwise affect the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or (ii) question the validity or legality of any transactions or seeks to recover damages or to obtain other relief in connection with any transactions.

 

2. Restrictions on Transfer.

 

2.1 Securities Law Restrictions. Subscriber agrees not to sell, transfer, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of all or any part of the Units unless, prior thereto (a) a registration statement on the appropriate form under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws with respect to the Units proposed to be transferred shall then be effective or (b) the Company has received an opinion from counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Company, that such registration is not required because such transaction is exempt from registration under the Securities Act and the rules promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission thereunder and with all applicable state securities laws.

 

3

 

 

2.2 Restrictive Legends. Any certificates representing the Units shall have endorsed thereon legends substantially as follows:

 

“THE SECURITIES REPRESENTED HEREBY HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS AND NEITHER THE SECURITIES NOR ANY INTEREST THEREIN MAY BE OFFERED, SOLD, TRANSFERRED, PLEDGED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED OF EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER SUCH ACT OR SUCH LAWS OR AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER SUCH ACT AND SUCH LAWS WHICH, IN THE OPINION OF COUNSEL, IS AVAILABLE.”

 

“THE SECURITIES REPRESENTED BY THIS CERTIFICATE ARE SUBJECT TO A LOCKUP AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED, SOLD, TRANSFERRED, PLEDGED OR OTHERWISE DISPOSED DURING THE TERM OF THE LOCKUP.”

 

2.3 Additional Units or Substituted Securities. In the event of the declaration of a share dividend, the declaration of an extraordinary dividend payable in a form other than Units, a spin-off, a share split, an adjustment in conversion ratio, a recapitalization or a similar transaction affecting the Company’s outstanding Units without receipt of consideration, any new, substituted or additional securities or other property which are by reason of such transaction distributed with respect to any Units subject to this Section 5 or into which such Units thereby become convertible shall immediately be subject to this Section 5 and Section 3. Appropriate adjustments to reflect the distribution of such securities or property shall be made to the number and/or class of Units subject to this Section 5 and Section 3.

 

2.4 Registration Rights. Subscriber acknowledges that the Units are being purchased pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and will become freely tradable only after certain conditions are met or they are registered pursuant to a registration statement.

 

3. Other Agreements.

 

3.1 Further Assurances. Subscriber agrees to execute such further instruments and to take such further action as may reasonably be necessary to carry out the intent of this Agreement.

 

3.2 Notices. All notices, statements or other documents which are required or contemplated by this Agreement shall be: (i) in writing and delivered personally or sent by first class registered or certified mail, overnight courier service or facsimile or electronic transmission to the address designated in writing, (ii) by facsimile to the number most recently provided to such party or such other address or fax number as may be designated in writing by such party and (iii) by electronic mail, to the electronic mail address most recently provided to such party or such other electronic mail address as may be designated in writing by such party. Any notice or other communication so transmitted shall be deemed to have been given on the day of delivery, if delivered personally, on the business day following receipt of written confirmation, if sent by facsimile or electronic transmission, one (1) business day after delivery to an overnight courier service or five (5) days after mailing if sent by mail.

 

3.3 Entire Agreement. This Agreement, together with, embodies the entire agreement and understanding between the Subscriber and the Company with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior oral or written agreements and understandings relating to the subject matter hereof. No statement, representation, warranty, covenant or agreement of any kind not expressly set forth in this Agreement shall affect, or be used to interpret, change or restrict, the express terms and provisions of this Agreement.

 

4

 

 

3.4 Modifications and Amendments. The terms and provisions of this Agreement may be modified or amended only by written agreement executed by all parties hereto.

 

3.5 Waivers and Consents. The terms and provisions of this Agreement may be waived, or consent for the departure therefrom granted, only by a written document executed by the party entitled to the benefits of such terms or provisions. No such waiver or consent shall be deemed to be or shall constitute a waiver or consent with respect to any other terms or provisions of this Agreement, whether or not similar. Each such waiver or consent shall be effective only in the specific instance and for the purpose for which it was given, and shall not constitute a continuing waiver or consent.

 

3.6 Assignment. The rights and obligations under this Agreement may not be assigned by either party hereto without the prior written consent of the other party.

 

3.7 Benefit. All statements, representations, warranties, covenants and agreements in this Agreement shall be binding on the parties hereto and shall inure to the benefit of the respective successors and permitted assigns of each party hereto. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to create any rights or obligations except among the parties hereto, and no person or entity shall be regarded as a third-party beneficiary of this Agreement.

 

3.8 Governing Law. This Agreement and the rights and obligations of the parties hereunder shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of New York applicable to contracts wholly performed within the borders of such state, without giving effect to the conflict of law principles thereof.

 

3.9 Severability. In the event that any court of competent jurisdiction shall determine that any provision, or any portion thereof, contained in this Agreement shall be unreasonable or unenforceable in any respect, then such provision shall be deemed limited to the extent that such court deems it reasonable and enforceable, and as so limited shall remain in full force and effect. In the event that such court shall deem any such provision, or portion thereof, wholly unenforceable, the remaining provisions of this Agreement shall nevertheless remain in full force and effect.

 

3.10 No Waiver of Rights, Powers and Remedies. No failure or delay by a party hereto in exercising any right, power or remedy under this Agreement, and no course of dealing between the parties hereto, shall operate as a waiver of any such right, power or remedy of such party. No single or partial exercise of any right, power or remedy under this Agreement by a party hereto, nor any abandonment or discontinuance of steps to enforce any such right, power or remedy, shall preclude such party from any other or further exercise thereof or the exercise of any other right, power or remedy hereunder. The election of any remedy by a party hereto shall not constitute a waiver of the right of such party to pursue other available remedies. No notice to or demand on a party not expressly required under this Agreement shall entitle the party receiving such notice or demand to any other or further notice or demand in similar or other circumstances or constitute a waiver of the rights of the party giving such notice or demand to any other or further action in any circumstances without such notice or demand.

 

3.11 Survival of Representations and Warranties. All representations and warranties made by the parties hereto in this Agreement or in any other agreement, certificate or instrument provided for or contemplated hereby, shall survive the execution and delivery hereof and any investigations made by or on behalf of the parties.

 

3.12 No Broker or Finder. Each of the parties hereto represents and warrants to the other that no broker, finder or other financial consultant has acted on its behalf in connection with this Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby in such a way as to create any liability on the other. Each of the parties hereto agrees to indemnify and save the other harmless from any claim or demand for commission or other compensation by any broker, finder, financial consultant or similar agent claiming to have been employed by or on behalf of such party and to bear the cost of legal expenses incurred in defending against any such claim.

 

5

 

 

3.13 Headings and Captions. The headings and captions of the various subdivisions of this Agreement are for convenience of reference only and shall in no way modify or affect the meaning or construction of any of the terms or provisions hereof.

 

3.14 Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, all of which when taken together shall be considered one and the same agreement and shall become effective when counterparts have been signed by each party and delivered to the other party, it being understood that both parties need not sign the same counterpart. In the event that any signature is delivered by facsimile transmission or any other form of electronic delivery, such signature shall create a valid and binding obligation of the party executing (or on whose behalf such signature is executed) with the same force and effect as if such signature page were an original thereof.

 

3.15 Construction. The parties hereto have participated jointly in the negotiation and drafting of this Agreement. If an ambiguity or question of intent or interpretation arises, this Agreement will be construed as if drafted jointly by the parties hereto and no presumption or burden of proof will arise favoring or disfavoring any party hereto because of the authorship of any provision of this Agreement. The words “include,” “includes,” and “including” will be deemed to be followed by “without limitation.” Pronouns in masculine, feminine, and neuter genders will be construed to include any other gender, and words in the singular form will be construed to include the plural and vice versa, unless the context otherwise requires. The words “this Agreement,” “herein,” “hereof,” “hereby,” “hereunder,” and words of similar import refer to this Agreement as a whole and not to any particular subdivision unless expressly so limited. The parties hereto intend that each representation, warranty, and covenant contained herein will have independent significance. If any party hereto has breached any representation, warranty, or covenant contained herein in any respect, the fact that there exists another representation, warranty or covenant relating to the same subject matter (regardless of the relative levels of specificity) which such party hereto has not breached will not detract from or mitigate the fact that such party hereto is in breach of the first representation, warranty, or covenant.

 

3.16 Mutual Drafting. This Agreement is the joint product of the Subscriber and the Company and each provision hereof has been subject to the mutual consultation, negotiation and agreement of such parties and shall not be construed for or against any party hereto.

 

[Signature Page Follows]

 

6

 

 

If the foregoing accurately sets forth our understanding and agreement, please sign the enclosed copy of this Agreement and return it to us.

 

  Very truly yours,
   
  RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC
   
  By: /s/ Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Name:   Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

Accepted and agreed as of the date first written above.  
   
RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC  
   
By: /s/ Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  
  Name:    Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  
  Title: Chief Executive Officer  

 

[Signature Page to Subscription Agreement]

 

 

7

 

 

Exhibit 10.9

 

[●], 2021

 

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

102 East Main Street, Second Story

Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106

 

Re: Initial Public Offering

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

This letter (this “Letter Agreement”) is being delivered to you in accordance with the Underwriting Agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) entered into by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (the “Company”), and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., as representatives (the “Representatives”) of the several underwriters (the “Underwriters”), relating to an underwritten initial public offering (the “Public Offering”), of up to 28,750,000 of the Company’s units (including up to 3,750,000 units which may be purchased to cover over-allotments, if any) (the “Units”), each comprised of one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”), and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant (each whole warrant, a “Public Warrant”). Each Public Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one of the Class A Ordinary Shares at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The Units shall be sold in the Public Offering pursuant to the registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-254080) and prospectus (the “Prospectus”) filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) and the Company shall apply to have the Units listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Certain capitalized terms used herein are defined in paragraph 11 hereof.

 

In order to induce the Company and the Underwriters to enter into the Underwriting Agreement and to proceed with the Public Offering and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Sponsor”), and each of the undersigned individuals, each of whom is a member of the Company’s board of directors and/or management team (each an “Insider” and, collectively, the “Insiders”), hereby agrees with the Company as follows:

 

1. The Sponsor and each Insider agrees that if the Company seeks shareholder approval of a proposed Business Combination, then in connection with such proposed Business Combination, it, he or she shall vote all Founder Units, Sponsor Units and any shares acquired by it, him or her in the Public Offering or the secondary public market in favor of such proposed Business Combination (including any proposals recommended by the Company’s board of directors in connection with such Business Combination and not redeem any such shares owned by it, him or her in connection with such shareholder approval.

 

 

 

 

2. The Sponsor and each Insider hereby agrees that in the event that the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, or such later period approved by the Company’s shareholders in accordance with the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Sponsor and each Insider shall take all reasonable steps to cause the Company to (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem 100% of the Class A Ordinary Shares and the Class A Units of Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (“Opco”), (the “Offering Shares”), at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest not previously released to Opco to pay franchise and income taxes of Opco or the Company (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Offering Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Shareholders’ rights as shareholders or unitholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law 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, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and other requirements of applicable law. The Sponsor and each Insider agree to not propose any amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that would affect the substance or timing of the obligation to provide holders of the Offering Shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Offering Shares if the Company does not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering; unless the Company provides its Public Shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Offering Shares upon approval of any such amendment 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 Opco to pay franchise and income taxes of Opco or the Company, divided by the number of then outstanding Offering Shares.

 

The Sponsor and each Insider acknowledges that it, he or she has no right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account or any other asset of the Company or Opco as a result of any liquidation of the Company or Opco with respect to the Founder Units. The Sponsor and each Insider hereby further waives, with respect to any Founder Units, Sponsor Units or Class A Ordinary Shares held by it, him or her, any redemption rights it, he or she may have in connection with the consummation of a Business Combination, including, without limitation, any such rights available in the context of a shareholder vote to approve such Business Combination or in the context of a tender offer made by the Company to purchase the Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco and in connection with a shareholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association in a manner that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide holders of the Offering Shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with an initial Business Combination or redeem 100% of the Offering Shares if the Company has not consummated an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering (although the Sponsor, the Insiders and their respective affiliates shall be entitled to redemption and liquidation rights with respect to any Sponsor Units and Class A Ordinary Shares purchased in or after the Public Offering it or they hold if the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination within 24 months from the date of the closing of the Public Offering or such later date as may be specified in an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association).

 

2

 

 

3. During the period commencing on the effective date of the Underwriting Agreement and ending 150 days after such date, the undersigned shall not, without the prior written consent of the Representatives, (i) sell, offer to sell, contract or agree to sell, hypothecate, pledge, grant any option to purchase or otherwise dispose of or agree to dispose of, directly or indirectly, or establish or increase a put equivalent position or liquidate or decrease a call equivalent position within the meaning of Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations of the Commission promulgated thereunder, any Units, Class A Ordinary Shares, Founder Units, Sponsor Units, Warrants or any securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco owned by him, her or it; provided, however, that the foregoing shall not apply to transfers to the Sponsor by the Insiders, (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any Units, Class A Ordinary Shares, Founder Units, Sponsor Units, Warrants or any securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco owned by him, her or it, whether any such transaction is to be settled by delivery of such securities, in cash or otherwise or (iii) publicly announce any intention to effect any transaction specified in clause (i) or (ii). If the undersigned is an officer or director of the Company, the undersigned further agrees that the forgoing restrictions shall be equally applicable to any issuer-directed Units that the undersigned may purchase in the Public Offering.

 

4. In the event of the liquidation of the Trust Account, the Sponsor (which for purposes of clarification shall not extend to any officer, member or manager of the Sponsor) agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Company and Opco against any and all loss, liability, claim, damage and expense whatsoever (including, but not limited to, any and all legal or other expenses reasonably incurred in investigating, preparing or defending against any litigation, whether pending or threatened, or any claim whatsoever) to which the Company or Opco may become subject as a result of any claim by (i) any third party (other than the Company’s independent public accountants) for services rendered or products sold to the Company or Opco or (ii) a prospective target business with which the Company or Opco has entered into a letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement (a “Target”); provided, however, that such indemnification of the Company and Opco by the Sponsor shall apply only to the extent necessary to ensure that such claims by a third party for services rendered (other than the Company’s independent public accountants) or products sold to the Company or Opco or a Target do not reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share of the Offering Shares and (ii) the actual amount per share of the Offering Shares held in the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, in each case including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to Opco to pay franchise and income taxes of the Company or Opco, less franchise and income taxes payable by the Company or Opco, except as to any claims by a third party or Target that executed an agreement waiving claims against and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account whether or not such agreement is enforceable. In the event that any such executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against such third party, the Sponsor shall not be responsible for any liability as a result of any such third party claims. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, such indemnification of the Company or Opco by the Sponsor shall not apply as to any claims under the Company’s obligation to indemnify the Underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Sponsor shall have the right to defend against any such claim with counsel of its choice reasonably satisfactory to the Company if, within 15 days following written receipt of notice of the claim to the Sponsor, the Sponsor notifies the Company in writing that it shall undertake such defense.

 

3

 

 

5. To the extent that the Underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional Units within 45 days from the date of the Prospectus in full (as further described in the Prospectus), the Sponsor agrees to automatically surrender to the Company for no consideration, for cancellation at no cost, an aggregate number of Founder Units so that the number of Founder Units will equal 20% of the sum of the total number of Ordinary Shares and Founder Units outstanding at such time (excluding the Sponsor Units and any Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of any Warrants). The Sponsor and Insiders further agree that to the extent that the size of the Public Offering is increased or decreased, the Company will effect a share capitalization or a share repurchase, as applicable, with respect to the Founder Units immediately prior to the consummation of the Public Offering in such amount as to maintain the number of Founder Units at 20% of the sum of the total number of Ordinary Shares and Founder Units outstanding at such time (excluding the Sponsor Units and any Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of any Warrants).

 

6. The Sponsor and each Insider hereby agrees and acknowledges that: (i) each of the Underwriters and the Company would be irreparably injured in the event of a breach by such Sponsor or Insider of his, her or its obligations under paragraphs 7(a) and 7(b), (ii) monetary damages may not be an adequate remedy for such breach and (iii) the non-breaching party shall be entitled to injunctive relief, in addition to any other remedy that such party may have in law or in equity, in the event of such breach.

 

7. (a) Subject to the exceptions set forth herein, the Sponsor and each Insider agrees not to transfer, assign or sell any Founder Units or Sponsor Units held by it, him or her until one year after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination or earlier if, subsequent to a Business Combination, (i) the last sale price of the Class A Ordinary Shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for s share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, share consolidations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the consummation of a Business Combination or (ii) the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Ordinary Shares for cash, securities or other property (the “Lock-up”).

 

(b) Subject to the exceptions set forth herein, the Sponsor and each Insider agrees not to transfer, assign or sell any Private Placement Warrants, or Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units, if applicable, of Opco underlying such warrants held by it, him or her, until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination.

 

4

 

 

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions set forth in paragraphs 7(a) and (b), transfers of the Founder Units, Sponsor Units, Private Placement Warrants and shares of Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco, if applicable, issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants or the Founder Units and that are held by the Sponsor, any Insider or any of their permitted transferees, as applicable, (that have complied with any applicable requirements of this paragraph 7(c)) are permitted (a) in the case of the Sponsor, any Insider or any of their permitted transferees, to the Company’s officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of the Company’s officers or directors, the Sponsor, any members or partners of the Sponsor or their affiliates, any affiliates of the Sponsor, or any employees of such affiliates; (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to members of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of one of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by virtue of the laws of the Cayman Islands or the Sponsor’s operating agreement upon dissolution of the Sponsor; (f) by private sales or transfers made in connection with the consummation of a Business Combination at prices no greater than the price at which the securities were originally purchased; (g) in the event of the Company’s liquidation prior to the completion of a Business Combination; or (h) in the event of completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Ordinary Shares for cash, securities or other property subsequent to the completion of a Business Combination; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (f), these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions.

 

8. Each Insider’s biographical information furnished to the Company that is included in the Prospectus is true and accurate in all material respects and does not omit any material information with respect to such Insider’s background. Each Insider’s questionnaire furnished to the Company is true and accurate in all material respects. Each Insider represents and warrants that: such Insider is not subject to or a respondent in any legal action for, any injunction, cease-and-desist order or order or stipulation to desist or refrain from any act or practice relating to the offering of securities in any jurisdiction; such Insider has never been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, any crime (i) involving fraud, (ii) relating to any financial transaction or handling of funds of another person or (iii) pertaining to any dealings in any securities and such Insider is not currently a defendant in any such criminal proceeding; and the Sponsor or any such Insider has never been suspended or expelled from membership in any securities or commodities exchange or association or had a securities or commodities license or registration denied, suspended or revoked.

 

9. Except as disclosed in the Prospectus, none of the Sponsor, any affiliate of the Sponsor, or any director or officer of the Company, shall receive any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any repayment of a loan or other compensation prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate the consummation of the Company’s initial Business Combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, such persons may receive the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds held in the Trust Account prior to the completion of the initial Business Combination: repayment of a loan of up to $300,000 made to Opco by the Sponsor, pursuant to a Promissory Note dated February 8, 2021; payment of an aggregate of $10,000 per month, to the Sponsor, for office space, utilities, secretarial support and administrative services, pursuant to an Administrative Services Agreement, dated [●], 2021; reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating, negotiating and consummating an initial Business Combination; and repayment of loans, if any, and on such terms as to be determined by the Company from time to time, made by the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial Business Combination, provided, that, if the Company does not consummate an initial Business Combination, a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account may be used by the Company to repay such loaned amounts so long as no proceeds from the Trust Account are used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.

 

5

 

 

10. The Sponsor and each Insider has full right and power, without violating any agreement to which it, he or she is bound (including, without limitation, any non-competition or non-solicitation agreement with any employer or former employer), to enter into this Letter Agreement, as applicable, and to serve as an officer of the Company and/or a director on the Company’s board of directors, as applicable, and each Insider hereby consents to being named in the Prospectus, road show and any other materials as an officer and/or director of the Company, as applicable.

 

11. As used herein, (i) “Business Combination” shall mean a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination, involving the Company and one or more businesses; (ii) “Private Placement Warrants” shall mean the warrants to purchase 9,000,000 Class A Ordinary Shares or, in certain circumstances, Class A Units of Opco (with a corresponding number of the Company’s Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share (“Class B Ordinary Shares” and together with Class A Ordinary Shares, “Ordinary Shares”)) (or 9,750,000 Class A Ordinary Shares or Class A Units of Opco (with a corresponding number of Class B Ordinary Shares) if the Underwriters’ over-allotment option in connection with the Public Offering is exercised in full), that the Sponsor has agreed to purchase for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $9,000,000 (or approximately $69,750,000 if the Underwriters’ overallotment option in connection with the Public Offering is exercised in full), or $1.00 per warrant, in a private placement that shall occur simultaneously with the consummation of the Public Offering; (iv) “Public Shareholders” shall mean the holders of Class A Ordinary Shares and the holders of Class A Units of Opco (other than the Company); (v) “Trust Account” shall mean the trust fund into which a portion of the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor shall be deposited; (vi) “Founder Units” shall mean the Class B Units of Opco initially issued in a private placement to the Sponsor prior to the Public Offering (or the Class A Units of Opco into which such Class B Units will convert) and a corresponding number of Class B Ordinary Shares; (vii) “Sponsor Units” shall mean the 100 Class A Units of Opco, and corresponding number of Class B Ordinary Shares, and the 2,500 Class A Ordinary Shares purchased by Sponsor in a private placement prior to the Public Offering; and (viii) “Warrants” shall refer to the Public Warrants and the Private Placement Warrants, collectively.

 

12. This Letter Agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding of the parties hereto in respect of the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior understandings, agreements or representations by or among the parties hereto, written or oral, to the extent they relate in any way to the subject matter hereof or the transactions contemplated hereby. This Letter Agreement may not be changed, amended, modified or waived (other than to correct a typographical error) as to any particular provision, except by a written instrument executed by all parties hereto.

 

6

 

 

13. No party hereto may assign either this Letter Agreement or any of its rights, interests or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of the other parties. Any purported assignment in violation of this paragraph shall be void and ineffectual and shall not operate to transfer or assign any interest or title to the purported assignee. This Letter Agreement shall be binding on the Sponsor, each Insider and each of their respective successors, heirs, personal representatives and assigns and permitted transferees.

 

14. This Letter Agreement shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to conflicts of law principles that would result in the application of the substantive laws of another jurisdiction. The parties hereto (i) all agree that any action, proceeding, claim or dispute arising out of, or relating in any way to, this Letter Agreement shall be brought and enforced in the courts of New York City, in the State of New York, and irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction and venue, which jurisdiction and venue shall be exclusive and (ii) waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and venue or that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.

 

15. Any notice, consent or request to be given in connection with any of the terms or provisions of this Letter Agreement shall be in writing and shall be sent by express mail or similar private courier service, by certified mail (return receipt requested), by hand delivery or facsimile or other electronic transmission.

 

16. This Letter Agreement shall terminate on the earlier of (i) the expiration of the Lock-up or (ii) the liquidation of the Company.

 

17. This Letter Agreement may be executed in any number of original or facsimile counterparts, and each of such counterparts shall for all purposes be deemed to be an original, and all such counterparts shall together constitute but one and the same instrument. Signatures to this Letter Agreement transmitted via facsimile or e-mail shall be valid and effective to bind the party so signing (including any electronic signature covered by the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000, Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the Electronic Signatures and Records Act or other applicable law, e.g., www.docusign.com).

 

18. This Letter Agreement shall be deemed severable, and the invalidity or unenforceability of any term or provision hereof shall not affect the validity or enforceability of this Letter Agreement or of any other term or provision hereof. Furthermore, in lieu of any such invalid or unenforceable term or provision, the parties hereto intend that there shall be added as a part of this Letter Agreement a provision as similar in terms to such invalid or unenforceable provision as may be possible and be valid and enforceable.

 

19. The Company will maintain an insurance policy or policies providing directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, and the Insiders shall be covered by such policy or policies, in accordance with its or their terms, to the maximum extent of the coverage available for any of the Company’s directors or officers.

 

20. Each party hereto shall not be liable for any breaches or misrepresentations contained in this Letter Agreement by any other party to this Letter Agreement (including, for the avoidance of doubt, any Insider with respect to any other Insider), and no party shall be liable or responsible for the obligations of another party, including, without limitation, indemnification obligations and notice obligations.

 

[Signature Page Follows]

 

7

 

 

 

Sincerely,

     
  RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC
     
  By:  
  Name:   Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer
     
     
    Jide Famuagun
     
     
    James Lytal
     
     
    [●]
     
     
    Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
     
     
    J. Kyle Derham
     
     
    James Wilmot Rogers

 

Acknowledged and Agreed:  
   
RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II  
     
By:    
Name:   Daniel Joseph Rice, IV  
Title: Chief Executive Officer  

 

[Signature Page to Letter Agreement]

 

 

 

Exhibit 10.10

 

AMENDED AND RESTATED

 

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AGREEMENT

 

OF

 

RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC

 

DATED [   ], 2021

 

THE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY INTERESTS IN RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY STATE, OR ANY OTHER APPLICABLE SECURITIES LAWS, AND HAVE BEEN OR ARE BEING ISSUED IN RELIANCE UPON EXEMPTIONS FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT AND SUCH LAWS. SUCH INTERESTS MUST BE ACQUIRED FOR INVESTMENT ONLY AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED FOR SALE, PLEDGED, HYPOTHECATED, SOLD, ASSIGNED OR TRANSFERRED AT ANY TIME EXCEPT IN COMPLIANCE WITH (I) THE SECURITIES ACT, ANY APPLICABLE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY STATE AND ANY OTHER APPLICABLE SECURITIES LAWS; (II) THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AMENDED AND RESTATED LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AGREEMENT; AND (III) ANY OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS AGREED TO IN WRITING BETWEEN THE MANAGING MEMBER AND THE APPLICABLE MEMBER. THE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY INTERESTS MAY NOT BE TRANSFERRED OF RECORD EXCEPT IN COMPLIANCE WITH SUCH LAWS, THIS AMENDED AND RESTATED LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AGREEMENT AND ANY OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS AGREED TO IN WRITING BY THE MANAGING MEMBER AND THE APPLICABLE MEMBER. THEREFORE, PURCHASERS AND OTHER TRANSFEREES OF SUCH LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY INTERESTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO BEAR THE RISK OF THEIR INVESTMENT OR ACQUISITION FOR AN INDEFINITE PERIOD OF TIME.

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 
Article I DEFINITIONS 2
     
Section 1.1 Definitions 2
Section 1.2 Interpretive Provisions 15
     
Article II ORGANIZATION OF THE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY 15
     
Section 2.1 Formation 15
Section 2.2 Filing 15
Section 2.3 Name 16
Section 2.4 Registered Office; Registered Agent 16
Section 2.5 Principal Place of Business 16
Section 2.6 Purpose; Powers 16
Section 2.7 Term 16
Section 2.8 LLC Agreement 16
Section 2.9 Intent 16
     
Article III [RESERVED] 17
     
Article IV OWNERSHIP AND CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS; CAPITAL ACCOUNTS 17
     
Section 4.1 Authorized Units; General Provisions With Respect to Units 17
Section 4.2 Class B Units 21
Section 4.3 Voting Rights 23
Section 4.4 Capital Contributions; Unit Ownership 23
Section 4.5 Capital Accounts 24
Section 4.6 Other Matters 25
Section 4.7 Redemption of Class A Units and Company Warrants 25
     
Article V ALLOCATIONS OF PROFITS AND LOSSES 32
     
Section 5.1 Profits and Losses 32
Section 5.2 Special Allocations 33
Section 5.3 Allocations for Tax Purposes in General 38
Section 5.4 Other Allocation Rules 38
     
Article VI DISTRIBUTIONS 39
     
Section 6.1 Distributions 39
Section 6.2 Tax-Related Distributions 39
Section 6.3 Distribution Upon Withdrawal 39
Section 6.4 Issuance of Additional Equity Securities 39

 

i

 

 

Article VII MANAGEMENT 40
     
Section 7.1 The Managing Member; Fiduciary Duties 40
Section 7.2 Officers 40
Section 7.3 Warranted Reliance by Officers on Others 41
Section 7.4 Indemnification 42
Section 7.5 Maintenance of Insurance or Other Financial Arrangements 42
Section 7.6 Resignation or Termination of Managing Member 42
Section 7.7 No Inconsistent Obligations 43
Section 7.8 Reclassification Events of PubCo 43
Section 7.9 Certain Costs and Expenses 43
     
Article VIII ROLE OF MEMBERS 44
     
Section 8.1 Rights or Powers 44
Section 8.2 Voting 44
Section 8.3 Various Capacities 45
Section 8.4 Investment Opportunities 45
     
Article IX TRANSFERS OF INTERESTS 45
     
Section 9.1 Restrictions on Transfer 45
Section 9.2 Notice of Transfer 46
Section 9.3 Transferee Members 46
Section 9.4 Legend 47
     
Article X ACCOUNTING; CERTAIN TAX MATTERS 47
     
Section 10.1 Books of Account 47
Section 10.2 Tax Elections 47
Section 10.3 Tax Returns; Information 48
Section 10.4 Company Representative 48
Section 10.5 Withholding Tax Payments and Obligations 48
     
Article XI WINDING UP AND DISSOLUTION 50
     
Section 11.1 Winding Up Events 50
Section 11.2 Procedure 50
Section 11.3 Rights of Members 51
Section 11.4 Reasonable Time for Winding Up 51
Section 11.5 No Deficit Restoration 51
Section 11.6 Striking Off 51

 

ii

 

 

Article XII GENERAL 51
     
Section 12.1 Amendments; Waivers 51
Section 12.2 Further Assurances 52
Section 12.3 Successors and Assigns 52
Section 12.4 Merger, Consolidation 53
Section 12.5 Transfer by way of Continuation 53
Section 12.6 Certain Representations by Members 53
Section 12.7 Entire Agreement 53
Section 12.8 Rights of Members Independent 54
Section 12.9 Governing Law 54
Section 12.10 Jurisdiction 54
Section 12.11 Headings 54
Section 12.12 Counterparts 54
Section 12.13  Notices 54
Section 12.14 Representation By Counsel; Interpretation 55
Section 12.15 Severability 55
Section 12.16 Expenses 55
Section 12.17 No Third Party Beneficiaries 55

 

iii

 

 

AMENDED AND RESTATED

 

LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AGREEMENT

 

OF

 

RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC

 

This Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement (as amended, supplemented or restated from time to time, this “Agreement”) of Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC (the “Company”), a limited liability company formed and registered pursuant to the Limited Liability Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands (the “Act”) is made and entered into on [   ], 2021, by and among Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a Cayman Islands exempted company (“PubCo”), Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Rice Sponsor”), and each other Person who is admitted as a Member in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and the Act or who acquires a Company Warrant (as defined herein). Capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined have the respective meanings set forth in Section 1.1.

 

RECITALS

 

WHEREAS, immediately prior to the adoption of this Agreement, the Company was governed by the Limited Liability Company Agreement, dated 3 February 2021 (the “Existing LLC Agreement”);

 

WHEREAS, it is contemplated that PubCo will, subject to the approval of its board of directors, issue up to 28,750,000 PubCo Units, comprised of an aggregate of 28,750,000 Class A Shares and 7,187,500 PubCo Warrants, to the public for cash in the initial underwritten public offering of PubCo Units (the “IPO”);

 

WHEREAS, if the IPO is consummated, PubCo will contribute all of the net proceeds received by it from the IPO to the Company in exchange for a number of additional Class A Units and Company Warrants equal to the number of Class A Shares and PubCo Warrants, respectively, comprising the PubCo Units issued in the IPO;

 

WHEREAS, each Class A Unit (other than any Class A Unit held by the PubCo Holdings Group) may be redeemed, at the election of the holder of such Class A Unit (together with the surrender and delivery by such holder of one Class B Share), for one Class A Share in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement;

 

WHEREAS, the Members of the Company desire that PubCo continue as the sole managing member of the Company (in its capacity as managing member as well as in any other capacity, the “Managing Member);

 

WHEREAS, the Members of the Company desire to amend and restate the Existing LLC Agreement on the terms of this Agreement; and

 

 

 

 

WHEREAS, this Agreement shall amend and restate the Existing LLC Agreement in its entirety on the date hereof.

 

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements contained herein, and other good and valuable consideration the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, and intending to be legally bound, the Existing LLC Agreement is hereby amended and restated in its entirety and the parties hereby agree as follows:

 

Article I

 

DEFINITIONS

 

Section 1.1 Definitions. As used in this Agreement and the Schedules and Exhibits attached to this Agreement, the following definitions shall apply:

 

Act” means the Limited Liability Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, as amended from time to time (or any corresponding provisions of succeeding law).

 

Action” means any claim, action, suit, arbitration, inquiry, proceeding or investigation by or before any Governmental Entity.

 

Adjusted Basis” has the meaning given such term in Section 1011 of the Code.

 

Adjusted Capital Account” means, with respect to any Member, (a) the Capital Account balance of such Member, plus (ii) such Member’s share of Member Minimum Gain or Company Minimum Gain (after reduction to reflect the items described in Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(d)(4), (5) and (6)).

 

Adjusted Capital Account Deficit” means, with respect to any Member the deficit balance, if any, in such Member’s Adjusted Capital Account at the end of any Fiscal Year or other taxable period, after crediting such Member’s Adjusted Capital Account for any amount such Member is obligated to restore under Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(c). This definition of Adjusted Capital Account Deficit is intended to comply with the provisions of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(d) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.

 

Adjusted Conversion Ratio” means that ratio having:

 

(a) a numerator equal to the sum of (i) a number of units equal to 25% of all Class A Shares issued or deemed issued in connection with the closing of the Initial Business Combination (or issuable upon the conversion or exercise of any Equity- Linked Securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the closing of the Initial Business Combination), but excluding (x) any such Class A Shares or Equity-Linked Securities with respect to which the holders of Class B Units have waived their rights pursuant to Section 4.2(b)(ii), (y) any Equity Securities issued or issuable to any seller in the Initial Business Combination, and (z) for the avoidance of doubt, any Class A Shares or Equity-Linked Securities outstanding as of the close of the IPO, plus (ii) the number of Class B Units issued and outstanding immediately prior to the closing of the Initial Business Combination (and, for the avoidance of doubt, prior to any conversion of Class B Units pursuant to Section 4.2(c)); and

 

2

 

 

(b) a denominator equal to the number of Class B Units issued and outstanding immediately prior to the closing of the Initial Business Combination (and, for the avoidance of doubt, prior to any conversion of Class B Units pursuant to Section 4.2(c)).

 

Affiliate” means, with respect to any Person, any other Person that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with such Person. For these purposes, “control” means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of such Person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract or otherwise; provided that, for purposes of this Agreement, (a) no Member shall be deemed an Affiliate of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries and (b) none of the Company or any of its Subsidiaries shall be deemed an Affiliate of any Member.

 

Agreement” is defined in the preamble to this Agreement.

 

Beneficially own” and “Beneficial owner” shall be as defined in Rule 13d-3 of the rules promulgated under the Exchange Act.

 

Block Redemption Date” is defined in Section 4.7(b)(ii).

 

Business Day” means any day except a Saturday, Sunday or other day on which commercial banks in New York, New York are authorized or required by law to be closed.

 

Business Opportunities Exempt Party” is defined in Section 8.4.

 

Call Right” is defined in Section 4.7(f).

 

Capital Account” means, with respect to any Member, the Capital Account maintained for such Member in accordance with Section 4.5.

 

Capital Contribution” means, with respect to any Member, the amount of cash and the initial Gross Asset Value of any property (other than cash) contributed to the Company by such Member. Any reference to the Capital Contribution of a Member will include any Capital Contributions made by a predecessor holder of such Member’s Units to the extent that such Capital Contribution was made in respect of Units Transferred to such Member.

 

Cash Election” means an election by the Company to redeem Class A Units or Company Warrants for cash pursuant to Section 4.7(e)(ii) or an election by PubCo (or such designated member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group) to purchase Class A Units or Company Warrants for cash pursuant to an exercise of its Call Right set forth in Section 4.7(f).

 

3

 

 

Cash Election Amount means with respect to a particular Redemption of Class A Shares or Company Warrants, as applicable, for which a Cash Election has been made, (a) other than in the case of clause (b), if the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, trade on a securities exchange or automated or electronic quotation system, an amount of cash equal to the product of (i) the number of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, that would have been received in such Redemption if a Cash Election had not been made and (ii) the average of the volume- weighted closing price for a Class A Share or PubCo Warrant, as applicable, on the principal U.S. securities exchange or automated or electronic quotation system on which the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, trade, as reported by Bloomberg, L.P., or its successor, for each of the 5 consecutive full Trading Days ending on and including the last full Trading Day immediately prior to the Redemption Notice Date, subject to appropriate and equitable adjustment for any equity splits, reverse splits, equity dividends or similar events affecting the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable; (b) if the Cash Election is made in respect of a Redemption Notice issued by a Redeeming Holder in connection with a Registered Offering, an amount of cash equal to the product of (i) the number of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, that would have been received in such Redemption if a Cash Election had not been made and (ii) the price per Class A Share or PubCo Warrant, as applicable, sold to the public in such Registered Offering (reduced by the amount of any Discount associated with such Class A Share or PubCo Warrant, as applicable); and (c) if the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, no longer trade on a securities exchange or automated or electronic quotation system, an amount of cash equal to the product of (i) the number of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, that would have been received in such Redemption if a Cash Election had not been made and (ii) the Fair Market Value of one Class A Share or PubCo Warrant, as applicable.

 

Chief Executive Officer” means the person appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company by the Managing Member pursuant to Section 7.2(a).

 

Class A Capital Account” means, with respect to any Member holding Class A Units, (a) the total number of Class A Units held by such Member, multiplied by (b) the Class A Per Unit Balance.

 

Class A Per Unit Balance” means, as of any relevant date, the quotient of (a) PubCo’s Adjusted Capital Account balance, to the extent attributable to such PubCo’s ownership of Class A Units and computed on a hypothetical basis after all allocations have been tentatively made pursuant to Section 5.1 and 5.2, based on an interim closing of the books pursuant to Section 706 of the Code as of such date, divided by (b) the total number of Class A Units held by PubCo on such date.

 

Class A Shares” means, as applicable, (a) the Class A ordinary shares of PubCo, par value $0.0001 per share, or (b) following any consolidation, merger, reclassification or other similar event involving PubCo, any shares or other securities of PubCo or any other Person or cash or other property that become payable in consideration for the Class A Shares or into which the Class A Shares are exchanged or converted as a result of such consolidation, merger, reclassification or other similar event.

 

Class A Units” means the Class A Units of the Company issued hereunder and shall also include any Equity Security of the Company issued in respect of or in exchange for Class A Units, whether by way of dividend or other distribution, split, recapitalization, merger, rollup transaction, consolidation, conversion or reorganization.

 

4

 

 

Class B Automatic Conversion Date” means (a) the closing date of an Initial Business Combination and (b) any date after the closing of an Initial Business Combination (i) on which there is a Redemption, primary offering of PubCo Equity Securities, exercise of Company Warrants, or other issuance or redemption of Units or (ii) which is otherwise designated as such by the Managing Member.

 

Class B Capital Account” means, as of any relevant date, with respect to any Member holding Class B Units, (a) such Member’s Adjusted Capital Account minus (b) such Member’s Class A Capital Account (if any), in each case, computed on a hypothetical basis after all allocations have been tentatively made pursuant to Section 5.1 and 5.2, based on an interim closing of the books pursuant to Section 706 of the Code as of such date.

 

Class B Conversion Date” means any Class B Automatic Conversion Date and any other date on which Class B Units are converted into Class A Units in accordance with Section 4.2.

 

Class B Shares” means, as applicable, (a) the Class B ordinary shares of PubCo, par value $0.0001 per share, or (b) following any consolidation, merger, reclassification or other similar event involving PubCo, any shares or other securities of PubCo or any other Person or cash or other property that become payable in consideration for the Class B Shares or into which the Class B Shares are exchanged or converted as a result of such consolidation, merger, reclassification or other similar event.

 

Class B Fungibility Target Balance” means, as of any relevant date, with respect to any Member holding Class B Units, the product of (a) the Class A Per Unit Balance, multiplied by (b) the number of Class B Units held by such Member.

 

Class B Units” means the Class B Units of the Company issued hereunder and shall also include any Equity Security of the Company issued in respect of or in exchange for Class B Units, whether by way of dividend or other distribution, split, recapitalization, merger, rollup transaction, consolidation, conversion or reorganization.

 

Code” means the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time (or any corresponding provisions of succeeding law).

 

Commission” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including any governmental body or agency succeeding to the functions thereof.

 

Company” is defined in the preamble to this Agreement.

 

Company Level Taxes” means any federal, state or local taxes, additions to tax, penalties and interest payable by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries as a result of any examination of the Company’s or any of its Subsidiaries’ affairs by any federal, state or local tax authorities, including resulting administrative and judicial proceedings under the Partnership Tax Audit Rules.

 

Company Minimum Gain” has the meaning of “partnership minimum gain” set forth in Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-2(b)(2) and 1.704-2(d). It is further understood that Company Minimum Gain shall be determined in a manner consistent with the rules of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(b)(2), including the requirement that if the adjusted Gross Asset Value of property subject to one or more Nonrecourse Liabilities differs from its adjusted tax basis, Company Minimum Gain shall be determined with reference to such Gross Asset Value.

 

5

 

 

Company Representative” has the meaning assigned to the term “partnership representative” (including any “designated individual,” if applicable) in Section 6223 of the Code and any Treasury Regulations or other administrative or judicial pronouncements promulgated thereunder, as appointed pursuant to Section 10.4.

 

Company Warrants” means the warrants issued by the Company and exercisable for Class A Units.

 

Company Warrantholder” means any holder of Company Warrants.

 

Contract” means any written agreement, contract, lease, sublease, license, sublicense, obligation, promise or undertaking.

 

Control” (including the terms “controlled by” and “under common control with”), with respect to the relationship between or among two or more Persons, means the possession, directly or indirectly or as trustee, personal representative or executor, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the affairs or management of a Person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, as trustee, personal representative or executor, by contract or otherwise.

 

Covered Audit Adjustment” means an adjustment to any partnership-related item (within the meaning of Section 6241(2)(B) of the Code) to the extent such adjustment results in an “imputed underpayment” as described in Section 6225(b) of the Code or any analogous provision of state or local Law.

 

Covered Person” is defined in Section 7.4.

 

Debt Securities” means, with respect to PubCo, any and all debt instruments or debt securities that are not convertible or exchangeable into Equity Securities of PubCo.

 

Depreciation” means, for each Fiscal Year or other taxable period, an amount equal to the depreciation, amortization or other cost recovery deduction allowable with respect to an asset for such Fiscal Year or other taxable period, except that (a) with respect to any such property the Gross Asset Value of which differs from its Adjusted Basis for U.S. federal income tax purposes and which difference is being eliminated by use of the “remedial method” pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-3(d), Depreciation for such Fiscal Year or other taxable period shall be the amount of book basis recovered for such Fiscal Year or other taxable period under the rules prescribed by Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-3(d)(2), and (b) with respect to any other such property the Gross Asset Value of which differs from its Adjusted Basis for U.S. federal income tax purposes at the beginning of such Fiscal Year or other taxable period, Depreciation shall be an amount that bears the same ratio to such beginning Gross Asset Value as the federal income tax depreciation, amortization or other cost recovery deduction for such Fiscal Year or other taxable period bears to such beginning Adjusted Basis; provided, however, that if the Adjusted Basis for U.S. federal income tax purposes of an asset at the beginning of such Fiscal Year or other taxable period is zero, Depreciation with respect to such asset shall be determined with reference to such beginning Gross Asset Value using any reasonable method selected by the Managing Member.

 

6

 

 

Designated Holder” means any holder of Units or Company Warrants (a) that has elected to be treated as a Designated Holder by providing written notice to the Company not less than 10 Business Days prior to the relevant date on which an automatic redemption occurs pursuant to Section 4.7(i) or (b) that has not provided the Company with a valid IRS Form W-9 or that the Company otherwise has reason to know is not (or is a disregarded subsidiary of a Person that is not) a “United States person” for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

 

Designated Holder Redemption” is defined in Section 4.7(i).

 

Designated Holder Redemption Date” is defined in Section 4.7(i).

 

Designated Holder Redemption Notice” is defined in Section 4.7(i).

 

DGCL” means the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, as amended from time to time (or any corresponding provisions of succeeding law).

 

Discount” is defined in Section 4.7(e)(ii).

 

Effective Time” means 12:01 a.m. Central Daylight Time on the date of the initial closing of the IPO.

 

Equalization Date” means the date on which all Class B Units have been converted into Class A Units pursuant to Section 4.2(c).

 

Equity Securities” means (a) with respect to a partnership, limited liability company or similar Person, any and all units, interests, rights to purchase, warrants, options or other equivalents of, or other ownership interests in, any such Person as well as debt or equity instruments convertible, exchangeable or exercisable into any such units, interests, rights or other ownership interests and (b) with respect to a corporation, any and all shares, interests, participation or other equivalents (however designated) of corporate shares, including all ordinary shares and preferred shares, or warrants, options or other rights to acquire any of the foregoing, including any debt instrument convertible or exchangeable into any of the foregoing.

 

Equity-Linked Securities” means any Equity Securities of PubCo, the Company or any of their Subsidiaries which are convertible into, or exchangeable or exercisable for, any other Equity Securities of PubCo, the Company or any of their Subsidiaries, including Class A Units and any Equity Securities issued by PubCo, the Company or any of their Subsidiaries which are pledged to secure any obligation of any holder to purchase from PubCo, the Company or any of their Subsidiaries any Equity Securities of such entities.

 

ERISA” means the United States Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974, as amended.

 

Excess Tax Amount” is defined in Section 10.5(c).

 

Exchange Act” means the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, as the same may be amended from time to time (or any corresponding provisions of succeeding law).

 

7

 

 

Existing LLC Agreement” is defined in the recitals to this Agreement.

 

Fair Market Value” means the fair market value of any property as determined in Good Faith by the Managing Member after taking into account such factors as the Managing Member shall deem appropriate.

 

Federal Bankruptcy Code” means Title 11 of the United States Code, as amended from time to time, and all rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

 

Fiscal Year” means the fiscal year of the Company, which shall end on December 31 of each calendar year unless, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, another fiscal year is required. The Company shall have the same fiscal year for U.S. federal income tax purposes and for accounting purposes.

 

Fungible Class B Units” means, for any Member holding Class B Units, as of any relevant date, a number of such Class B Units equal to the quotient, rounded down to the nearest whole unit, of (a) such Member’s Class B Capital Account, divided by (b) the Class A Per Unit Balance; provided that, solely in the case of a conversion pursuant to Section 4.2(c) using the Adjusted Conversion Ratio, the number of Fungible Class B Units for purposes of such conversion shall be determined by further dividing the foregoing amount by the Adjusted Conversion Ratio; provided further that, for the avoidance of doubt, the number of Fungible Class B Units shall never exceed the total number of Class B Units held by such Member.

 

GAAP” means U.S. generally accepted accounting principles at the time.

 

Good Faith” means a Person having acted in good faith and in a manner such Person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company and the PubCo Holdings Group and, with respect to a criminal proceeding, having had no reasonable cause to believe such Person’s conduct was unlawful.

 

Governmental Entity” means any federal, national, supranational, state, provincial, local, foreign or other government, governmental, stock exchange, regulatory or administrative authority, agency or commission or any court, tribunal or judicial or arbitral body.

 

Gross Asset Value” means, with respect to any asset, the asset’s Adjusted Basis for U.S. federal income tax purposes, except as follows:

 

(a) the initial Gross Asset Value of any asset contributed by a Member to the Company shall be the gross Fair Market Value of such asset as of the date of such contribution;

 

8

 

 

(b) the Gross Asset Values of all Company assets shall be adjusted to equal their respective gross Fair Market Values as of the following times: (i) the acquisition of an interest (or additional interest) in the Company by any new or existing Member in exchange for more than a de minimis Capital Contribution to the Company or in exchange for the performance of more than a de minimis amount of services to or for the benefit of the Company; (ii) the distribution by the Company to a Member of more than a de minimis amount of Company assets as consideration for an interest in the Company; (iii) the liquidation of the Company within the meaning of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(g)(1), (iv) the acquisition of an interest in the Company by any new or existing Member upon the exercise of a Company Warrant or other noncompensatory option in accordance with Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(s) or in connection with a Redemption; or (v) any other event to the extent determined by the Managing Member to be permitted and necessary or appropriate to properly reflect Gross Asset Values in accordance with the standards set forth in Treasury Regulations Section 1.704- 1(b)(2)(iv)(g); provided, however, that adjustments pursuant to clauses (i), (ii) and (iv) above shall not be made if the Managing Member reasonably determines that such adjustments are not necessary or appropriate to reflect the relative economic interests of the Members in the Company. If any Company Warrants or other noncompensatory options are outstanding upon the occurrence of an event described in this paragraph (b)(i) through (b)(v), the Company shall adjust the Gross Asset Values of its properties to properly reflect any change in the Fair Market Value of such Company Warrants or other noncompensatory options in accordance with Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(f)(1) and 1.704- 1(b)(2)(iv)(h)(2);

 

(c) the Gross Asset Value of any Company asset distributed to any Member shall be adjusted to equal the gross Fair Market Value of such asset on the date of such distribution;

 

(d) the Gross Asset Values of Company assets shall be increased (or decreased) to reflect any adjustments to the Adjusted Basis of such assets pursuant to Code Section 734(b) (including any such adjustments pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section 1.734-2(b)(1)), but only to the extent that such adjustments are taken into account in determining Capital Accounts pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m) and clause (f) in the definition of Profitsor Lossesbelow or Section 5.2(h); provided, however, that the Gross Asset Value of a Company asset shall not be adjusted pursuant to this subsection to the extent the Managing Member determines in Good Faith that an adjustment pursuant to clause (b) of this definition is necessary or appropriate in connection with a transaction that would otherwise result in an adjustment pursuant to this clause (d); and

 

(e) if the Gross Asset Value of a Company asset has been determined or adjusted pursuant to clauses (a), (b) or (d) of this definition of Gross Asset Value, such Gross Asset Value shall thereafter be adjusted by the Depreciation taken into account with respect to such asset for purposes of computing Profits, Losses and other items allocated pursuant to Article V.

 

Indebtedness” means (a) all indebtedness for borrowed money (including capitalized lease obligations, sale-leaseback transactions or other similar transactions, however evidenced), (b) any other indebtedness that is evidenced by a note, bond, debenture, draft or similar instrument, (c) notes payable and (d) lines of credit and any other agreements relating to the borrowing of money or extension of credit.

 

9

 

 

Initial Business Combination” means the first transaction or series of transactions (whether through a merger, equity exchange or purchase, asset acquisition, reorganization or similar transaction) resulting in a business combination involving PubCo, the Company and one or more operating businesses.

 

Interest” means the entire interest of a Member in the Company, including the Units and all of such Member’s rights, powers and privileges under this Agreement and the Act.

 

Investment Company Act” is defined in Section 8.1(b).

 

IPO” is defined in the recitals to this Agreement.

 

Law” means any federal, national, supranational, state, provincial, local or similar statute, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, code, order, requirement or rule of law (including common law).

 

Liability” means any liability or obligation, whether known or unknown, asserted or unasserted, absolute or contingent, accrued or unaccrued, liquidated or unliquidated and whether due or to become due, regardless of when asserted.

 

Managing Member” is defined in the recitals to this Agreement.

 

Member” means any Person that executes this Agreement as a Member and any other Person admitted to the Company as an additional or substituted Member, in each case, that has not made a disposition of such Person’s entire Interest.

 

Member Minimum Gain” has the meaning ascribed to “partner nonrecourse debt minimum gain” set forth in Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(i). It is further understood that the determination of Member Minimum Gain and the net increase or decrease in Member Minimum Gain shall be made in the same manner as required for such determination of Company Minimum Gain under Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-2(d) and 1.704-2(g)(3).

 

Member Nonrecourse Debt” has the meaning of “partner nonrecourse debt” set forth in Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(b)(4).

 

Member Nonrecourse Deductions” has the meaning of “partner nonrecourse deductions” set forth in Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-2(i)(1) and 1.704-2(i)(2).

 

National Securities Exchange” means an exchange registered with the Commission under the Exchange Act.

 

NCO Target Balance” means (a) with respect to a Class A Unit received upon the exercise of a Company Warrant, the Class A Per Unit Balance and (b) with respect to any interest in the Company received upon the exercise of any other noncompensatory option, such other amount determined in the Managing Member’s reasonable discretion that reflects the economic intent of such interest in the Company.

 

10

 

 

Non-Fungible Class B Units” means, for any holder of Class B Units as of any relevant date, the number of any such Class B Units outstanding in excess of the number of such Class B Units that are Fungible Class B Units.

 

Nonrecourse Deductions” has the meaning assigned that term in Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(b)(1).

 

Nonrecourse Liability” is defined in Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(b)(3).

 

Officer” means each Person appointed as an officer of the Company pursuant to and in accordance with the provisions of Section 7.2.

 

Partnership Tax Audit Rules” means Sections 6221 through 6241 of the Code, together with any final or temporary Treasury Regulations, Revenue Rulings and case law interpreting Sections 6221 through 6241 of the Code (and any analogous provision of state or local tax Law).

 

Person” means any individual, partnership, firm, corporation, limited liability company, association, trust, unincorporated organization or other entity, as well as any syndicate or group that would be deemed to be a person under Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act.

 

Plan Asset Regulations” means the regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor at Section 2510.3-101 of Part 2510 of Chapter XXV, Title 29 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations as the same may be amended from time to time.

 

Proceeding” is defined in Section 7.4.

 

Profits” or “Losses” means, for each Fiscal Year or other taxable period, an amount equal to the Company’s taxable income or loss for such year or period, determined in accordance with Code Section 703(a) (for this purpose, all items of income, gain, loss or deduction required to be separately stated pursuant to Code Section 703(a)(1) shall be included in taxable income or loss), with the following adjustments (without duplication):

 

(a) any income or gain of the Company that is exempt from U.S. federal income tax or otherwise described in Section 705(a)(1)(B) of the Code and not otherwise taken into account in computing Profits or Losses shall be added to such taxable income or loss;

 

(b) any expenditures of the Company described in Code Section 705(a)(2)(B) or treated as Code Section 705(a)(2)(B) expenditures pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(i), and not otherwise taken into account in computing Profits or Losses, shall be subtracted from such taxable income or loss;

 

(c) in the event the Gross Asset Value of any Company asset is adjusted pursuant to clause (b) or (c) of the definition of Gross Asset Value above, the amount of such adjustment shall be treated as an item of gain (if the adjustment increases the Gross Asset Value of the Company asset) or an item of loss (if the adjustment decreases the Gross Asset Value of the Company asset) from the disposition of such asset and shall, except to the extent allocated pursuant to Section 5.2, be taken into account for purposes of computing Profits or Losses;

 

11

 

 

(d) gain or loss resulting from any disposition of Company assets with respect to which gain or loss is recognized for U.S. federal income tax purposes shall be computed with reference to the Gross Asset Value of the asset disposed of, notwithstanding that the adjusted tax basis of such asset differs from its Gross Asset Value;

 

(e) in lieu of the depreciation, amortization and other cost recovery deductions taken into account in computing such taxable income or loss, there shall be taken into account Depreciation;

 

(f) to the extent an adjustment to the adjusted tax basis of any asset pursuant to Code Section 734(b) is required, pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704- 1(b)(2)(iv)(m)(4), to be taken into account in determining Capital Account balances as a result of a distribution other than in liquidation of a Members interest in the Company, the amount of such adjustment shall be treated as an item of gain (if the adjustment increases the basis of the asset) or an item of loss (if the adjustment decreases such basis) from the disposition of such asset and shall be taken into account for purposes of computing Profits or Losses; and

 

(g) any items of income, gain, loss or deduction that are specifically allocated pursuant to the provisions of Section 5.2 shall not be taken into account in computing Profits or Losses for any taxable year, but such items available to be specially allocated pursuant to Section 5.2 will be determined by applying rules analogous to those set forth in clauses (a) through (f) above.

 

Property’’ means all real and personal property owned by the Company from time to time, including both tangible and intangible property.

 

PubCo” is defined in the recitals to this Agreement.

 

PubCo Holdings Group” means PubCo and each other Subsidiary of PubCo (other than the Company and its Subsidiaries).

 

PubCo Shares” means all classes and series of shares of PubCo, including the Class A Shares and the Class B Shares.

 

PubCo Tax-Related Liabilities” means any U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax obligations (including any Company Level Taxes for which the PubCo Holdings Group is liable hereunder) owed by the PubCo Holdings Group (other than any franchise taxes and any obligations to remit any taxes withheld from payments to third parties).

 

Pubco Units” means the units, each consisting of one Class A Share and one-fourth of one PubCo Warrant, issued in PubCo’s IPO.

 

PubCo Warrants” means the warrants issued by PubCo and exercisable for Class A Shares.

 

12

 

 

Quarterly Redemption Date” means a date within each fiscal quarter specified by PubCo from time to time, which will generally be set so that the corresponding Redemption Notice Date falls within a window after PubCo’s earnings announcement for the prior fiscal quarter or in connection with a Registered Offering.

 

Reclassification Event” means any of the following: (a) any reclassification or recapitalization of PubCo Shares (other than a change in par value, or from par value to no par value, or from no par value to par value, or as a result of a subdivision or combination or any transaction subject to Section 4.1(e)), (b) any merger, consolidation or other combination involving PubCo, or (c) any sale, conveyance, lease or other disposal of all or substantially all the properties and assets of PubCo to any other Person, in each of clauses (a), (b) or (c), as a result of which holders of PubCo Shares shall be entitled to receive cash, securities or other property for their PubCo Shares.

 

Redeeming Holder” is defined in Section 4.7(a).

 

Redemption” means any redemption of Class A Units or Company Warrants pursuant to Section 4.7.

 

Redemption Contingency” is defined in Section 4.7(c)(iii).

 

Redemption Date” means a Quarterly Redemption Date, a Special Redemption Date, or a Block Redemption Date.

 

Redemption Notice” is defined in Section 4.7(b).

 

Redemption Notice Date” means, with respect to any Redemption Date, the date that is 10 Business Days before such Redemption Date (or such other date specified by PubCo that is not later than 10 Business Days before such Redemption Date); provided that if such date falls on a weekend or holiday, the Redemption Notice Date shall be on the preceding Business Day.

 

Redemption Right” is defined in Section 4.7(a).

 

Registered Offering” means any secondary securities offering (which may include a “bought deal” or “overnight” offering), and any primary securities offering for which piggyback rights are offered, pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement.

 

Registration Rights Agreement” means the Registration Rights Agreement, by and among PubCo and the Members, to be entered into concurrently with the closing of the IPO.

 

Regulatory Allocations” is defined in Section 5.2(i).

 

Securities Act” means the United States Securities Act of 1933, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, as the same may be amended from time to time (or any corresponding provisions of succeeding law).

 

13

 

 

Special Redemption Date” means a date specified by PubCo in addition to or in lieu of the Quarterly Redemption Date during the same fiscal quarter. PubCo must specify a Special Redemption Date effective with any Registered Offering.

 

Subsidiary” means, with respect to any specified Person, any other Person with respect to which such specified Person (a) has, directly or indirectly, the power, through the ownership of securities or otherwise, to elect a majority of directors or similar managing body or (b) beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, a majority of such Person’s Equity Securities.

 

Tax Contribution Obligation” is defined in Section 10.5(c).

 

Tax Offset” is defined in Section 10.5(c).

 

Trading Day” means a day on which the New York Stock Exchange or such other principal United States securities exchange on which the Class A Shares are listed or admitted to trading is open for the transaction of business (unless such trading shall have been suspended for the entire day).

 

Transfer” means, when used as a noun, any voluntary or involuntary, direct or indirect (whether through a change of control of the Transferor or any Person that controls the Transferor, the issuance or transfer of Equity Securities of the Transferor, by operation of law or otherwise), transfer, sale, pledge or hypothecation or other disposition and, when used as a verb, voluntarily or involuntarily, directly or indirectly (whether through a change of control of the Transferor or any Person that controls the Transferor, the issuance or transfer of Equity Securities of the Transferor or any Person that controls the Transferor, by operation of law or otherwise), to transfer, sell, pledge or hypothecate or otherwise dispose of. The terms “Transferee,” “Transferor,” “Transferred” and other forms of the word “Transfer” shall have the correlative meanings.

 

Treasury Regulations” means pronouncements, as amended from time to time, or their successor pronouncements, that clarify, interpret and apply the provisions of the Code, and that are designated as “Treasury Regulations” by the United States Department of the Treasury.

 

Trust Account” means the trust account established for the benefit of the public shareholders of PubCo and the holders (other than the PubCo Holdings Group) of Class A Units of the Company pursuant to the Trust Agreement.

 

Trust Agreement” means the Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated [   ], 2021, by and among Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, PubCo and the Company.

 

Units” means the Class A Units and the Class B Units issued hereunder.

 

Warrant Agreement” means the Warrant Agreement, dated [   ], 2021, by and among PubCo, the Company, and a warrant agent, as may be amended from time to time in accordance with its terms.

 

14

 

 

Section 1.2 Interpretive Provisions. For all purposes of this Agreement, except as otherwise expressly provided or unless the context otherwise requires:

 

(a) the terms defined in Section 1.1 are applicable to the singular as well as the plural forms of such terms;

 

(b) all accounting terms not otherwise defined herein have the meanings assigned under GAAP;

 

(c) all references to currency, monetary values and dollars set forth herein shall mean United States (U.S.) dollars and all payments hereunder shall be made in United States dollars;

 

(d) when a reference is made in this Agreement to an Article, Section, Exhibit or Schedule, such reference is to an Article or Section of, or an Exhibit or Schedule to, this Agreement unless otherwise indicated;

 

(e) whenever the words include, includesor includingare used in this Agreement, they shall be deemed to be followed by the words without limitation;

 

(f) oris not exclusive;

 

(g) pronouns of either gender or neuter shall include, as appropriate, the other pronoun forms; and

 

(h) the words hereof, hereinand hereunderand words of similar import, when used in this Agreement, refer to this Agreement as a whole and not to any particular provision of this Agreement.

 

Article II

 

ORGANIZATION OF THE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY

 

Section 2.1 Formation. The Company was formed and registered as a Cayman Islands limited liability company on 3 February 2021 by:

 

(a) the filing of a registration statement pursuant to section 5(2) of the Act; and

 

(b) the entry by PubCo, as the initial member or the Company, into the Existing LLC Agreement.

 

Section 2.2 Filing. The Managing Member shall cause the Company to:

 

(a) execute, file and record (as may be required by the Act) such further statements (including, without limitation, pursuant to section 8 of the Act) amendments and other documents and maintain such statutory registers and company records as are or become necessary or advisable in connection with the operation of the Company;

 

(b) take all steps which, in their absolute discretion, they consider necessary or advisable to allow the Company to conduct business in any jurisdiction where the Company conducts business; and

 

15

 

 

(c) apply for the tax undertaking provided for in section 58 of the Act.

 

Section 2.3 Name. The name of the Company is Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLCor such other name as the Managing Member may from time to time designate, subject to the Act, and all business of the Company shall be conducted in such name. The Managing Member shall cause the Company to give prompt notice to each of the Members of any change to the name of the Company and the Company shall make all such filings (including, without limitation, pursuant to section 8 of the Act) in connection with any such change to the name of the Company.

 

Section 2.4 Registered Office; Registered Agent. The location of the registered office of the Company shall be at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands or such other place within the Cayman Islands as the Managing Member may in their absolute discretion designate from time to time, provided that no person shall be appointed as the Company’s registered office provider without that person’s prior written consent having been given to the Company in respect of such appointment..

 

Section 2.5 Principal Place of Business. The principal place of business of the Company shall be located in such place as is determined by the Managing Member from time to time.

 

Section 2.6 Purpose; Powers. The nature of the business or purposes to be conducted or promoted by the Company is to engage in any lawful act or activity for which limited liability companies may be formed under the Act. The Company shall have the power and authority to take any and all actions and engage in any and all activities necessary, appropriate, desirable, advisable, ancillary or incidental to the accomplishment of the foregoing purpose.

 

Section 2.7 Term. The term of the Company commenced on the date that it was registered as a limited liability company under the Act and shall continue until the commencement of the winding up of the Company in accordance with this Agreement or otherwise in accordance with the Act.

 

Section 2.8 LLC Agreement. This Agreement shall constitute the “LLC agreement” of the Company for the purposes of the Act. The rights, powers, duties, obligations and liabilities of the Members shall be determined pursuant to the Act and this Agreement. To the extent that the rights, powers, duties, obligations and liabilities of any Member are different by reason of any provision of this Agreement than they would be under the Act in the absence of such provision, this Agreement shall control to the fullest extent permitted by the Act and other applicable Law.

 

Section 2.9 Intent. It is the intent of the Members that the Company be operated in a manner consistent with its treatment as a partnershipfor U.S. federal and state income tax purposes. It is also the intent of the Members that the Company not be operated or treated as a partnershipfor purposes of Section 303 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. Neither the Company nor any Member shall take any action inconsistent with the express intent of the parties hereto as set forth in this Section 2.9.

 

16

 

 

Article III

 

[RESERVED]

 

Article IV

 

OWNERSHIP AND CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS; CAPITAL ACCOUNTS

 

Section 4.1 Authorized Units; General Provisions With Respect to Units.

 

(a) Subject to the provisions of this Agreement, the Company shall be authorized to issue from time to time such number of Units and such other Equity Securities as the Managing Member shall determine in accordance with Section 4.4. Each authorized Unit may be issued pursuant to such agreements as the Managing Member shall approve, including pursuant to options and warrants. The Company may reissue any Units that have been repurchased or acquired by the Company.

 

(b) The Units shall be initially divided into two (2) classes of Units referred to as Class A Unitsand Class B Units.The number and class of Units issued to each Member shall be set forth opposite such Members name on Exhibit A. Each outstanding Unit shall be identical except as otherwise provided hereunder.

 

(c) Initially, none of the Units will be represented by certificates. If the Managing Member determines that it is in the interest of the Company to issue certificates representing the Units, certificates will be issued and the Units will be represented by those certificates, and this Agreement shall be amended as necessary or desirable to reflect the issuance of certificated Units. Nothing contained in this Section 4.1(c) shall be deemed to authorize or permit any Member to Transfer its Units except as otherwise permitted under this Agreement.

 

(d) The Members as of the date hereof are set forth on Exhibit B. The total number of Units issued and outstanding and held by each Member as of the date hereof is set forth in the books and records of the Company. The Company shall update such books and records from time to time to reflect any Transfers of Interests, the issuance of additional Units or Equity Securities and, subject to Section 12.1(a), subdivisions or combinations of Units made in compliance with Section 4.1(f), in each case, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

 

17

 

 

(e) If, at any time after the Effective Time, PubCo issues a Class A Share or any other Equity Security of PubCo (other than Class B Shares), (i) one or more member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group shall concurrently contribute to the Company the net proceeds (in cash or other property, as the case may be), if any, received by PubCo for such Class A Share or other Equity Security and (ii) the Company shall concurrently issue to such member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group, in accordance with the contributions made by each such member pursuant to clause (i), one Class A Unit (if PubCo issues a Class A Share), or such other Equity Security of the Company (if PubCo issues Equity Securities other than Class A Shares) corresponding to the Equity Securities issued by PubCo, and with substantially the same rights to dividends and distributions (including distributions upon liquidation, but taking into account differences as a result of any tax or other liabilities borne by PubCo) and other economic rights as those of such Equity Securities of PubCo to be issued. Notwithstanding the foregoing:

 

(i) If PubCo issues any Class A Shares in order to acquire or fund the acquisition from a Member (other than any member of the PubCo Holdings Group) of a number of Units (and Class B Shares) equal to the number of Class A Shares so issued, then the Company shall not issue any new Units in connection therewith and, where such Class A Shares have been issued for cash to fund such an acquisition by any member of the PubCo Holdings Group pursuant to a Cash Election, the PubCo Holdings Group shall not be required to transfer such net proceeds to the Company, and such net proceeds shall instead be transferred by such member of the PubCo Holdings Group to such Member as consideration for such acquisition. For the avoidance of doubt, if PubCo issues any Class A Shares or other Equity Security for cash to be used to fund the acquisition by any member of the PubCo Holdings Group of any Person or the assets of any Person, then PubCo shall not be required to transfer such cash proceeds to the Company but instead such member of the PubCo Holdings Group shall be required to contribute such Person or the assets and liabilities of such Person to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries.

 

(ii) This Section 4.1(e) shall not apply to the issuance and distribution to holders of PubCo Shares of rights to purchase Equity Securities of PubCo under a poison pillor similar shareholders rights plan (and upon any redemption of Class A Units for Class A Shares, such Class A Shares will be issued together with a corresponding right under such plan), or to the issuance under PubCos employee benefit plans of any warrants, options, other rights to acquire Equity Securities of PubCo or rights or property that may be converted into or settled in Equity Securities of PubCo, but shall in each of the foregoing cases apply to the issuance of Equity Securities of PubCo in connection with the exercise or settlement of such rights, warrants, options or other rights or property.

 

(iii) Except pursuant to Section 4.7, (x) the Company may not issue any additional Units to any member of the PubCo Holdings Group unless substantially simultaneously therewith a member of the PubCo Holdings Group issues or transfers an equal number of newly-issued Class A Shares of PubCo to another Person (other than another member of the PubCo Holdings Group), and (y) the Company may not issue any other Equity Securities of the Company to any member of the PubCo Holdings Group unless substantially simultaneously a member of the PubCo Holdings Group issues or transfers, to another Person (other than another member of the PubCo Holdings Group), an equal number of newly-issued shares of a new class or series of Equity Securities of PubCo with substantially the same rights to dividends and distributions (including distributions upon liquidation, but taking into account differences as a result of any tax or other liabilities borne by PubCo) and other economic rights as those of such Equity Securities of the Company.

 

18

 

 

(iv) If at any time any member of the PubCo Holdings Group issues Debt Securities (other than to another member of the PubCo Holdings Group), such member of the PubCo Holdings Group shall transfer to the Company (in a manner to be determined by the Managing Member in its reasonable discretion) the proceeds received by such member of the PubCo Holdings Group in exchange for such Debt Securities in a manner that directly or indirectly burdens the Company with the repayment of the Debt Securities.

 

(v) In the event any Pubco Warrant or other Equity Security outstanding at PubCo is exercised or otherwise converted and, as a result, any Class A Shares or other Equity Securities of PubCo are issued, (a) the corresponding Company Warrant or other Equity Security outstanding at the Company shall be similarly exercised or otherwise converted, as applicable, and an equivalent number of Class A Units or other Equity Securities of the Company shall be issued to the PubCo Holdings Group as contemplated by the first sentence of this Section 4.1(e), and (b) the PubCo Holdings Group shall concurrently contribute to the Company the net proceeds received by the PubCo Holdings Group from any such exercise.

 

(vi) No member of the PubCo Holdings Group may redeem, repurchase or otherwise acquire (other than from another member of the PubCo Holdings Group) (a) any Class A Shares (including upon forfeiture of any unvested Class A Shares) unless substantially simultaneously the Company redeems, repurchases or otherwise acquires from the PubCo Holdings Group an equal number of Class A Units for the same price per security or (b) any other Equity Securities of PubCo (other than Class B Shares), unless substantially simultaneously the Company redeems, repurchases or otherwise acquires from the PubCo Holdings Group an equal number of Equity Securities of the Company of a corresponding class or series with substantially the same rights to dividends and distributions (including distributions upon liquidation, but taking into account differences as a result of any tax or other liabilities borne by PubCo) and other economic rights as those of such Equity Securities of PubCo for the same price per security. The Company may not redeem, repurchase or otherwise acquire (x) except pursuant to Section 4.7, any Class A Units from the PubCo Holdings Group unless substantially simultaneously the PubCo Holdings Group redeems, repurchases or otherwise acquires an equal number of Class A Shares for the same price per security from holders thereof, or (y) any other Equity Securities of the Company from the PubCo Holdings Group unless substantially simultaneously the PubCo Holdings Group redeems, repurchases or otherwise acquires for the same price per security an equal number of Equity Securities of PubCo of a corresponding class or series with substantially the same rights to dividends and distributions (including distribution upon liquidation, but taking into account differences as a result of any tax or other liabilities borne by PubCo) and other economic rights as those of such Equity Securities of PubCo. Notwithstanding the foregoing, to the extent that any consideration payable by the PubCo Holdings Group in connection with the redemption or repurchase of any Class A Shares or other Equity Securities of the PubCo Holdings Group consists (in whole or in part) of Class A Shares or such other Equity Securities (including, for the avoidance of doubt, in connection with the cashless exercise of an option or warrant), then the redemption or repurchase of the corresponding Class A Units or other Equity Securities of the Company shall be effectuated in an equivalent manner.

 

19

 

 

(f) The Company shall not in any manner effect any subdivision (by any equity split, equity distribution, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) or combination (by reverse equity split, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) of the outstanding Units unless accompanied by an identical subdivision or combination, as applicable, of the outstanding PubCo Shares, with corresponding changes made with respect to any other exchangeable or convertible securities. Unless in connection with any action taken pursuant to Section 4.1(h), PubCo shall not in any manner effect any subdivision (by any equity split, equity distribution, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) or combination (by reverse equity split, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) of the outstanding PubCo Shares unless accompanied by an identical subdivision or combination, as applicable, of the outstanding Units, with corresponding changes made with respect to any other exchangeable or convertible securities.

 

(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (including Section 4.1(e)), the Company may redeem Class A Units from the PubCo Holdings Group for cash to fund any acquisition by the PubCo Holdings Group of another Person, provided that promptly after such redemption and acquisition the PubCo Holdings Group contributes or causes to be contributed, directly or indirectly, such Person or the assets and liabilities of such Person to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries in exchange for a number of Class A Units equal to the number of Class A Units so redeemed.

 

(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (including Section 4.1(e)), if the PubCo Holdings Group acquires or holds any material amount of cash in excess of any monetary obligations it reasonably anticipates (including as a result of the receipt of distributions pursuant to Section 6.2 for any period in excess of the PubCo Tax-Related Liabilities for such period), PubCo may, in its sole discretion, use such excess cash amount in such manner, and make such adjustments to or take such other actions with respect to the capitalization of PubCo and the Company, as PubCo (including in its capacity as the Managing Member) in Good Faith determines to be fair and reasonable to the holders of PubCo Shares and to the Members and to preserve the intended economic effect of this Section 4.1, Section 4.7 and the other provisions hereof.

 

20

 

 

Section 4.2 Class B Units.

 

(a) Profits Interest Treatment. It is intended that (and all provisions of this Agreement shall be interpreted consistent with the intent that) for U.S. federal (and conforming state and local) income tax purposes: (i) the Class B Units (and any Class A Units into which such Class B Units convert pursuant to Section 4.2(c)) constitute profits interestsissued to the holders thereof for the provision of services to or for the benefit of the Company in their capacity as partners of the Company within the meaning of IRS Revenue Procedure 93-27; (ii) consistent with IRS Revenue Procedure 2001-43, the Company and holders of any Class B Units will treat such holders as the owners of a partnership interest in the Company from the date of the grant of the Class B Units (including that such holders will take into account their distributive share of Company income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit associated with such Class B Units and that neither the Company nor any Member will deduct any amount as wages, compensation or otherwise for the fair market value of any Class B Unit at the time of grant of such Class B Unit or upon such Class B Unit becoming substantially vested); and (iii) the Class B Units have an initial capital account of zero dollars. Each Member who acquires Class B Units that are subject to a substantial risk of forfeiturewithin the meaning of Section 83 of the Code shall make a timely election under Code Section 83(b) with respect to such Class B Units.

 

(b) Anti-Dilution.

 

(i) In the event that Class A Shares or Equity-Linked Securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with the closing of the Initial Business Combination (other than any such Class A Shares or Equity Linked Securities that are excluded from clause (a)(i) of the definition of Adjusted Conversion Ratio):

 

(A) the number of Class A Units received by each holder of Fungible Class B Units upon their conversion into Class A Units in connection with the Initial Business Combination pursuant to Section 4.2(c) shall equal the product of (x) the number of such Fungible Class B Units to be so converted multiplied by (y) the Adjusted Conversion Ratio; and

 

(B) to the extent any Class B Units remain outstanding following such conversion, the Company shall divide such remaining outstanding Class B Units such that each holder of Class B Units holds, after such division, a number of Class B Units equal to the product of (x) the number of Class B Units held by such holder immediately prior to such division multiplied by (y) the Adjusted Conversion Ratio.

 

(ii) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, the provisions of Section 4.2(b) may be waived in whole or in part as to any particular issuance or deemed issuance of additional Class A Shares or Equity-Linked Securities by the written consent or agreement of holders of a majority of the Class B Units then outstanding.

 

21

 

 

(iii) The Adjusted Conversion Ratio shall also be adjusted to account for any subdivision (by equity split, subdivision, exchange, equity dividend, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) or combination (by reverse equity split, exchange, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) or similar reclassification or recapitalization of the outstanding Class A Units or Class A Shares into a greater or lesser number of shares occurring after the date hereof without a proportionate and corresponding subdivision, combination or similar reclassification or recapitalization of the outstanding Class B Units.

 

(iv) The Members and the Company agree to treat any division of Class B Units as disregarded for U.S. federal (and applicable state and local) income tax purposes.

 

(c) Conversion into Class A Units.

 

(i) On each Class B Automatic Conversion Date, any Fungible Class B Units shall be converted into an equal number of Class A Units, subject to adjustment as provided in Section 4.2(b)(i)(A).

 

(ii) After an Initial Business Combination, each Member holding Class B Units shall be entitled to cause the Company to convert all or a portion of such Members Class B Units into an equal number of Class A Units (the Class B Conversion Right), subject to the provisions of this Section 4.2(c)(ii). Upon the exercise by any Member of the Class B Conversion Right, all Fungible Class B Units held by all Members shall be so converted. A Member may exercise the Class B Conversion right to the extent that (A) such conversion is in connection with a valid exercise of a Redemption Right and (B) on or prior to the relevant Redemption Date, the Class B Units to be converted are Fungible Class B Units (taking into account, for such purpose, any allocations that may be made with respect to such Member pursuant to Section 5.2(l)). In order to exercise its Class B Conversion Right, a Member shall provide written notice to the Company and PubCo, in a reasonable form as the Company may provide from time to time, as a part of such Members Redemption Notice for the Class A Units received upon the conversion of such Class B Units. Upon the request of such Member, the Company will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide an estimate of the amount of any allocations that the Company expects may be made with respect to such Member pursuant to Section 5.2(l) as a result of the exercise of the Class B Conversion Right. A Redemption Notice for a number of Class A Units in excess of the number of Class A Units then held by a Member shall be deemed to be an exercise of the Class B Conversion Right to the extent of such excess number of units. In addition to the terms and requirements set forth in Section 4.7, such Redemption Notice will, with respect to such Class B Units, be contingent on the Managing Members determination that such Class B Units meet the requirements of this Section 4.2(c)(ii).

 

22

 

 

(iii) Any conversion of Class B Units pursuant to this Section 4.2(c) shall occur automatically after the close of business on the applicable Class B Conversion Date, as of which time the Member holding any converted Class B Units shall be credited on the books and records of the Company with the issuance as of the opening of business on the next day of the number of Class A Units issuable upon such conversion.

 

(iv) The Members and the Company agree to treat the conversion of Class B Units into Class A Units (for the avoidance of doubt, not including any allocations that may be made pursuant to Section 5.2(l)) as disregarded for U.S. federal (and applicable state and local) income tax purposes.

 

Section 4.3 Voting Rights. No Member has any voting right except with respect to those matters specifically reserved for a Member vote under the Act and for matters expressly requiring the approval of Members under this Agreement. Except as otherwise required by the Act, each Unit will entitle the holder thereof to one vote on all matters to be voted on by the Members. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement, the holders of Units having voting rights will vote together as a single class on all matters to be approved by the Members.

 

Section 4.4 Capital Contributions; Unit Ownership.

 

(a) Capital Contributions. Except as otherwise set forth in Section 4.1(e) with respect to the obligations of the PubCo Holdings Group, no Member shall be required to make additional Capital Contributions.

 

(b) Issuance of Additional Units or Interests. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement, the Managing Member shall have the right to authorize and cause the Company to issue on such terms (including price) as may be determined by the Managing Member, subject to the limitations of Section 4.1, (i) additional Units or other Equity Securities in the Company (including creating preferred interests or other classes or series of interests having such rights, preferences and privileges as determined by the Managing Member, which rights, preferences and privileges may be senior to the Units), and (ii) obligations, evidences of Indebtedness or other securities or interests convertible or exchangeable for Units or other Equity Securities in the Company; provided that, at any time following the date hereof, in each case the Company shall not issue Equity Securities in the Company to any Person unless such Person shall have executed a counterpart to this Agreement and all other documents, agreements or instruments deemed necessary or desirable in the discretion of the Managing Member. Upon such issuance and execution, such Person shall be admitted as a Member of the Company. In that event, the Managing Member shall update the Companys books and records to reflect such additional issuances. Subject to Section 12.1, the Managing Member is hereby authorized to amend this Agreement to set forth the designations, preferences, rights, powers and duties of such additional Units or other Equity Securities in the Company, or such other amendments that the Managing Member determines to be otherwise necessary or appropriate in connection with the creation, authorization or issuance of any class or series of Units or other Equity Securities in the Company pursuant to this Section 4.4(b); provided that, notwithstanding the foregoing, the Managing Member shall have the right to amend this Agreement as set forth in this sentence without the approval of any other Person (including any Member) and notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement (other than Section 12.1(a)(ii), Section 12.1(a)(iii) or Section 12.1(a)(iv)) if such amendment is necessary, and then only to the extent necessary, in order to consummate any offering of PubCo Shares or other Equity Securities of PubCo provided that the designations, preferences, rights, powers and duties of any such additional Units or other Equity Securities of the Company as set forth in such amendment are substantially similar to those applicable to such PubCo Shares or other Equity Securities of PubCo.

 

23

 

 

Section 4.5 Capital Accounts.

 

(a) A Capital Account shall be maintained for each Member in accordance with the provisions of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv) and, to the extent consistent with such regulations, the other provisions of this Agreement. Each Members Capital Account shall be (a) increased by (i) allocations to such Member of Profits pursuant to Section 5.1 and any other items of income or gain allocated to such Member pursuant to Section 5.2, (ii) the amount of cash or the initial Gross Asset Value of any asset (net of any Liabilities assumed by the Company and any Liabilities to which the asset is subject) contributed to the Company by such Member, and (iii) any other increases allowed or required by Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv), and (b) decreased by (i) allocations to such Member of Losses pursuant to Section 5.1 and any other items of deduction or loss allocated to such Member pursuant to the provisions of Section 5.2, (ii) the amount of any cash or the Gross Asset Value of any asset (net of any Liabilities assumed by the Member and any Liabilities to which the asset is subject) distributed to such Member, and (iii) any other decreases allowed or required by Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv).

 

(b) A Member that has more than one class or series of Units shall have a single Capital Account that reflects all such Units; provided, however, that the Capital Accounts shall be maintained in such manner as will facilitate a determination of the portion of each Capital Account attributable to each class or series of Units, including for purposes of determining any Members Class B Capital Account and the Class A Per Unit Balance.

 

(c) In the event of a Transfer of Units made in accordance with this Agreement (including a deemed Transfer for U.S. federal income tax purposes as described in Section 4.7(e)(iv)) the Capital Account of the Transferor that is attributable to the Transferred Units shall carry over to the Transferee Member in accordance with the provisions of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(l).

 

24

 

 

Section 4.6 Other Matters.

 

(a) No Member shall demand or receive a return on or of its Capital Contributions or withdraw from the Company without the consent of the Managing Member. Under circumstances requiring a return of any Capital Contributions, no Member has the right to receive property other than cash.

 

(b) No Member shall receive any interest, salary, compensation, draw or reimbursement with respect to its Capital Contributions or its Capital Account, or for services rendered or expenses incurred on behalf of the Company or otherwise in its capacity as a Member, except as otherwise provided in Section 7.9 or as otherwise contemplated by this Agreement.

 

(c) The Liability of each Member shall be limited as set forth in the Act and other applicable Law and, except as expressly set forth in this Agreement or required by Law, no Member (or any of its Affiliates) shall be personally liable, whether to the Company, any of the other Members, the creditors of the Company or any other third party, for any debt or Liability of the Company, whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise, solely by reason of being a Member of the Company.

 

(d) Except as otherwise required by the Act, a Member shall not be required to restore a deficit balance in such Members Capital Account, to lend any funds to the Company or, except as otherwise set forth herein, to make any additional contributions or payments to the Company.

 

(e) The Company shall not be obligated to repay any Capital Contributions of any Member.

 

Section 4.7 Redemption of Class A Units and Company Warrants.

 

(a) Redemptions Generally. Each Member and each Company Warrantholder, other than the PubCo Holdings Group (a Redeeming Holder) shall be entitled to cause the Company to redeem all or a portion of (i) such Members Class A Units in exchange for an equal number of Class A Shares or (ii) such Company Warrantholders Company Warrants in exchange for an equal number of PubCo Warrants, or in each case, at the Companys election under certain circumstances, cash in accordance with Section 4.7(e)(ii) (referred to herein as the Redemption Right), upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in this Section 4.7 and subject to PubCos (or such designated member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Groups) Call Right as set forth in Section 4.7(f). Upon the Redemption of any Class A Units, an equal number of Class B Shares held by the Redeeming Holder shall be cancelled.

 

(b) Permitted Redemptions; Limitations.

 

(i) Quarterly and Special Redemptions. Each Redeeming Holder may effect Redemptions on each Quarterly Redemption Date and/or any Special Redemption Date designated by the Managing Member; provided that, with respect to a Redemption of Class A Units, absent the prior written consent of the Managing Member to the contrary, on each Quarterly Redemption Date or Special Redemption Date, a Redeeming Holder shall only be permitted to redeem less than all of its Class A Units if (A) after such Redemption it would continue to hold at least 50,000 Units and (B) it redeems not less than 50,000 Class A Units in such Redemption.

 

25

 

 

(ii) Block Redemptions. Each Redeeming Holder may effect Redemptions on any date designated by such Redeeming Holder in a timely Redemption Notice (a Block Redemption Date); provided that, with respect to a Redemption of Class A Units, absent the prior written consent of the Managing Member to the contrary, on each Block Redemption Date a Redeeming Holder shall not be permitted to redeem less than 500,000 Class A Units.

 

(iii) Additional Limitations. Each Members and Company Warrantholders Redemption Right shall be subject to the following additional limitations and qualifications:

 

(A) Any Redemption of Class A Units or Company Warrants issued after the date hereof (other than in connection with any recapitalization), including such Class A Units issued to Members as of the date hereof, may be limited in accordance with the terms of any agreements or instruments entered into in connection with such issuance, as deemed necessary or desirable in the discretion of the Managing Member.

 

(B) The Managing Member may impose additional limitations and restrictions on Redemptions (including limiting Redemptions or creating priority procedures for Redemptions), to the extent it determines, in Good Faith, such limitations and restrictions to be necessary or appropriate to avoid undue risk that the Company may be classified as a publicly traded partnershipwithin the meaning of Section 7704 of the Code. Furthermore, the Managing Member may require any Member or Company Warrantholder to redeem all of their Class A Units and/or Company Warrants to the extent it determines, in Good Faith, that such Redemption is necessary or appropriate to avoid undue risk that the Company may be classified as a publicly traded partnershipwithin the meaning of Section 7704 of the Code. Upon delivery of any notice by the Managing Member to such Member or Company Warrantholder requiring such Redemption, such Member or Company Warrantholder shall exchange, subject to exercise by PubCo (or such designated member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group) of the Call Right pursuant to Section 4.7(f), all of their Class A Units and/or Company Warrants effective as of the date specified in such notice (and such date shall be deemed to be a Redemption Date for purposes of this Agreement) in accordance with this Section 4.7 and otherwise in accordance with the requirements set forth in such notice.

 

26

 

 

(c) Notice Requirements for Redeeming Holders. In order to exercise its Redemption Right, each Redeeming Holder shall provide written notice in a reasonable form as the Company may provide from time to time (the Redemption Notice) to the Company and PubCo, on or before the applicable Redemption Notice Date, stating:

 

(i) the number of Class A Units (which may include Class A Units to be received upon the Redeeming Holders simultaneous exercise of its Class B Conversion Right or upon the Redeeming Holders exercise of its Company Warrants) and/or Company Warrants that the Redeeming Holder elects to have the Company redeem in accordance with Section 4.7(b)(i) or Section 4.7(b)(ii);

 

(ii) if the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants to be received are to be issued other than in the name of the Redeeming Holder, the name(s) of the Person(s) in whose name or on whose order the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants are to be issued;

 

(iii) whether the Redemption is to be contingent (including as to timing) upon the closing of a Registered Offering of the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants for which the Class A Units or Company Warrants will be redeemed or the closing of an announced merger, consolidation or other transaction or event to which PubCo is a party in which the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants would be exchanged or converted or become exchangeable for or convertible into cash or other securities or property (such contingency, a Redemption Contingency);

 

(iv) pursuant to which section of this Agreement the Redemption Right is being exercised; and

 

(v) in the case of a Block Redemption, the intended Block Redemption Date.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, any notice by any Member pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement to demand or participate in any Registered Offering shall be deemed to constitute a Redemption Notice for the related Special Redemption Date.

 

(d) Revocation; Redemption Contingencies. A Redeeming Holder may not revoke or rescind a Redemption Notice after the applicable Redemption Notice Date. Any Redemption Notice delivered for a Redemption on a Quarterly Redemption Date may not be contingent. Any Redemption Notice delivered for a Redemption on a Special Redemption Date or Block Redemption Date may be subject to a Redemption Contingency.

 

27

 

 

(e) Procedure; Cash Election.

 

(i) On any Redemption Date for which any Redeeming Holder has delivered a Redemption Notice with respect to Class A Units or Company Warrants, unless the Company elects to pay cash in accordance with Section 4.7(e)(ii) or a member of the PubCo Holdings Group exercises its Call Right pursuant to Section 4.7(f), on such Redemption Date: (x) such number of Class A Units shall be redeemed for an equal number of Class A Shares and an equal number of Class B Shares shall be surrendered by such Redeeming Holder and cancelled and (y) such number of Company Warrants shall be redeemed for an equal number of PubCo Warrants.

 

(ii) The Company shall be entitled to elect to settle any Redemption by delivering to the Redeeming Holder, in lieu of the applicable number of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants that would be received in such Redemption, an amount of cash equal to the Cash Election Amount for such Redemption.

 

(iii) Unless a member of the PubCo Holdings Group has elected its Call Right pursuant to Section 4.7(f) with respect to any Redemption, on the relevant Redemption Date and immediately prior to such Redemption, (i) PubCo (or such other member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group) shall contribute to the Company the consideration the Redeeming Holder is entitled to receive under Section 4.7(e)(i) (including in the event the Company exercises its right to deliver the Cash Election Amount pursuant to Section 4.7(e)(ii)) and the Company shall issue to PubCo (or such other member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group) a number of Class A Units or Company Warrants, as applicable, or, pursuant to Section 4.1(e), other Equity Securities of the Company as consideration for such contribution, (ii) the Company shall (A) cancel the redeemed Class A Units or Company Warrants, as applicable, and (B) transfer to the Redeeming Holder the consideration the Redeeming Holder is entitled to receive under Section 4.7(e)(i) (including in the event the Company exercises its right to deliver the Cash Election Amount pursuant to Section 4.7(e)(ii)), and (iii) PubCo shall cancel the surrendered Class B Shares, as applicable. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Agreement to the contrary, in the event that the Company makes a Cash Election that is funded with proceeds from a primary offering of PubCo Equity Securities, the PubCo Holdings Group shall only be obligated to contribute to the Company an amount in cash equal to the net proceeds (after deduction of any underwritersdiscounts or commissions and brokersfees or commissions (including, for the avoidance of doubt, any deferred discounts or commissions and brokersfees or commissions payable in connection with or as a result of such Registered Offering)) (such difference, the Discount) from the sale by PubCo of a number of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, equal to the number of Class A Units or Company Warrants, as applicable, to be redeemed with such cash or from the sale of other PubCo Equity Securities used to fund the Cash Election Amount; provided that PubCos Capital Account (or the Capital Account(s) of the other member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group, as applicable) shall be increased by the amount of such Discount in accordance with Section 7.9; provided further, that the contribution of such net proceeds shall in no event affect the Redeeming Holders right to receive the Cash Election Amount.

 

28

 

 

(iv) Each Redemption shall be deemed to have been effected on the applicable Redemption Date. Any Redeeming Holder redeeming Class A Units or Company Warrants in accordance with this Agreement may request that the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, to be issued upon such Redemption be issued in a name other than such Redeeming Holder. Any Person or Persons in whose name or names any Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, are issuable on any Redemption Date shall be deemed to have become, on such Redemption Date, the holder or holders of record of such shares or warrants.

 

(v) PubCo shall at all times keep available, solely for the purpose of issuance upon a Redemption, out of its authorized but unissued Class A Shares, such number of Class A Shares that shall be issuable upon the Redemption of all outstanding Class A Units (other than those Class A Units held by any member of the PubCo Holdings Group); provided, that nothing contained herein shall be construed to preclude PubCo from satisfying its obligations with respect to a Redemption by delivery of cash pursuant to a Cash Election or Class A Shares that are held in the treasury of PubCo. PubCo covenants that all Class A Shares that shall be issued upon a Redemption shall, upon issuance thereof, be validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. In addition, for so long as the Class A Shares are listed on a National Securities Exchange, PubCo shall use its reasonable best efforts to cause all Class A Shares issued upon a Redemption to be listed on such National Securities Exchange at the time of such issuance.

 

(f) Call Right. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section 4.7, a Redeeming Holder shall be deemed to have offered to sell its Class A Units and/or Company Warrants as described in any Redemption Notice to each member of the PubCo Holdings Group, and PubCo (or such other member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group designated by PubCo) may, in its sole discretion, in accordance with this Section 4.7(f), elect to purchase directly and acquire such Class A Units and/or Company Warrants on the Redemption Date by paying to the Redeeming Holder that number of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, the Redeeming Holder would otherwise receive pursuant to Section 4.7(e) or, if PubCo (or such designated member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group) makes a Cash Election, the Cash Election Amount for such Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants (the Call Right), whereupon PubCo (or such designated member(s) of the PubCo Holdings Group) shall acquire the Class A Units and/or Company Warrants offered for redemption by the Redeeming Holder and shall become the owner thereof.

 

29

 

 

(g) Tax Matters.

 

(i) For U.S. federal income (and applicable state and local) tax purposes, each of the Redeeming Holder, the Company and PubCo (and any other member of the PubCo Holding Group), as the case may be, agree to treat each Redemption and, in the event PubCo (or another member of the PubCo Holdings Group) exercises its Call Right, each transaction between the Redeeming Holder and PubCo (or such other member of the PubCo Holdings Group), as a sale of such Redeeming Holders Class A Units (together with the same number Class B Shares) or Company Warrants, as applicable, to PubCo (or such other member of the PubCo Holdings Group) in exchange for Class A Shares, PubCo Warrants or cash, as applicable.

 

(ii) The issuance of Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants upon a Redemption shall be made without charge to the Redeeming Holder for any stamp or other similar tax in respect of such issuance, except that if any such Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants are to be issued in a name other than that of the Redeeming Holder, then the Person or Persons in whose names such shares are to be issued shall pay to PubCo the amount of any tax payable in respect of any Transfer involved in such issuance or establish to the satisfaction of PubCo that such tax has been paid or is not payable.

 

(iii) Each of the Company and PubCo shall be entitled to deduct and withhold from any consideration payable or otherwise deliverable upon a Redemption (and the Redeeming Holder agrees to indemnify the Company and PubCo with respect to) such amounts as may be required to be deducted or withheld therefrom under the Code or any provision of applicable Law, and to the extent deduction and withholding is required, such deduction and withholding may be taken in Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants. Prior to making such deduction or withholding, the Company shall use commercially reasonable efforts to give written notice to the Redeeming Holder and reasonably cooperate with such Redeeming Holder to reduce or avoid any such withholding. To the extent such amounts are so deducted or withheld and paid over to the relevant governmental authority, such amounts shall be treated for all purposes under this Agreement as having been paid to the Redeeming Holder, and, if withholding is taken in Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, the relevant withholding party shall be treated as having sold such Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, on behalf of such Redeeming Holder for an amount of cash equal to the Fair Market Value thereof at the time of such deemed sale and paid such cash proceeds to the appropriate governmental authority.

 

30

 

 

(h) If (i) there is any reclassification, reorganization, recapitalization or other similar transaction pursuant to which the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants are converted or changed into another security, securities or other property (other than as a result of a subdivision or combination or any transaction subject to Section 4.1(f)), or (ii) except in connection with actions taken with respect to the capitalization of PubCo or the Company pursuant to Section 4.1(h), PubCo, by dividend or otherwise, distributes to all holders of the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants evidences of its indebtedness or assets, including securities (including Class A Shares and any rights, options or warrants to all holders of the Class A Shares to subscribe for or to purchase or to otherwise acquire Class A Shares, or other securities or rights convertible into, redeemable for or exercisable for Class A Shares) but excluding (A) any cash dividend or distribution, (B) any such distribution of indebtedness or assets received by PubCo, in either case (A) or (B) received by PubCo from the Company in respect of the Class A Units or Company Warrants, and (C) any exercise or redemption of PubCo Warrants pursuant to the terms of the Warrant Agreement, then upon any subsequent Redemption, in addition to the Class A Shares, PubCo Warrants or the Cash Election Amount, as applicable, each Redeeming Holder shall be entitled to receive the amount of such security, securities or other property that such Redeeming Holder would have received if such Redemption had occurred immediately prior to the effective date of such reclassification, reorganization, recapitalization, other similar transaction, dividend or other distribution, taking into account any adjustment as a result of any subdivision (by any split, distribution or dividend, reclassification, reorganization, recapitalization or otherwise) or combination (by reverse split, reclassification, recapitalization or otherwise) of such security, securities or other property that occurs after the effective time of such reclassification, reorganization, recapitalization or other similar transaction. For the avoidance of doubt, if there is any reclassification, reorganization, recapitalization or other similar transaction in which the Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants are converted or changed into another security, securities or other property, or any dividend or distribution (other than an excluded dividend or distribution, as described above in clauses (A), (B) or (C)), this Section 4.7 shall continue to be applicable, mutatis mutandis, with respect to such security or other property.

 

(i) Automatic Redemption of Designated Holders. Immediately prior to an Initial Business Combination (or, in the case of a proposed business combination involving U.S. real property interests, immediately prior to signing any definitive agreement in respect of such a business combination), all Units and Company Warrants (solely to the extent not terminated or to be terminated with respect to such Designated Holder in connection with the Initial Business Combination pursuant to Section 2.6.2 of the Warrant Agreement) held by any Designated Holders shall automatically (i) in the case of any Class B Units, be converted into Class A Units in accordance with the provisions of Section 4.2(c) and (ii) following any such conversion, be redeemed for Class A Shares (together with the cancellation of a corresponding number of Class B Shares) or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, in accordance with this Section 4.7 (such conversion and Redemption, a Designated Holder Redemption). The Company shall deliver written notice to any such Designated Holder of an intended Designated Holder Redemption pursuant to this Section 4.7(i) (a Designated Holder Redemption Notice) as soon as reasonably practicable following the date upon which such Designated Holder Redemption is effected (such date, the Designated Holder Redemption Date), indicating in such notice the number of Class A Shares and/or PubCo Warrants issued to such Designated Holder in the Designated Holder Redemption; provided, however, that such Designated Holder Redemption Notice shall only be provided to a Designated Holder after the Managing Member determines in its sole discretion that providing such notice would not impart material non-public information with respect to PubCo to the Designated Holder. From and after the Designated Holder Redemption Date, (x) the Units, Class B Shares and/or Company Warrants subject to such Designated Holder Redemption shall be deemed to be transferred to PubCo on the Designated Holder Redemption Date and (y) such Designated Holder shall cease to have any rights with respect to the Units, Class B Shares and/or Company Warrants subject to such Designated Holder Redemption (other than the right to receive Class A Shares or PubCo Warrants, as applicable, pursuant to such Designated Holder Redemption). The Designated Holders shall take all actions reasonably requested by the Managing Member to effect such Designated Holder Redemption, including taking any action and delivering any document required to effect a Designated Holder Redemption.

 

31

 

 

(j) No Redemption shall impair the right of the Redeeming Holder to receive any distributions payable on the Class A Units redeemed pursuant to such Redemption in respect of a record date that occurs prior to the Redemption Date for such Redemption. For the avoidance of doubt, no Redeeming Holder, or a Person designated by a Redeeming Holder to receive Class A Shares, shall be entitled to receive, with respect to such record date, distributions or dividends both on Class A Units redeemed by the Company from such Redeeming Holder and on Class A Shares received by such Redeeming Holder, or other Person so designated, if applicable, in such Redemption.

 

Article V

 

ALLOCATIONS OF PROFITS AND LOSSES

 

Section 5.1 Profits and Losses.

 

(a) Pre-Equalization. For any Fiscal Year or other allocation period ending on or prior to the Equalization Date, except as set forth in Section 5.2 or Section 5.4, Profit and Loss of the Company for such Fiscal Year or other allocation period shall be allocated to the Members as follows:

 

(i) prior to an Initial Business Combination, to the Class A Members pro rata in accordance with the number of Class A Units held by each such Member; and

 

(ii) after an Initial Business Combination, to all of the Members, pro rata in accordance with the number of Units held by each such Member.

 

(b) Post-Equalization. For any Fiscal Year or other allocation period beginning after the Equalization Date, subject to Section 5.4, Profits and Losses (and, to the extent determined by the Managing Member to be necessary and appropriate to achieve the resulting Capital Account balances described below, any allocable items of income, gain, loss, deduction or credit includable in the computation of Profits and Losses) for each Fiscal Year or other allocation period shall be allocated among the Members during such Fiscal Year or other allocation period in a manner such that, after giving effect to the special allocations set forth in Section 5.2 and all distributions through the end of such Fiscal Year or other allocation period, the Capital Account balance of each Member, immediately after making such allocation, is, as nearly as possible, equal to (i) the amount such Member would receive pursuant to Section 11.2(c) if all assets of the Company on hand at the end of such Fiscal Year or other taxable period were sold for cash equal to their Gross Asset Values, all liabilities of the Company were satisfied in cash in accordance with their terms (limited with respect to each nonrecourse liability to the Gross Asset Value of the assets securing such liability), and all remaining or resulting cash was distributed, in accordance with Section 11.2(c), to the Members immediately after making such allocation, minus (ii) such Members share of Company Minimum Gain and Member Minimum Gain, computed immediately prior to the hypothetical sale of assets, and the amount any such Member is treated as obligated to contribute to the Company, computed immediately after the hypothetical sale of assets.

 

32

 

 

Section 5.2 Special Allocations.

 

(a) Nonrecourse Deductions for any Fiscal Year or other taxable period shall be specially allocated to the Members on a pro rata basis, in accordance with the number of Units owned by each Member as of the last day of such Fiscal Year or other taxable period. The amount of Nonrecourse Deductions for a Fiscal Year or other taxable period shall equal the excess, if any, of the net increase, if any, in the amount of Company Minimum Gain during that Fiscal Year or other taxable period over the aggregate amount of any distributions during that Fiscal Year or other taxable period of proceeds of a Nonrecourse Liability that are allocable to an increase in Company Minimum Gain, determined in accordance with the provisions of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(d).

 

(b) Any Member Nonrecourse Deductions for any Fiscal Year or other taxable period shall be specially allocated to the Member who bears economic risk of loss with respect to the Member Nonrecourse Debt to which such Member Nonrecourse Deductions are attributable in accordance with Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(i). If more than one Member bears the economic risk of loss for such Member Nonrecourse Debt, the Member Nonrecourse Deductions attributable to such Member Nonrecourse Debt shall be allocated among the Members according to the ratio in which they bear the economic risk of loss. This Section 5.2(b) is intended to comply with the provisions of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(i) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.

 

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement to the contrary, if there is a net decrease in Company Minimum Gain during any Fiscal Year or other taxable period (or if there was a net decrease in Company Minimum Gain for a prior Fiscal Year or other taxable period and the Company did not have sufficient amounts of income and gain during prior periods to allocate among the Members under this Section 5.2(c)), each Member shall be specially allocated items of Company income and gain for such Fiscal Year or other taxable period in an amount equal to such Members share of the net decrease in Company Minimum Gain during such year (as determined pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(g)(2)). This section is intended to constitute a minimum gain chargeback under Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(f) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.

 

33

 

 

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement except Section 5.2(c), if there is a net decrease in Member Minimum Gain during any Fiscal Year or other taxable period (or if there was a net decrease in Member Minimum Gain for a prior Fiscal Year or other taxable period and the Company did not have sufficient amounts of income and gain during prior periods to allocate among the Members under this Section 5.2(d)), each Member shall be specially allocated items of Company income and gain for such year in an amount equal to such Members share of the net decrease in Member Minimum Gain (as determined pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(i)(4)). This section is intended to constitute a partner nonrecourse debt minimum gain chargeback under Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-2(i)(4) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.

 

(e) Notwithstanding any provision hereof to the contrary except Section 5.2(a) and Section 5.2(b), no Losses or other items of loss or expense shall be allocated to any Member to the extent that such allocation would cause such Member to have an Adjusted Capital Account Deficit (or increase any existing Adjusted Capital Account Deficit) at the end of such Fiscal Year or other taxable period. All Losses and other items of loss and expense in excess of the limitation set forth in this Section 5.2(e) shall be allocated to the Members who do not have an Adjusted Capital Account Deficit in proportion to their relative positive Capital Accounts (as adjusted pursuant to clauses (a) and (b) of the definition of Adjusted Capital Account Deficit) but only to the extent that such Losses and other items of loss and expense do not cause any such Member to have an Adjusted Capital Account Deficit.

 

(f) Notwithstanding any provision hereof to the contrary except Section 5.2(c) and Section 5.2(d), in the event any Member unexpectedly receives any adjustment, allocation or distribution described in paragraph (4), (5) or (6) of Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(d), items of income and gain (consisting of a pro rata portion of each item of income, including gross income, and gain for the Fiscal Year or other taxable period) shall be specially allocated to such Member in an amount and manner sufficient to eliminate any Adjusted Capital Account Deficit of that Member as quickly as possible; provided that an allocation pursuant to this Section 5.2(f) shall be made only if and to the extent that such Member would have an Adjusted Capital Account Deficit after all other allocations provided for in this Article V have been tentatively made as if this Section 5.2(f) were not in this Agreement. This Section 5.2(f) is intended to constitute a qualified income offset under Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(ii)(d) and shall be interpreted consistently therewith.

 

34

 

 

(g) If any Member has an Adjusted Capital Account Deficit at the end of any Fiscal Year or other taxable period, that Member shall be specially allocated items of Company income and gain in the amount of such excess as quickly as possible, provided that an allocation pursuant to this Section 5.2(g) shall be made only if and to the extent that such Member would have an Adjusted Capital Account Deficit in excess of such sum after all other allocations provided for in this Article V have been made as if Section 5.2(f) and this Section 5.2(g) were not in this Agreement.

 

(h) To the extent an adjustment to the adjusted tax basis of any Company asset pursuant to Code Sections 734(b) (including any such adjustments pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section 1.734-2(b)(1)) is required, pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m)(2) or 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m)(4), to be taken into account in determining Capital Accounts as a result of a distribution to any Member in complete liquidation of such Members Interest, the amount of such adjustment to the Capital Accounts shall be treated as an item of gain (if the adjustment increases the basis of the asset) or loss (if the adjustment decreases such basis) and such item of gain or loss shall be allocated to the Members in accordance with Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m)(2) if such section applies or to the Member to whom such distribution was made if Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(m)(4) applies.

 

(i) The allocations set forth in Section 5.2(a) through Section 5.2(h) (the Regulatory Allocations) are intended to comply with certain requirements of Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-1(b) and 1.704-2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article V (other than the Regulatory Allocations), the Regulatory Allocations (and anticipated future Regulatory Allocations) shall be taken into account in allocating other items of income, gain, loss and deduction among the Members so that, to the extent possible, the net amount of such allocation of other items and the Regulatory Allocations to each Member should be equal to the net amount that would have been allocated to each such Member if the Regulatory Allocations had not occurred. This Section 5.2(j) is intended to minimize to the extent possible and to the extent necessary any economic distortions that may result from application of the Regulatory Allocations and shall be interpreted in a manner consistent therewith.

 

(j) Items of income, gain, loss, deduction or credit resulting from a Covered Audit Adjustment shall be allocated to the Members in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Partnership Tax Audit Rules.

 

(k) For any Fiscal Year in which distributions are actually made to holders of Class B Units if necessary, after all other allocations have been tentatively made pursuant to Section 5.1 and this Section 5.2, to cause the Capital Accounts relating to any Class B Units to be equal (immediately before such distributions and so as to avoid negative Capital Accounts) to the amounts distributed to the holders of the Class B Units, the Managing Member, in its discretion, may allocate appropriate items of gross income that are accrued and realized following the issuance of the relevant Class B Units to the holders of such Class B Units. If there are insufficient items of gross income to be allocated to the holders of the Class B Units, then such distributions shall, to the extent of such excess, be treated as guaranteed paymentswithin the meaning of Section 707(c) of the Code.

 

35

 

 

(l) Special Fungibility Allocations.

 

(i) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 5.1, but subject to and after taking into account any allocations or other adjustments pursuant to Section 5.2(m), if any Non-Fungible Class B Units are outstanding at the time of any adjustment to the Gross Asset Values of Company assets pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(f) and clause (b) of the definition of Gross Asset Value:

 

(A) any items of gain included in clause (c) of the definition of Profitsor Lossesrealized in connection with such adjustment shall first be allocated to the Members holding Class B Units, pro rata in accordance with the number of Non-Fungible Class B Units held by each such Member or as otherwise reasonably determined by the Managing Member, until each Members Class B Capital Account equals its Class B Fungibility Target Balance; and

 

(B) any items of loss included in clause (c) of the definition of Profitsor Lossesrealized in connection with such adjustment shall first be allocated to the Members, pro rata in accordance with the number of Class A Units and Fungible Class B Units held by each such Member until each Members Class B Capital Account equals its Class B Fungibility Target Balance.

 

(ii) For any Fiscal Year in which any Member elects, pursuant to Section 4.2(c), to convert a number of Class B Units that, but for this Section 5.2(l)(ii), would be in excess of such Members Fungible Class B Units, after all other allocations have been tentatively made pursuant to Section 5.1 and this Section 5.2 (including, for the avoidance of doubt, allocations pursuant to Section 5.2(l)(i) in connection with such conversion), based on an interim closing of the books pursuant to Section 706 of the Code as of the applicable Class B Conversion Date, the Managing Member shall, to the maximum extent possible and to the extent required to cause such Member to have a number of Fungible Class B Units equal to the number of Class B Units to be so converted, allocate to such Member appropriate items of gross income. In the event that the Company has insufficient items of gross income to make allocations to all Members making such election, the available items of gross income shall be allocated to such Members as reasonably determined by the Managing Member; provided that in the case of a Designated Holder Redemption, any excess amount required to cause the Class B Units held by any Designated Holder to be Fungible Class B Units shall be allocated to such Designated Holder and treated as a guaranteed paymentwithin the meaning of Section 707(c) of the Code.

 

36

 

 

(iii) The Members agree that the intent of this Section 5.2(l) is to cause, to the greatest extent possible, the Capital Account balance associated with each Class B Unit equivalent to the Capital Account balance associated with each Class A Unit (and, to the greatest extent possible, for such equivalency to be achieved through allocations of book gains and losses). The Managing Member shall be permitted to interpret or amend this Section 5.2(l) as necessary and consistent with such intention and to make allocations in any manner as reasonably necessary to implement such intent.

 

(m) Special Allocations Regarding Company Warrants and Other Noncompensatory Options. Upon an exercise of a Company Warrant or other noncompensatory option to acquire a Class A Unit or other interest in the Company:

 

(i) An adjustment shall be made to the Gross Asset Value of Company assets in accordance with Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(f) and 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(s)(1) and clause (b) of the definition of Gross Asset Valueas of immediately after the exercise of such option.

 

(ii) The Capital Account of the holder of the Class A Unit (or other interest in the Company) acquired upon the exercise of such option will be credited with the amount paid for the option and the exercise price of the option in accordance with Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(b) and 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(d)(4) and Section 4.5(a)(ii).

 

(iii) To the extent that, after crediting such holders Capital Account in accordance with Section 5.2(m)(ii), such holders Capital Account balance, to the extent attributable to such Class A Unit (or other interest in the Company) received upon the exercise of such option, is not equal to the NCO Target Balance, (A) such holder shall be allocated any unrealized income, gain or loss in Company assets (that has not been reflected in the MembersCapital Accounts previously) to the extent necessary to cause such holders Capital Account balance, to the extent attributable to such Class A Unit (or other interest in the Company) received upon the exercise of such option, to equal the NCO Target Balance, and (B) thereafter, any remaining amounts of such unrealized income, gain or loss shall be allocated in accordance with the other provisions of Section 5.1 and this Section 5.2, in each case, accordance with Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(s)(2).

 

(iv) If after making the foregoing allocations, such holders Capital Account balance, to the extent attributable to such Class A Unit (or other interest in the Company) received upon the exercise of such option, is still not equal to the NCO Target Balance, the MembersCapital Accounts shall be reallocated to the extent to the extent necessary to cause such holders Capital Account balance, to the extent attributable to such Class A Unit (or other interest in the Company) received upon the exercise of such option, to equal the NCO Target Balance, in accordance with Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(2)(iv)(s)(3); provided that, for the avoidance of doubt, any such reallocation shall be made, to the greatest extent possible, consistent with the intentions of Section 5.2(l) of causing the Capital Account balance associated with each Class B Unit to be (and remain) equivalent to the Capital Account balance associated with each Class A Unit, as determined by the Managing Member.

 

37

 

 

Section 5.3 Allocations for Tax Purposes in General.

 

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Section 5.3, each item of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit of the Company for U.S. federal income tax purposes shall be allocated among the Members in the same manner as such item is allocated under Section 5.1 and Section 5.2.

 

(b) In accordance with Code Section 704(c) and the Treasury Regulations thereunder (including the Treasury Regulations applying the principles of Code Section 704(c) to changes in Gross Asset Values), items of income, gain, loss and deduction with respect to any Company property having a Gross Asset Value that differs from such propertys adjusted U.S. federal income tax basis shall, solely for U.S. federal income tax purposes, be allocated among the Members to account for any such difference using such method or methods as determined by the Managing Member to be appropriate and in accordance with the applicable Treasury Regulations.

 

(c) Any (i) recapture of depreciation or any other item of deduction shall be allocated, in accordance with Treasury Regulations Sections 1.1245-1(e) and 1.1254-5, to the Members who received the benefit of such deductions, and (ii) recapture of grants or credits shall be allocated to the Members in accordance with applicable law.

 

(d) Tax credits of the Company shall be allocated among the Members as provided in Treasury Regulation Sections 1.704-1(b)(4)(ii) and 1.704-1(b)(4)(viii).

 

(e) Allocations pursuant to this Section 5.3 are solely for purposes of U.S. federal, state and local taxes and shall not affect or in any way be taken into account in computing any Members Capital Account or share of Profits, Losses, other items or distributions pursuant to any provision of this Agreement.

 

(f) If, as a result of an exercise of a noncompensatory option to acquire an interest in the Company (including any Company Warrant), a Capital Account reallocation is required under Section 5.2(m)(iv) or Treasury Regulations Section 1.704- 1(b)(2)(iv)(s)(3), the Company shall make corrective allocations pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 1.704-1(b)(4)(x).

 

Section 5.4 Other Allocation Rules.

 

(a) The Members are aware of the income tax consequences of the allocations made by this Article V and the economic impact of the allocations on the amounts receivable by them under this Agreement. The Members hereby agree to be bound by the provisions of this Article V in reporting their share of Company income and loss for income tax purposes.

 

(b) The provisions regarding the establishment and maintenance for each Member of a Capital Account as provided by Section 4.5 and the allocations set forth in Sections 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 are intended to comply with the Treasury Regulations and to reflect the intended economic entitlement of the Members. If the Managing Member determines, in its sole discretion, that the application of the provisions in Section 4.5, Section 5.1, Section 5.2 or Section 5.3 would result in non-compliance with the Treasury Regulations or would be inconsistent with the intended economic entitlement of the Members, the Managing Member is authorized to make any appropriate adjustments to such provisions.

 

(c) All items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit allocable to an interest in the Company that may have been Transferred shall be allocated between the Transferor and the Transferee in accordance with a method determined by the Managing Member and permissible under Code Section 706 and the Treasury Regulations thereunder.

 

38

 

 

(d) The Membersproportionate shares of the excess nonrecourse liabilitiesof the Company, within the meaning of Treasury Regulations Section 1.752-3(a)(3), shall be allocated to the Members on a pro rata basis, in accordance with the number of Units owned by each Member.

 

(e) The Managing Member shall amend this Article V from time to time to reflect the allocation of Profit and Loss in connection with priority distributions on any preferred units or other Equity Securities that may be issued by the Company (other than Common Units).

 

(f) The Managing Member may amend or interpret the provisions of this Article V as, in the Managing Members reasonable discretion, may be necessary or appropriate to comply with the applicable Treasury Regulations or other legal requirements and to properly reflect the economic intent of this Agreement.

  

Article VI

 

DISTRIBUTIONS

 

Section 6.1 Distributions.

 

(a) To the extent permitted by applicable Law and hereunder, and except as otherwise provided in Section 6.2 and Section 11.2, distributions to Members may be declared by the Managing Member out of funds legally available therefor in such amounts and on such terms (including the payment dates of such distributions) as the Managing Member shall determine using such record date as the Managing Member may designate. Any such distribution shall be made to the Members as of the close of business on such record date on a pro rata basis in accordance with the number of Units held by each such Member. For the avoidance of doubt, repurchases or Redemptions made in accordance with Section 4.1(e)(vi), Section 4.7 or payments made in accordance with Section 7.4 or Section 7.9 need not be on a pro rata basis. Notwithstanding any other provision herein to the contrary, no distributions shall be made to any Member in circumstances where the Company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business, including where the distribution would cause the Company to be unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business, or in circumstances that would constitute a breach of the Act. Promptly following the designation of a record date and the declaration of a distribution pursuant to this Section 6.1, the Managing Member shall give notice to each Member of the record date, the amount and the terms of the distribution and the payment date thereof.

 

(b) Successors. For purposes of determining the amount of distributions, each Member shall be treated as having made the Capital Contributions and as having received the distributions made to or received by its predecessors in respect of any of such Members Units.

 

(c) Distributions In-Kind. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, any distributions may be made in cash or in kind, or partly in cash and partly in kind, as determined by the Managing Member. In the event of any distribution of (i) property in kind or (ii) both cash and property in kind, each Member shall be distributed its proportionate share of any such cash so distributed and its proportionate share of any such property so distributed in kind (based on the Fair Market Value of such property).

 

Section 6.2 Tax-Related Distributions. The Company shall, subject to any restrictions contained in any agreement to which the Company is bound, make distributions out of legally available funds, at such times and in such amounts as the Managing Member reasonably determines to be necessary to cause a distribution to the PubCo Holdings Group, in the aggregate, sufficient to enable the PubCo Holdings Group to timely satisfy any PubCo Tax-Related Liabilities, as follows:

 

(a) prior to an Initial Business Combination, to the Class A Members pro rata in accordance with the number of Class A Units held by each such Member; and

 

(b) after an Initial Business Combination, to all of the Members, pro rata in accordance with the number of Units held by each such Member.

 

Section 6.3 Distribution Upon Withdrawal. No withdrawing Member shall be entitled to receive any distribution or the value of such Members Interest as a result of withdrawal from the Company prior to the winding up and dissolution of the Company, except as specifically provided in this Agreement.

 

Section 6.4 Issuance of Additional Equity Securities. This Article VI shall be subject to and, to the extent necessary, amended to reflect the issuance by the Company of any additional Equity Securities.

 

39

 

 

Article VII
MANAGEMENT

 

Section 7.1 The Managing Member; Fiduciary Duties.

 

(a) PubCo shall be the sole Managing Member of the Company. Except as otherwise required by Law, (i) the Managing Member shall have full and complete charge of all affairs of the Company, (ii) the management and control of the Companys business activities and operations shall rest exclusively with the Managing Member, and the Managing Member shall make all decisions regarding the business, activities and operations of the Company (including the incurrence of costs and expenses) in its sole discretion without the consent of any other Member and (iii) the Members other than the Managing Member (in their capacity as such) shall not participate in the control, management, direction or operation of the activities or affairs of the Company and shall have no power to act for or bind the Company.

 

(b) In connection with the performance of its duties as the Managing Member of the Company, except as otherwise set forth herein, and to the fullest extent permitted by Law, the Managing Member acknowledges that it will owe to the Members the same fiduciary duties as it would owe to the stockholders of a Delaware corporation if it were a member of the board of directors of such a corporation and the Members were stockholders of such corporation. The Members acknowledge that the Managing Member will take action through its board of directors, and that the members of the Managing Members board of directors will owe comparable fiduciary duties to the stockholders of the Managing Member.

 

Section 7.2 Officers.

 

(a) The Managing Member may appoint, employ or otherwise contract with any Person for the transaction of the business of the Company or the performance of services for or on behalf of the Company, and the Managing Member may delegate to any such Persons such authority to act on behalf of the Company as the Managing Member may from time to time deem appropriate.

 

(b) Except as otherwise set forth herein, the Chief Executive Officer will be responsible for the general and active management of the business of the Company and its Subsidiaries and will see that all orders of the Managing Member are carried into effect. The Chief Executive Officer will report to the Managing Member and have the general powers and duties of management usually vested in the office of president and chief executive officer of a corporation organized under the DGCL, subject to the terms of this Agreement and applicable Law, and will have such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Managing Member or this Agreement. The Chief Executive Officer will have the power to execute bonds, mortgages and other contracts requiring a seal, under the seal of the Company, except where required or permitted by Law to be otherwise signed and executed, and except where the signing and execution thereof will be expressly delegated by the Managing Member to some other Officer or agent of the Company.

 

40

 

 

(c) Except as set forth herein, the Managing Member may appoint Officers at any time, and the Officers may include a president, one or more vice presidents, a secretary, one or more assistant secretaries, a chief financial officer, a general counsel, a treasurer, one or more assistant treasurers, a chief operating officer, an executive chairman, and any other officers that the Managing Member deems appropriate. Except as set forth herein, the Officers will serve at the pleasure of the Managing Member, subject to all rights, if any, of such Officer under any contract of employment. Any individual may hold any number of offices, and an Officer may, but need not, be a Member of the Company. The Officers will exercise such powers and perform such duties as specified in this Agreement or as determined from time to time by the Managing Member.

 

(d) Subject to this Agreement and to the rights, if any, of an Officer under a contract of employment, any Officer may be removed, either with or without cause, by the Managing Member. Any Officer may resign at any time by giving written notice to the Managing Member. Any resignation will take effect at the date of the receipt of that notice or at any later time specified in that notice; and, unless otherwise specified in that notice, the acceptance of the resignation will not be necessary to make it effective. Any resignation is without prejudice to the rights, if any, of the Company under any contract to which the Officer is a party. A vacancy in any office because of death, resignation, removal, disqualification or any other cause will be filled in the manner prescribed in this Agreement for regular appointments to that office.

 

(e) The Officers, in the performance of their duties as such, and to the fullest extent permitted by Law, shall owe to the Company and the Members duties of loyalty and due care of the type owed by the officers of a corporation to such corporation and its shareholders under the DGCL.

 

Section 7.3 Warranted Reliance by Officers on Others. In exercising their authority and performing their duties under this Agreement, the Officers shall be entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports or statements of the following Persons or groups unless they have actual knowledge concerning the matter in question that would cause such reliance to be unwarranted:

 

(a) one or more employees or other agents of the Company or subordinates whom the Officer reasonably believes to be reliable and competent in the matters presented; and

 

(b) any attorney, public accountant or other Person as to matters which the Officer reasonably believes to be within such Persons professional or expert competence.

 

41

 

 

Section 7.4 Indemnification. The Company shall indemnify and hold harmless, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable Law as it presently exists or may hereafter be amended (provided, that no such amendment shall limit a Covered Persons rights to indemnification hereunder with respect to any actions or events occurring prior to such amendment except to the extent required by a non-waivable and non-modifiable provision of applicable Law), any person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be made a party to or is otherwise involved in any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (a Proceeding) by reason of the fact that he or she, or a person for whom he or she is the legal representative, is or was a Manager (as defined in the Existing LLC Agreement) entitled to indemnification under the Existing LLC Agreement, a Member, an Officer, the Managing Member or the Company Representative or is or was serving at the request of the Company as a member, director, officer, trustee, employee or agent of another limited liability company or of a corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, other enterprise or nonprofit entity, including service with respect to an employee benefit plan (a Covered Person), whether the basis of such Proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a member, director, officer, trustee, employee or agent, or in any other capacity while serving as a member, director, officer, trustee, employee or agent, against all expenses, liability and loss (including, without limitation, attorneysfees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes and penalties and amounts paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by such Covered Person in connection with such Proceeding, unless there has been a final and non-appealable judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that, in respect of such act or omission, and taking into account the acknowledgements and agreements set forth in this Agreement, (x) such Covered Person engaged in a bad faith violation of the implied contractual covenant of good faith and fair dealing or a bad faith violation of this Agreement, (y) such Covered Person would not be so entitled to be indemnified and held harmless if the Company were a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware that indemnified and held harmless its directors, officers, employees and agents to the fullest extent permitted by Section 145 of the DGCL as in effect on the date of this Agreement (but including any expansion of rights to indemnification thereunder from and after the date of this Agreement) or (z) such Covered Person engaged in conduct constituting actual fraud or wilful default. The Company shall, to the fullest extent not prohibited by applicable Law as it presently exists or may hereafter be amended (provided, that no such amendment shall limit a Covered Persons rights to indemnification hereunder with respect to any actions or events occurring prior to such amendment except to the extent required by a non-waivable and non- modifiable provision of applicable Law), pay the expenses (including attorneysfees) incurred by a Covered Person in defending any Proceeding in advance of its final disposition; provided, however, that such payment of expenses in advance of the final disposition of the Proceeding shall be made only upon receipt of an undertaking by the Covered Person to repay all amounts advanced if it should be ultimately determined by final judicial decision from which there is no further right to appeal that the Covered Person is not entitled to be indemnified under this Section 7.4 or otherwise. The rights to indemnification and advancement of expenses under this Section 7.4 shall be contract rights and such rights shall continue as to a Covered Person who has ceased to be a member, director, officer, trustee, employee or agent and shall inure to the benefit of his heirs, executors and administrators. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this Section 7.4, except for Proceedings to enforce rights to indemnification and advancement of expenses, the Company shall indemnify and advance expenses to a Covered Person in connection with a Proceeding (or part thereof) initiated by such Covered Person only if such Proceeding (or part thereof) was authorized by the Managing Member.

 

Section 7.5 Maintenance of Insurance or Other Financial Arrangements. To the extent permitted by applicable Law, the Company (with the approval of the Managing Member) may purchase and maintain insurance or make other financial arrangements on behalf of any Person who is or was a Member, employee or agent of the Company, or at the request of the Company is or was serving as a manager, director, officer, employee or agent of another limited liability company, corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, for any Liability asserted against such Person and Liability and expenses incurred by such Person in such Persons capacity as such, or arising out of such Persons status as such, whether or not the Company has the authority to indemnify such Person against such Liability and expenses.

 

Section 7.6 Resignation or Termination of Managing Member. PubCo shall not, by any means, resign as, cease to be or be replaced as Managing Member except in compliance with this Section 7.6. No termination or replacement of PubCo as Managing Member shall be effective unless proper provision is made, in compliance with this Agreement, so that the obligations of PubCo, its successor (if applicable) and any new Managing Member and the rights of all Members under this Agreement and applicable Law remain in full force and effect. No appointment of a Person other than PubCo (or its successor, as applicable) as Managing Member shall be effective unless PubCo (or its successor, as applicable) and the new Managing Member (as applicable) provide all other Members with contractual rights, directly enforceable by such other Members against PubCo (or its successor, as applicable) and the new Managing Member (as applicable), to cause (a) PubCo to comply with all PubCos obligations under this Agreement (including its obligations under Section 4.7) other than those that must necessarily be taken in its capacity as Managing Member and (b) the new Managing Member to comply with all the Managing Members obligations under this Agreement.

 

42

 

 

Section 7.7 No Inconsistent Obligations. The Managing Member represents that it does not have any contracts, other agreements, duties or obligations that are inconsistent with its duties and obligations (whether or not in its capacity as Managing Member) under this Agreement and covenants that, except as permitted by Section 7.1, it will not enter into any contracts or other agreements or undertake or acquire any other duties or obligations that are inconsistent with such duties and obligations.

 

Section 7.8 Reclassification Events of PubCo. If a Reclassification Event occurs, the Managing Member or its successor, as the case may be, shall, as and to the extent necessary, amend this Agreement in compliance with Section 12.1, and enter into any necessary supplementary or additional agreements, to ensure that following the effective date of the Reclassification Event: (i) the Redemption Rights of holders of Class A Units set forth in Section 4.7 provide that each Class A Unit (together with the surrender and delivery of one Class B Share) is redeemable for the same amount and same type of property, securities or cash (or combination thereof) that one Class A Share becomes exchangeable for or converted into as a result of the Reclassification Event and (ii) PubCo or the successor to PubCo, as applicable, is obligated to deliver such property, securities or cash upon such Redemption. PubCo shall not consummate or agree to consummate any Reclassification Event unless the successor Person, if any, becomes obligated to comply with the obligations of PubCo (in whatever capacity) under this Agreement.

 

Section 7.9 Certain Costs and Expenses. The Company shall (a) pay, or cause to be paid, all costs, fees, operating expenses and other expenses of the Company and its Subsidiaries (including the costs, fees and expenses of attorneys, accountants or other professionals and the compensation of all personnel providing services to the Company and its Subsidiaries) incurred in pursuing and conducting, or otherwise related to, the activities of the Company and (b) in the Good Faith discretion of the Managing Member, reimburse the Managing Member for any costs, fees or expenses incurred by it in connection with serving as the Managing Member. To the extent that the Managing Member determines in its Good Faith discretion that such expenses are related to the business and affairs of the Managing Member that are conducted through the Company and/or its Subsidiaries (including expenses that relate to the business and affairs of the Company and/or its Subsidiaries and that also relate to other activities of the Managing Member or any other member of the PubCo Holdings Group), the Managing Member may cause the Company to pay or bear all expenses of the PubCo Holdings Group, including, without limitation, franchise taxes, costs of securities offerings not borne directly by Members, board of directors compensation and meeting costs, costs of periodic reports to shareholders of PubCo, litigation costs and damages arising from litigation, accounting and legal costs; provided that the Company shall not pay or bear any income tax obligations of any member of the PubCo Holdings Group (but the Company shall be entitled to make distributions in respect of these obligations pursuant to Article VI). In the event that (i) Class A Shares or other Equity Securities of PubCo were sold to underwriters in any public offering (including the IPO) after the Effective Time, in each case, at a price per share that is lower than the price per share for which such Class A Shares or other Equity Securities of PubCo are sold to the public in such public offering after taking into account any Discounts and (ii) the proceeds from such public offering are used to fund the Cash Election Amount for any redeemed Units or otherwise contributed to the Company, the Company shall reimburse the applicable member of the PubCo Holdings Group for such Discount by treating such Discount as an additional Capital Contribution made by such member of the PubCo Holdings Group to the Company, issuing Units in respect of such deemed Capital Contribution in accordance with Section 4.7(e)(ii), and increasing the Capital Account of such member of the PubCo Holdings Group by the amount of such Discount. For the avoidance of doubt, any payments made to or on behalf of any member of the PubCo Holdings Group pursuant to this Section 7.9 shall not be treated as a distribution pursuant to Section 6.1(a) but shall instead be treated as an expense of the Company.

 

43

 

 

Article VIII

 

ROLE OF MEMBERS

 

Section 8.1 Rights or Powers.

 

(a) Other than the Managing Member, the Members, acting in their capacity as Members, shall not have any right or power to take part in the management or control of the Company or its business and affairs or to act for or bind the Company in any way. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Members have all the rights and powers specifically set forth in this Agreement and, to the extent not inconsistent with this Agreement, in the Act. A Member, any Affiliate thereof or an employee, shareholder, agent, director or officer of a Member or any Affiliate thereof, may also be an employee or be retained as an agent of the Company. The existence of these relationships and acting in such capacities will not result in the Member (other than the Managing Member) being deemed to be participating in the control of the business of the Company or otherwise affect the limited liability of the Member. Except as specifically provided herein, a Member (other than the Managing Member) shall not, in its capacity as a Member, take part in the operation, management or control of the Companys business, transact any business in the Companys name or have the power to sign documents for or otherwise bind the Company.

 

(b) The Company shall promptly (but in any event within three business days) notify the Members in writing if, to the Companys knowledge, for any reason, it would be an investment companywithin the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the Investment Company Act), as amended, but for the exceptions provided in Section 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) thereunder.

 

Section 8.2 Voting.

 

(a) Meetings of the Members may be called upon the written request of Members holding at least 50% of the outstanding Units. Such request shall state the location of the meeting and the nature of the business to be transacted at the meeting. Written notice of any such meeting shall be given to all Members not less than two Business Days and not more than 30 days prior to the date of such meeting. Members may vote in person, by proxy or by telephone at any meeting of the Members and may waive advance notice of such meeting. Whenever the vote or consent of Members is permitted or required under this Agreement, such vote or consent may be given at a meeting of the Members or may be given in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this Section 8.2. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement, the affirmative vote of the Members holding a majority of the outstanding Units shall constitute the act of the Members.

 

(b) Each Member may authorize any Person or Persons to act for it by proxy on all matters in which such Member is entitled to participate, including waiving notice of any meeting, or voting or participating at a meeting. Every proxy must be signed by such Member or its attorney-in-fact. No proxy shall be valid after the expiration of 11 months from the date thereof unless otherwise provided in the proxy. Every proxy shall be revocable at the pleasure of the Member executing it.

 

(c) Each meeting of Members shall be conducted by an Officer designated by the Managing Member or such other individual Person as the Managing Member deems appropriate.

 

(d) Any action required or permitted to be taken by the Members may be taken without a meeting if the requisite Members whose approval is necessary consent thereto in writing.

 

44

 

 

Section 8.3 Various Capacities. The Members acknowledge and agree that the Members or their Affiliates will from time to time act in various capacities, including as a Member and as the Company Representative.

 

Section 8.4 Investment Opportunities. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Company renounces any interest or expectancy of the Company in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, business opportunities that are from time to time presented to any Member (other than Members who are officers or employees of the Company, PubCo or any of their respective Subsidiaries), any of their respective Affiliates (other than the Company, the Managing Member or any of their respective Subsidiaries), or any of their respective officers, directors, agents, shareholders, members, managers and partners (each, a Business Opportunities Exempt Party). No Business Opportunities Exempt Party who acquires knowledge of a potential transaction, agreement, arrangement or other matter that may be an opportunity for the Company or any of its subsidiaries shall have any duty to communicate or offer such opportunity to the Company. No amendment or repeal of this Section 8.4 shall apply to or have any effect on the liability or alleged liability of any Business Opportunities Exempt Party for or with respect to any opportunities of which any such Business Opportunities Exempt Party becomes aware prior to such amendment or repeal. Any Person purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any Units shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the provisions of this Section 8.4. Neither the alteration, amendment or repeal of this Section 8.4, nor the adoption of any provision of this Agreement inconsistent with this Section 8.4, shall eliminate or reduce the effect of this Section 8.4 in respect of any business opportunity first identified or any other matter occurring, or any cause of action, suit or claim that, but for this Section 8.4, would accrue or arise, prior to such alteration, amendment, repeal or adoption.

 

Article IX

 

TRANSFERS OF INTERESTS

 

Section 9.1 Restrictions on Transfer.

 

(a) Except as provided in Section 4.7 and Section 9.1(c), no Member shall Transfer all or any portion of its Interest without the Managing Members prior written consent, which consent shall be granted or withheld in the Managing Members sole discretion. If, notwithstanding the provisions of this Section 9.1(a), all or any portion of a Members Interests are Transferred in violation of this Section 9.1(a), involuntarily, by operation of law or otherwise, then without limiting any other rights and remedies available to the other parties under this Agreement or otherwise, the Transferee of such Interest (or portion thereof) shall not be admitted to the Company as a Member or be entitled to any rights as a Member hereunder, and the Transferor will continue to be bound by all obligations hereunder, unless and until the Managing Member consents in writing to such admission, which consent shall be granted or withheld in the Managing Members sole discretion. Any attempted or purported Transfer of all or a portion of a Members Interests in violation of this Section 9.1(a) shall be null and void and of no force or effect whatsoever. For the avoidance of doubt, the restrictions on Transfer contained in this Article IX shall not apply to the Transfer of any capital shares of PubCo; provided that no Class B Shares may be Transferred unless a corresponding number of Units are Transferred therewith in accordance with this Agreement.

 

(b) In addition to any other restrictions on Transfer herein contained, including the provisions of this Article IX, in no event may any Transfer or assignment of Interests by any Member be made (i) to any Person who lacks the legal right, power or capacity to own Interests; (ii) if such Transfer (A) would be considered to be effected on or through an established securities marketor a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof,as such terms are used in Treasury Regulations Section 1.7704-1, (B) would result in the Company having more than 100 partners, within the meaning of Treasury Regulations Section 1.7704-1(h)(1) (determined taking into account the rules of Treasury Regulations Section 1.7704-1(h)(3)), or (C) would cause the Company to be treated as a publicly traded partnershipwithin the meaning of Section 7704 of the Code or a successor provision or to be classified as a corporation pursuant to the Code or successor of the Code; (iii) if such Transfer would cause the Company to become, with respect to any employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, a party-in-interest(as defined in Section 3(14) of ERISA) or a disqualified person(as defined in Section 4975(e)(2) of the Code); (iv) if such Transfer would, in the opinion of counsel to the Company, cause any portion of the assets of the Company to constitute assets of any employee benefit plan pursuant to the Plan Asset Regulations or otherwise cause the Company to be subject to regulation under ERISA; (v) if such Transfer requires the registration of such Interests or any Equity Securities issued upon any exchange of such Interests, pursuant to any applicable U.S. federal or state securities Laws; or (vi) if such Transfer subjects the Company to regulation under the Investment Company Act or the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, each as amended (or any succeeding law). Any attempted or purported Transfer of all or a portion of a Members Interests in violation of this Section 9.1(b) shall be null and void and of no force or effect whatsoever.

 

45

 

 

(c) Notwithstanding any of the provisions in Section 9.1(a), but subject to all other provisions in this Article IX, Rice Sponsor may Transfer all or a portion of its Units to any of its members as of the date hereof without the consent of any other Member or Person.

 

(d) Notwithstanding the foregoing but subject to Section 9.1(b), the parties hereto agree that the Managing Member shall not unreasonably withhold consent to any Transfer of Units (i) by will or intestacy; (ii) as a bona fide gift or gifts; (iii) to any trust, partnership, limited liability company or other entity for the direct or indirect benefit of the holder or the immediate family of such holder; (iv) to any immediate family member or other dependent of the holder; (v) as a distribution to limited partners, members or shareholders of the holder; (vi) to the holders affiliates or to any investment fund or other entity controlled or managed by the holder; (vii) to a nominee or custodian of a person or entity to whom a disposition or transfer would be permissible under the foregoing clauses (i) through (vi); or (viii) pursuant to an order of a court or regulatory agency.

 

Section 9.2 Notice of Transfer.

 

(a) Other than in connection with Transfers made pursuant to Section 4.7, each Member shall, after complying with the provisions of this Agreement, but in any event no later than three Business Days following any Transfer of Interests, give written notice to the Company of such Transfer. Each such notice shall describe the manner and circumstances of the Transfer.

 

(b) A Member making a Transfer (including a deemed Transfer for U.S. federal income tax purposes as described in Section 4.7(e)(iv)) permitted by this Agreement shall, unless otherwise determined by the Managing Member, (i) have delivered to the Company an affidavit of non-foreign status with respect to such Transferor that satisfies the requirements of Section 1446(f)(2) of the Code or other documentation establishing a valid exemption from withholding pursuant to Section 1446(f) of the Code or (ii) contemporaneously with the Transfer, properly withhold and remit to the Internal Revenue Service the amount of tax required to be withheld upon the Transfer by Section 1446(f) of the Code (and provide evidence to the Company of such withholding and remittance promptly thereafter).

 

Section 9.3 Transferee Members. A Transferee of Interests pursuant to this Article IX shall have the right to become a Member only if:

 

(a) the requirements of this Article IX are met;

 

(b) such Transferee executes an instrument reasonably satisfactory to the Managing Member agreeing to be bound by the terms and provisions of this Agreement and assuming all of the Transferors then existing and future Liabilities arising under or relating to this Agreement;

 

(c) such Transferee represents that the Transfer was made in accordance with all applicable securities Laws;

 

(d) the Transferor or Transferee shall have reimbursed the Company for all reasonable expenses (including attorneysfees and expenses) of any Transfer or proposed Transfer of a Members Interest, whether or not consummated; and

 

(e) if such Transferee or his or her spouse is a resident of a community property jurisdiction, then such Transferees spouse shall also execute an instrument reasonably satisfactory to the Managing Member agreeing to be bound by the terms and provisions of this Agreement to the extent of his or her community property or quasi-community property interest, if any, in such Members Interest.

 

Unless agreed to in writing by the Managing Member, the admission of a Member shall not result in the release of the Transferor from any Liability that the Transferor may have to each remaining Member or to the Company under this Agreement or any other Contract between the Managing Member, the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, on the one hand, and such Transferor or any of its Affiliates, on the other hand. Written notice of the admission of a Member shall be sent promptly by the Company to each remaining Member.

 

46

 

 

Section 9.4 Legend. Each certificate representing a Unit, if any, will be stamped or otherwise imprinted with a legend in substantially the following form:

 

“THE SECURITIES REPRESENTED BY THIS CERTIFICATE HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED FOR INVESTMENT AND HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933.

 

THESE SECURITIES MAY NOT BE SOLD OR TRANSFERRED IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR AN EXEMPTION THEREFROM UNDER SUCH ACT.

 

THE TRANSFER AND VOTING OF THESE SECURITIES IS SUBJECT TO THE CONDITIONS SPECIFIED IN THE AMENDED AND RESTATED LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AGREEMENT OF RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC (THE ISSUER OF THESE SECURITIES) AS IT MAY BE AMENDED, SUPPLEMENTED AND/OR RESTATED FROM TIME TO TIME, AND NO TRANSFER OF THESE SECURITIES WILL BE VALID OR EFFECTIVE UNTIL SUCH CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED. COPIES OF SUCH AGREEMENT MAY BE OBTAINED AT NO COST BY WRITTEN REQUEST MADE BY THE HOLDER OF RECORD OF THIS CERTIFICATE TO THE SECRETARY OF THE ISSUER OF SUCH SECURITIES.”

 

Article X

 

ACCOUNTING; CERTAIN TAX MATTERS

 

Section 10.1 Books of Account. The Company shall, and shall cause each Subsidiary to, maintain true books and records of account in which full and correct entries shall be made of all its business transactions pursuant to a system of accounting established and administered in accordance with GAAP, and shall set aside on its books all such proper accruals and reserves as shall be required under GAAP.

 

Section 10.2 Tax Elections.

 

(a) The Company and any eligible Subsidiary shall make an election pursuant to Section 754 of the Code for the first taxable year for which the Company (or such eligible Subsidiary) is permitted to make such election and shall not thereafter revoke such election. In addition, the Company shall make the following elections on the appropriate forms or tax returns, if permitted under the Code or applicable law:

 

(i) to adopt the calendar year as the Companys Fiscal Year;

 

(ii) to adopt the accrual method of accounting for U.S. federal income tax purposes;

 

(iii) to elect to amortize the organizational expenses of the Company as permitted by Section 709(b) of the Code; and

 

(iv) except as otherwise provided herein, any other election the Managing Member may in Good Faith deem appropriate and in the best interests of the Company.

 

47

 

 

(b) Upon request of the Managing Member, each Member shall cooperate in Good Faith with the Company in connection with the Companys efforts to make any election pursuant to this Section 10.2.

 

Section 10.3 Tax Returns; Information. The Managing Member shall arrange for the preparation and timely filing of all income and other tax and informational returns of the Company. The Managing Member shall furnish to each Member a copy of each approved return and statement, together with any schedules (including Schedule K-1), or other information that a Member may require and reasonably request in connection with such Members own tax affairs, as soon as practicable after the end of each Fiscal Year. The Members agree to (a) take all actions reasonably requested by the Company or the Company Representative to comply with the Partnership Tax Audit Rules, including where applicable, filing amended returns as provided in Sections 6225 or 6226 of the Code and providing confirmation thereof to the Company Representative and (b) furnish to the Company (i) all reasonably requested certificates or statements relating to the tax matters of the Company (including without limitation an affidavit of non-foreign status pursuant to Section 1446(f)(2) of the Code), and (ii) all pertinent information in its possession relating to the Companys operations that is reasonably necessary to enable the Companys tax returns to be prepared and timely filed.

 

Section 10.4 Company Representative. The Managing Member is specially authorized and appointed to act as the Company Representative and in any similar capacity under state or local Law. The Company and the Members (including any Member designated as the Company Representative prior to the date hereof) shall cooperate fully with each other and shall use reasonable best efforts to cause the Managing Member (or any other Person subsequently designated) to become the Company Representative with respect to any taxable period of the Company with respect to which the statute of limitations has not yet expired, including (as applicable) by filing certifications pursuant to Treasury Regulations Section 301.6231(a)(7)-1(d). In acting as the Company Representative, the Managing Member is hereby authorized to take such actions and to execute and file all statements and forms on behalf of the Company that are permitted or required by the Partnership Tax Audit Rules (including a push-outelection under Section 6226 of the Code or any analogous election under state or local tax law) or in connection with any other tax proceeding. The Company Representative may retain, at the Companys expense, such outside counsel, accountants and other professional consultants as it may reasonably deem necessary in the course of fulfilling its obligations as Company Representative.

 

Section 10.5 Withholding Tax Payments and Obligations.

 

(a) Withholding Tax Payments. Each of the Company and its Subsidiaries may withhold from distributions, allocations or portions thereof if it is required to do so by any applicable Law, and each Member hereby authorizes the Company and its Subsidiaries to withhold or pay on behalf of or with respect to such Member, any amount of U.S. federal, state or local or non-U.S. taxes that the Managing Member determines, in Good Faith, that the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is required to withhold or pay with respect to any amount distributable or allocable to such Member pursuant to this Agreement.

 

(b) Other Tax Payments. To the extent that any tax is paid by (or withheld from amounts payable to) the Company or any of its Subsidiaries and the Managing Member determines, in Good Faith, that such tax (including any Company Level Tax) relates to one or more specific Members, such tax shall be treated as an amount of tax withheld or paid with respect to such Member pursuant to this Section 10.5. Any determinations made by the Managing Member pursuant to this Section 10.5 shall be binding on the Members.

 

48

 

 

(c) Tax Contribution and Indemnity Obligation. Any amounts withheld or paid with respect to a Member pursuant to Section 10.5(a) or Section 10.5(b) shall be offset against any distributions to which such Member is entitled concurrently with such withholding or payment (a Tax Offset); provided that the amount of any distribution subject to a Tax Offset shall be treated as having been distributed to such Member pursuant to Section 6.1 or Section 11.2(c)(iii) at the time such Tax Offset is made. To the extent that (i) there is a payment of Company Level Taxes relating to a Member or (ii) the amount of such Tax Offset exceeds the distributions to which such Member is entitled during the same Fiscal Year as such withholding or payment (Excess Tax Amount), the amount of such (i) Company Level Taxes or (ii) Excess Tax Amount, as applicable, shall, upon notification to such Member by the Managing Member, give rise to an obligation of such Member to make a capital contribution to the Company (a Tax Contribution Obligation), which Tax Contribution Obligation shall be immediately due and payable. In the event a Member defaults with respect to its obligation under the prior sentence, the Company shall be entitled to offset the amount of a Members Tax Contribution Obligation against distributions to which such Member would otherwise be subsequently entitled until the full amount of such Tax Contribution Obligation has been contributed to the Company or has been recovered through offset against distributions, and any such offset shall not reduce such Members Capital Account. Any contribution by a Member with respect to a Tax Contribution Obligation shall increase such Members Capital Account but shall not reduce the amount (if any) that a Member is otherwise obligated to contribute to the Company. Each Member hereby unconditionally and irrevocably grants to the Company a security interest in such Members Units to secure such Members obligation to pay the Company any amounts required to be paid pursuant to this Section 10.5. Each Member shall take such actions as the Company may reasonably request in order to perfect or enforce the security interest created hereunder. Each Member hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Company, the other Members, the Company Representative and the Managing Member from and against any liability (including any liability for Company Level Taxes) with respect to income attributable to or distributions or other payments to such Member.

 

(d) Continued Obligations of Former Members. Any Person who ceases to be a Member shall be deemed to be a Member solely for purposes of this Section 10.5, and the obligations of a Member pursuant to this Section 10.5 shall survive until 60 days after the closing of the applicable statute of limitations on assessment with respect to the taxes withheld or paid by the Company or a Subsidiary that relate to the period during which such Person was actually a Member; provided, however, that if the Managing Member determines in its sole discretion that seeking indemnification for Company Level Taxes from a former Member is not practicable, or that seeking such indemnification has failed, then, in either case, the Managing Member may, in its sole discretion, (A) recover any liability for Company Level Taxes from the Transferee that acquired directly or indirectly the applicable interest in the Company from such former Member (unless such Transferee is a member of the PubCo Holdings Group) or (B) treat such liability for Company Level Taxes as a Company expense.

 

(e) Managing Member Discretion Regarding Recovery of Taxes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Managing Member may choose not to recover an amount of Company Level Taxes or other taxes withheld or paid with respect to a Member under this Section 10.5 to the extent that there are no distributions to which such Member is entitled that may be offset by such amounts, if the Managing Member determines, in its reasonable discretion, that such a decision would be in the best interests of the Members (e.g., where the cost of recovering the amount of taxes withheld or paid with respect to such Member is not justified in light of the amount that may be recovered from such Member).

 

49

 

 

Article XI

 

WINDING UP AND DISSOLUTION

 

Section 11.1 Winding Up Events. The Company shall be wound up voluntarily:

 

(a) upon the sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company;

 

(b) upon the failure of PubCo to complete an Initial Business Combination within the period contemplated by PubCos Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association;

 

(c) upon the determination of (i) the Managing Member, (ii) if at such time the Members (other than any member of the PubCo Holdings Group) beneficially own, in the aggregate, more than 2.5% of the then-outstanding Units, the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding Units held by Members other than the PubCo Holdings Group and (iii) to the extent that more than 1% of the then-outstanding Units are Non-Fungible Class B Units, the Members holding such Non-Fungible Class B Units, to wind up and dissolve the Company; provided that the winding up and dissolution of the Company shall not be completed until at least 5 Business Days after written notice is provided to the Members that such determination has been made in accordance with the foregoing, and, for the avoidance of doubt, any Member, including any Member not consenting to such determination, shall have the right to file a Redemption Notice prior to the completion of the winding up and dissolution; or

 

(d) upon the occurrence of such circumstances as provided for in the Act;

 

Otherwise than in accordance with Section 11.1(c), no Member may present a winding up petition in respect of the Company.

 

Section 11.2 Procedure.

 

(a) In the event of the winding up of the Company for any reason, the Managing Member shall act as liquidator and shall be responsible for winding up the affairs of the Company and liquidating the Companys investments in accordance with this Agreement and the Act. Subject to the Act, Members shall continue to share profits, losses and distributions during the period of winding up in the same manner and proportion as though the Company had not commenced winding up. The Company shall engage in no further business except as may be necessary, in the reasonable discretion of the Managing Member, to preserve the value of the Companys assets during the period of winding up.

 

(b) In the event that holders of Class A Shares are entitled to have their Class A Shares redeemed by PubCo in exchange for any amounts in the Trust Account in accordance with Section 9.2 or Section 9.7 of PubCos Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, the Company shall use funds available pursuant to the Trust Agreement in order to redeem an equivalent number of Class A Units from PubCo prior to such redemption of any Class A Shares; provided that funds from the Trust Account may only be used to redeem Class A Units owned by Rice Sponsor in the event of a liquidation of PubCo in accordance with its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation.

 

50

 

 

(c) Following the payment of all expenses of the winding up and dissolution of the Company and the allocation of all Profits and Losses as provided in Article V, the proceeds of the winding up of the Company and any other funds of the Company shall be distributed in the following order of priority:

 

(i) First, to the payment and discharge of all of the Companys debts and Liabilities to creditors (whether third parties or Members), in the order of priority as provided by Law, except any obligations to the Members in respect of their Capital Accounts;

 

(ii) Second, to set up such cash reserves that the Managing Member reasonably deems necessary for contingent or unforeseen Liabilities or future payments described in Section 11.2(c)(i) (which reserves when they become unnecessary shall be distributed in accordance with the provisions of clause (iii) below); and

 

(iii) Third, the balance to the Members, as follows:

 

(A) prior to the Equalization Date, in accordance with their respective positive Capital Account balances, as determined after making all adjustments thereto in accordance with Section 5.1 and Section 5.2 resulting from the Companys operations and from all sales or dispositions of all or any part of the Companys assets; or

 

(B) after the Equalization Date, pro rata in accordance with the number of Units owned by each Member.

 

(d) No Member shall have any right to demand or receive property other than cash upon the winding up and dissolution of the Company.

 

Section 11.3 Rights of Members. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, (i) each Member shall look solely to the assets of the Company for the return of its Capital Contributions and (ii) no Member shall have priority over any other Member as to the return of its Capital Contributions, distributions or allocations.

 

Section 11.4 Reasonable Time for Winding Up. A reasonable time shall be allowed for the orderly winding up of the business and affairs of the Company and the liquidation of its assets in order to minimize any losses that might otherwise result from such winding up.

 

Section 11.5 No Deficit Restoration. Subject to the Act, no Member shall be personally liable for a deficit Capital Account balance of that Member, it being expressly understood that the distribution of liquidation proceeds shall be made solely from existing Company assets.

 

Section 11.6 Striking Off. The Company may apply to the Registrar of Limited Liability Companies to be struck off, and it will thereupon dissolve, if at any time the Managing Member determines, in their sole discretion, that the Company is no longer carrying on business or is otherwise not in operation.

 

Article XII

 

GENERAL

 

Section 12.1 Amendments; Waivers.

 

(a) The terms and provisions of this Agreement may be waived, modified or amended (including by means of merger, consolidation or other business combination to which the Company is a party) with the approval of (y) the Managing Member and (z) if at such time the Members (other than the PubCo Holdings Group) beneficially own, in the aggregate, more than 2.5% of the then-outstanding Units, the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding Units held by Members other than the PubCo Holdings Group; provided that no waiver, modification or amendment shall be effective until at least 5 Business Days after written notice is provided to the Members that the requisite consent has been obtained for such waiver, modification or amendment, and, for the avoidance of doubt, any Member, including any Member not providing written consent, shall have the right to file a Redemption Notice prior to the effectiveness of such waiver, modification or amendment; provided, further, that no amendment to this Agreement may:

 

(i) modify the limited liability of any Member, or increase the liabilities or obligations of any Member, in each case, without the consent of each such affected Member;

 

51

 

 

(ii) materially alter or change any rights, preferences or privileges of any Interests in a manner that is different or prejudicial (or would have a different or prejudicial effect) relative to any other Interests, without the approval of a majority in interest of the Members holding the Interests affected in such a different or prejudicial manner;

 

(iii) materially alter or change any rights, preferences or privileges of either the Class A Units or the Class B Units in a manner that is different or prejudicial (or that would have a different or prejudicial effect) relative to the other class of Units, without the approval of the Members holding such class of Units that are affected in a different or prejudicial manner;

 

(iv) alter or change any rights, preferences or privileges of any Member that are expressly for the benefit of such Member, without the approval of such member; or

 

(v) modify the requirement that a majority of the directors of PubCo who are independent within the meaning of the rules of the New York Stock Exchange (or such other principal United States securities exchange on which the Class A Shares are listed) and Rule 10A-3 of the Securities Act and do not hold any Class A Units that are subject to the applicable Redemption must approve a Cash Election pursuant to Section 4.7(e)(ii) without the approval of a majority of the directors of PubCo who are independent within the meaning of the rules of the New York Stock Exchange (or such other principal United States securities exchange on which the Class A Shares are listed) and Rule 10A-3 of the Securities Act.

 

(b) Notwithstanding the foregoing clause (a), the Managing Member, acting alone, may amend this Agreement, including Exhibit B, (i) to reflect the admission of new Members, as provided by the terms of this Agreement, (ii) to the minimum extent necessary to comply with or administer in an equitable manner the Partnership Tax Audit Rules in any manner determined by the Managing Member, and (iii) as necessary to avoid the Company being classified as a publicly traded partnershipwithin the meaning of Section 7704(b) of the Code.

 

(c) No waiver of any provision or default under, nor consent to any exception to, the terms of this Agreement or any agreement contemplated hereby shall be effective unless in writing and signed by the party to be bound and then only to the specific purpose, extent and instance so provided.

 

Section 12.2 Further Assurances. Each party agrees that it will from time to time, upon the reasonable request of another party, execute such documents and instruments and take such further action as may be required to accomplish the purposes of this Agreement.

 

Section 12.3 Successors and Assigns. All of the terms and provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon the parties and their respective successors and assigns, but shall inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the successors and assigns of any Member only to the extent that they are permitted successors and assigns pursuant to the terms hereof. No party may assign its rights hereunder except as herein expressly permitted.

 

52

 

 

Section 12.4 Merger, Consolidation. Without limiting Section 12.1, the Company may merge or consolidate with one or more other entities in accordance with the Act with the approval of (y) the Managing Member and (z) if at such time the Members (other than the PubCo Holdings Group) beneficially own, in the aggregate, more than 2.5% of the then-outstanding Units, the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding Units held by Members other than the PubCo Holdings Group; provided that no merger or consolidation shall be effective until at least 5 Business Days after written notice is provided to the Members that the requisite consent has been obtained for such merger or consolidation, and, for the avoidance of doubt, any Member, including any Member not providing written consent, shall have the right to file a Redemption Notice prior to the effectiveness of such merger or consolidation.

 

Section 12.5 Transfer by way of Continuation. Without limiting Section 12.1, subject to the provisions of the Act, the Company may be registered by way of continuation as a foreign entity (with separate legal personality) under the laws of any jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands and to be deregistered in the Cayman Islands with the approval of (y) the Managing Member and (z) if at such time the Members (other than the PubCo Holdings Group) beneficially own, in the aggregate, more than 2.5% of the then-outstanding Units, the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding Units held by Members other than the PubCo Holdings Group; provided that no continuation shall be effective until at least 5 Business Days after written notice is provided to the Members that the requisite consent has been obtained for such continuation, and, for the avoidance of doubt, any Member, including any Member not providing written consent, shall have the right to file a Redemption Notice prior to the effectiveness of such continuation.

 

Section 12.6 Certain Representations by Members. Each Member, by executing this Agreement and becoming a Member, whether by making a Capital Contribution, by admission in connection with a permitted Transfer or otherwise, represents and warrants to the Company and the Managing Member, as of the date of its admission as a Member, that such Member (or, if such Member is disregarded for U.S. federal income tax purposes, such Members regarded owner for such purposes) is either: (i) not a partnership, grantor trust or Subchapter S corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes (e.g., an individual or Subchapter C corporation), or (ii) is a partnership, grantor trust or Subchapter S corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, but (A) permitting the Company to satisfy the 100-partner limitation set forth in Treasury Regulations Section 1.7704-1(h)(1)(ii) is not a principal purpose of any beneficial owner of such Member in investing in the Company through such Member, (B) such Member was formed for business purposes prior to or in connection with the investment by such Member in the Company or for estate planning purposes, and (C) no beneficial owner of such Member has a redemption or similar right with respect to such Member that is intended to correlate to such Members right to Redemption pursuant to Section 4.7.

 

Section 12.7 Entire Agreement. This Agreement, together with all Exhibits and Schedules hereto and all other agreements referenced therein and herein, constitute the entire agreement between the parties hereto pertaining to the subject matter hereof and supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements, understandings, negotiations and discussions, whether oral or written, of the parties and there are no warranties, representations or other agreements between the parties in connection with the subject matter hereof except as specifically set forth herein and therein.

 

53

 

 

Section 12.8 Rights of Members Independent. The rights available to the Members under this Agreement and at Law shall be deemed to be several and not dependent on each other and each such right accordingly shall be construed as complete in itself and not by reference to any other such right. Any one or more and/or any combination of such rights may be exercised by a Member and/or the Company from time to time and no such exercise shall exhaust the rights or preclude another Member from exercising any one or more of such rights or combination thereof from time to time thereafter or simultaneously.

 

Section 12.9 Governing Law. This Agreement and any dispute, claim, suit, action or proceeding of whatever nature arising out of or in any way related to this Agreement (including any non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by, and shall be construed in accordance with, the laws of the Cayman Islands.

 

Section 12.10 Jurisdiction. The courts of the Cayman Islands shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any claim, suit, action or proceeding, and to settle any disputes, which may arise out of or are in any way related to or in connection with this Agreement, and, for such purposes, each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of such courts.

 

Section 12.11 Headings. The descriptive headings of the Articles, Sections and subsections of this Agreement are for convenience only and do not constitute a part of this Agreement.

 

Section 12.12 Counterparts. This Agreement and any amendment hereto or any other agreement (or document) delivered pursuant hereto may be executed in one or more counterparts and by different parties in separate counterparts any may delivered by email or other electronic means. All of such counterparts shall constitute one and the same agreement (or other document) and shall become effective (unless otherwise provided therein) when one or more counterparts have been signed by each party and delivered to the other party.

 

Section 12.13 Notices. Any notice or other communication hereunder must be given in writing and (a) delivered in person, (b) transmitted by facsimile, by telecommunications mechanism or electronically or (c) mailed by certified or registered mail, postage prepaid, receipt requested as follows:

 

  If to the Company or the Managing Member, addressed to it at:
     
  Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC
  102 East Main Street, Second Story
  Carnegie, Pennsylvania 15106
  Attention: Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Email: danny@teamrice.com

 

54

 

 

  With copies (which shall not constitute notice) to:
     
  Kirkland & Ellis LLP
  609 Main Street
  Houston, TX 77002
  Attention: Matthew Pacey
    Lanchi Huynh
  Email: matt.pacey@kirkland.com
    lanchi.huynh@kirkland.com

 

or to such other address or to such other Person as either party shall have last designated by such notice to the other parties. Each such notice or other communication shall be effective (i) if given by telecommunication or electronically, when transmitted to the applicable number or email address so specified in (or pursuant to) this Section 12.13 and an appropriate answerback is received or, if transmitted after 4:00 p.m. local time on a Business Day in the jurisdiction to which such notice is sent or at any time on a day that is not a Business Day in the jurisdiction to which such notice is sent, then on the immediately following Business Day, (ii) if given by mail, on the first Business Day in the jurisdiction to which such notice is sent following the date three days after such communication is deposited in the mails with first class postage prepaid, addressed as aforesaid or (iii) if given by any other means, on the Business Day when actually received at such address or, if not received on a Business Day, on the Business Day immediately following such actual receipt.

 

Section 12.14 Representation By Counsel; Interpretation. The parties acknowledge that each party to this Agreement has been represented by counsel in connection with this Agreement and the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. Accordingly, any rule of Law, or any legal decision that would require interpretation of any claimed ambiguities in this Agreement against the party that drafted it has no application and is expressly waived.

 

Section 12.15 Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable by any Governmental Entity, the remaining provisions of this Agreement, to the extent permitted by Law shall remain in full force and effect, provided that the essential terms and conditions of this Agreement for all parties remain valid, binding and enforceable.

 

Section 12.16 Expenses. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, each party shall bear its own expenses in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement.

 

Section 12.17 No Third Party Beneficiaries. Except as expressly provided in Section 7.4 and Section 8.4, nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, is intended to confer upon any party, other than the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns, any rights or remedies under this Agreement or otherwise create any third party beneficiary hereto. The consent of any person who is not a party to this Agreement is not required for any amendment to, or variation, release, rescission or termination of this Agreement.

 

[Signature Pages Follow]

 

55

 

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the parties hereto has caused this Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement to be executed on the day and year first above written.

 

  COMPANY:
   
  RICE ACQUISITION HOLDINGS II LLC
   
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

Signature Pate to

Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

 

 

 

   
  MANAGING MEMBER:
   
  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
   
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

Signature Pate to

Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

 

 

 

 

  PUBCO:
   
  RICE ACQUISITION CORP. II
   
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

 

Signature Pate to

Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

 

 

 

  MEMBERS:
     
   
  [    ]  
     
   
  [    ]  
     
   
  [    ]  
     
   
  [    ]  
     
  RICE ACQUISITION SPONSOR II LLC
   
  By:  
  Name:  Daniel Joseph Rice, IV
  Title: Chief Executive Officer

  

Signature Pate to

Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

 

 

 

EXHIBIT A

 

Name   Class A
Units Held
  Class B
Units Held
  Company Warrants Held
Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC            
[  ]            
[  ]            
[  ]            
[  ]            
Rice Acquisition Corp. II            

 

Exhibit A to

Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

 

 

 

EXHIBIT B

 

Members:

 

Rice Acquisition Sponsor II LLC

[   ]

[   ]

[   ]

[   ]

Rice Acquisition Corp. II

 

Exhibit B to

Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of

Rice Acquisition Holdings II LLC

 

 

 

 

Exhibit 23.1

 

CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

 

We hereby consent to the use in the Prospectus constituting a part of this Registration Statement Amendment No. 3 on Form S-1, of our report dated May 6, 2021, relating to the financial statements of Rice Acquisition Corp. II which is contained in that Prospectus. We also consent to the reference to us under the caption “Experts” in the Prospectus.

 

/s/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC  
   
New York, New York  
June 3, 2021